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Joy - Pure & Simple.

That is how I felt as I drove home following my week at HQ. Pure Joy. Simply surrounded by God's majesty and filled with His hope for my future. Here I was in the midst of the mountains of Pennsylvania wearing my perma-grin. I am beyond happy! I couldn't wait to get home and sleep in my own bed and snuggle my babies, but I was thanking God all the way home as I saw where I came from and how it got me to just where I am in this moment.

I called Pepe to tell him about my week and make sure he had things taken care of with our little girl scout for her event that evening. We talked about how far we'd both come in our careers and the paths we'd taken to getting there. It was one that we'd walked together for many years, but it seemed that when our paths diverted, we had to stop relying upon ourselves and each other and look up for what was to come next. And that we did. Each on our own. Each in our own way. Each with trepidation and concern. We were for the first time without our biggest cheerleader and the safety net for when we'd slip. Who knew that God would take on those positions with such gusto, though?! Ask and ye shall receive. Seek and ye shall find. And we did find and receive more than we expected.

Pep said that he sees his success as not his own, but enabled by God, his partner. I have to say that hearing him say that, I marveled at how far he'd come in these past two years. I feel blessed knowing that my children have a father who knows the Father of all. It was strange for me to hear that from him. For so long, I was the one encouraging him to believe, to trust, to see all there was for us if we just gave it to God. If we followed. If he lead us following a plan from the One who knows all things. And now he is there. It's not always easy and sometimes he calls me and asks me things that he still feels he can't ask anyone else, but I pray that God will bring another man into his life. A father. A business man. A man who loves God above all else. Someone to guide him and show him what it's like to be a man and love God deeply. I pray that not just for Pep, but for his wife and for our children. In Jesus' name. Amen.

This year, dates that haunted me before in November passed without a thought. They were just days and dates again. Not reminders of the hurts and pains. Beginnings. Ends.

Thank you, Lord, for the mountains, the rivers, the lakes and ponds. Thank you for sunshine and blue skies. For Christmas trees with colored or white lights adorned with colorful and meaningful delights to our eyes. For music that tells a story, that moves us and connects us. For friends and family who love and encourage and believe in us. For you, Lord, who loved us so much that you gave Your only Son in order that we could have everlasting life...with You...should we choose it. And I do, Lord. I choose You.


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