Happy New Year!!!!

5 days into it.  :) 

Our New Year has started out differently this year, but we have a BIG God and we are confident that He will take care of us, He will provide, and He loves us so much. 

New Year's Day we woke up to Ryan's fish without life.  So he joined the Hunter fish in the land of wherever water goes after it's flushed.  Should I know where it goes? lol

We also have all had colds, even little Andrew.  He has had a nasty cough.  Ryan is finally better and so is Hunter, but Sean, Andrew, and I are still with the lingering remains of it. 

A few days later I found out that my friend's husband passed away from leukemia in December.  He was diagnosed with it in May, a few weeks after their first child was born, and he died from complications of a bone marrow transplant.  She was a very close friend of mine when we lived in California and Sean was in the Marine Corps.  Her husband, Shane, was also a Marine, and Sean and Shane deployed together. 

We are also heavily burdened with our tenants living in our town home in FL.  They have not paid their rent for the month of December or for January.  We are owed a couple thousand dollars.  Paying two mortgages is a little stressful.  We have started eviction procedures and are hoping for the best outcome possible.  It has been weighing heavily on me and Sean.  What's worse is they are ignoring our phone calls and have lied to us.  They need a lot of prayer.  We are trying to be obedient and repent of any wrongdoing or sin in our lives that God may be disciplining us for.  We made the mistake of taking on a mortgage back in 2008 before we learned God's principles of not getting into debt.  After we learned those principles, we became debt free and have remained that way.....except for our mortgage. 

We took a day trip to Johnson City so Sean could see the doctor at the VA hospital there.  I took the boys to mall while he did that.  It was a nice scenic drive and we enjoyed ourselves.  Andrew did great in the car, too, because he had an endless supply of milk!!!!!  :) 

We are choosing to be grateful in this valley of life.  We are so thankful and grateful for our family and our health, a roof over our heads, food in our fridge, and clothing on our backs.  We are not dealing with really difficult things like many people are in this world.  We have not gone through a tragedy or a disaster.  We are going to have faith, strength, and courage. 

God knows our needs and never fails to meet them.  We have received income in ways that were totally a surprise and only by God's faithful hands could it have been given to us.  We are doing our best to be good stewards of the money he has blessed us with and our prayer is we learn what God wants us to learn through this situation and that we draw closer to Him. 

We don't really make resolutions in this household, but Sean and I are committed on working on our faith and walking by the spirit and not by the flesh, to being obedient.  We are also reading God's word and hoping to finish the Bible in a year.  It is exciting to hunger for the word and it is beautiful to look forward to that time with my husband in the evenings after the kiddos have gone to sleep.   And we have our coffee and dessert.  :) 

God bless you and keep you. 

Romans 8:28

King James Version (KJV)

²⁸ And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Proverbs 3:5-6

King James Version (KJV)

⁵ Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
⁶ In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.