Easter Weekend...

How Deep the Father's Love....

How deep the Father's love for us,
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss,
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One,
Bring many sons to glory

Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice,
Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast inJesus Christ
His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom

Good Weekend

Reasons I had a good weekend...

LSU baseball game/date night with the hubs Friday night....

Beautiful warm weather Saturday afternoon for bubbles and sidewalk chalk with the munchkin.... (after a family lunch at Voodoo BBQ)

Chaperoned the TWIRP dance at school Saturday night... I *heart* my kiddos

(Me and D'Shea)

(Kelli, me, Jenna)

(Me with Will-- good grief, I'm short)

And then today- grocery shopping, nap, church tonight!

Good weekend? GREAT weekend!

Perspective

I had these verses underlined in my Bible....

"He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy." Colossians 1:17-18

and this note written next to them....

"Sometimes God's truth wrecks our view of ourselves and puts things back in proper perspective... Where HE is first and we stay out of His way!"

Um... Yeah... How's that for perspective?

Prayers!

One of my favorite parts of my day is second hour (my off hour) when I get to go visit our Community Based classroom. I LOVE THOSE KIDS!! And the teachers! :)

One of my favorites, Alyssa, is having a super important, MAJOR back surgery Friday. Alyssa is the most absolutely precious 17 year old who has lived with cerebral palsy her whole life. Her surgery is going to be extremely difficult, but it should help her SO much in the long run! Please join me in praying for this precious girl as she has her surgery tomorrow! May God give her and her family peace and may He heal her quickly!!

Alyssa and her brother, Brandon, at CHS Prom last year

Alyssa and Carlee at Prom

Lys dancing with Corey

Lys dancing with Brandon

This week...

This week was a long one...

Loss. Grief. Frustration. Watching "my" kids deal with emotions and make decisions I wish they'd never have to make. (Try listening to three 18 year olds try to decide what's appropriate to wear to a wake for one of their friends... NOT easy.) Questions. "Why does God...?"

This week was a challenging one...

(See above paragraph, plus...) Trying to be His light. Trying to point to His peace. Relying on Him for strength. Relying on Him for the words to say, or to know when to keep my mouth shut.

This week was full of decisions....

Go on as normal? Change plans? Talk? Stay quiet? Some decisions were well made. Others.... well, lets just say I wish I had a do-over.

This week was full GOOD...

Parker. "My" kids trusting Christ to be their strength. Pretty (no, gorgeous!) weather. The zoo. First crawfish of the year! First flip-flop day of the year. Learning new things about myself and about Him.

This week, I was....

Blessed. Challenged. Extremely emotional. (I mean, who cries watching Wizards of Waverly Place??) Tired. Strengthened. Sinus-y. Filled with His peace. Filled with His joy. Frustrated. Relieved. Loved. Blessed.

This week....

Addendum: HOPE

So after I blogged about HOPE yesterday, I went to church, where we sang this song:

There is nothing like Your love
No exchange for all You gave
To be welcomed into life
So I can know the love that saves

Now forever to belong
To walk with You for all my days
Theres no greater love than this
You are the Author and the Way

This is the sound of the redeemed
Rising up to praise the King
Our HOPE is in You
This is the sound of the redeemed
Rising up to praise the King

Singing glorious glorious One You have saved us
Honor and Power and Praise to the Savior.
You are the Answer; You are the Answer

You come with power come with fire
As we lift Your name on high
And join with all the saints to sing
In bringing Honor to the King.

OUR HOPE IS IN YOU!!! YOU ARE THE ANSWER!! Wow. What power in those words. So even though today was a tough day, and there will be more to come, my HOPE is in HIM!

HOPE

For the past two and a half months, I've been wearing a hot pink "Live-Strong" style bracelet that simply bears the word "HOPE." In the inside of the bracelet, the name of a sweet, beautiful 18 year old girl serves as a reminder of a tragic accident, a journey to recovery, and a startlingly painful loss.

In early December, our school and community reeled at the tragic news that one of our senior cheerleaders had been devastatingly injured in a car accident. Together, the community rallied in prayer, fundraisers for the family, and the overwhelming HOPE that God would do a miracle. And it seemed that He was. As thousands of visitors read updates on a CaringBridge site, we rejoiced as it seemed God was slowly, yet surely making Kelsey whole.

On February 26, He did just that. He made her whole. Just not how we thought He would. So now, as our community mourns the loss of this beautiful young woman, we search for God's purpose in all of this.

I may not understand why God chose to take Kelsey, after it seemed like she was doing so well, but I know one thing... He is in control. Through the last two and a half months, God has done a work in our community that truly only HE could have done. Now, as we stand questioning the circumstances, I am praying that we would not question His faithfulness to us.

Kelsey is whole. In fact, she is far more perfect and beautiful now than she ever was on this side of Heaven. So I'm keeping the hot pink bracelet on my wrist as a reminder to keep that Hope. Hope that God will use this tragedy to draw others to Himself. Hope that I would be His light in this dark time. Hope that we would see that He is still GOOD and His mercy endures.

As Steven Curtis Chapman says in his song "Beauty Will Rise"....

But buried deep beneath all our broken dreams

We have this HOPE

Out of these ashes beauty will rise

And we will dance among the ruins

We will see Him with our own eyes

Out of this darkness new light will shine

And we'll know the joy is coming in the morning...

Beauty will rise!