Joy

"I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!"
Psalm 27:13-14

Have you ever felt like God gave you a specific verse? It is right there in the Bible for anyone to see but somehow it seems to be written only for you? Well these are my verses. In December 2011 everything seemed dark and broken and this was God's promise that He loved me. That He would be faithful to me and my children. That this wasn't where my story would end. That He was going to write something new.

Believe me when I tell you that when God is writing the story it will look nothing like you had planned and yet turn out better than you could have ever dreamed. I didn't plan on lies. I didn't plan on abuse. I didn't plan on unfaithfulness. I didn't plan on divorce. I didn't plan on being a single parent. I didn't plan on meeting Jeremy. I didn't plan to trust. I didn't plan to fall in love. I didn't plan on life being so beautiful that it would take my breath away.

I am so glad that He had a plan.

And every time I look around I am undone by His goodness. I am forever thankful for the journey. The joy and also the pain because God works in both and through both has brought me to this place. When life is hard I look at these verses and remember how tightly He holds me and when the joy threatens to overwhelm I am reminded of grace. In both I am reminded of His goodness in every season.

This is definitely one of those joyous times. Without further ado meet the newest addition to the Chrystie household!

Ella Kate

April 26, 2016

7 lbs. 14 oz.

20 in.

If you are surprised by this news don't worry you didn't miss a big facebook reveal. =) We were actually very intentional about keeping our news off of social media which I am sure seemed a little odd to some and I wanted to try to put our reasoning into words. I feel like so many of the major and personal events in my life have been incredibly public. They have been scrutinized and talked about and (thanks in part to social media) in plain view and open to opinion not just for those who I saw every day but also those who I barely knew. When we found out we were expecting we were ecstatic!!! And all I wanted to do was to keep it quiet. Not in the sense that we didn't tell a soul but in a way that would keep it close and personal. Jeremy, who would likely be quite content as a bona fide hermit, was completely on board with this. So we told our families and close friends and from there we were more than happy to let it spread by word of mouth. It was actually a lot of fun to run into people when I was 34+ weeks along who hadn't even heard that I was pregnant! =) 

Garrett and Shiloh, who had been asking for months when we would have a baby, were over the moon excited at the news! They are at such a fun age and were constantly asking about her, measuring how she was growing, talking to her, etc. Garrett was a little disappointed to find out that we weren't having twins - he wanted a boy and a girl to keep things "fair". But he quickly got over that and switched to simply stating that our next should be a boy. Lol. They have been waiting quite impatiently (let's be real we all have!) for her arrival counting down the months and weeks till her due date which came...and went. Something we weren't expecting since Garrett & Shiloh both came early. Fast forward to 41 weeks, an induction, then an emergency c-section and here she is! Yesterday was a perfect example of both hard and joyful. Ella had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck twice and due to that wasn't tolerating the contractions. I am so thankful for nurses and doctors who recognized the severity of the situation and took the appropriate measures to keep little miss safe and for God's protection on us all. As intense and frightening as it was in the moment, I sit here snuggling our healthy baby girl and I am again reminded that God always has a plan.

No matter where you and I are in life may we always be looking for His plan and trusting that it is so much more than we could ever imagine.

Keep Dreaming!  

Then The Chrysties Had A Farm E-I-E-I-O...

So maybe farm is a bit of an overstatement but....we have chickens!!!!

Six to be exact. And the kids are sooooo excited! (Let's be honest, Jeremy and I are too!) The weather has been awful lately and the kids have been plastered to our kitchen window for an inordinate amount of time watching the chickens. I am sure that the initial enthusiasm will wear off but for now I am enjoying their excited reactions to the everyday and quite mundane chicken activity. "Mom, one of them fluffed up her feathers!!!" "Hey I saw one of them fly up to the roosting bar!!!" "Look they are scratching the ground and eating the grass!!!" I mean forget cable tv, this is first rate entertainment we have going on here! =)

It made me think about seasons of waiting and what we do with and in them. I feel like in many areas of life we are in seasons of waiting. Some have a specific timeline and some are unknown. 

Where animals are concerned, chickens are just the beginning. If we are talking long term dreams here they would also include a milk cow, a few beef cows, maybe some pigs and who knows what else will be added to that list! Eventually we want to buy some land and head that direction, but it is simply not the season for that right now. I used to think that "waiting" was equivalent to "nothing happening", but I feel like that is inaccurate. There are usually steps you can be taking or small goals you can accomplish, even when the big picture is unattainable.

If we think about waiting as a complete standstill it can be hard to keep our dreams and motivation alive. We can easily grow discouraged and frustrated with life. But if we remember that everything has a purpose, even waiting, it helps us keep a good perspective on where we are and where we are going. Then we can identify those little steps that will lead us in the direction of our final goal and find joy, excitement and beauty in the waiting.

So for now we will enjoy having our chickens, gathering fresh eggs every day, and we will keep working in our waiting in all areas of life. I hope that you do the same!

Keep Dreaming!