His perfect timing!

Wow, I just realized that it's been a couple months since I have written a post! Sorry! I can't say that I don't have time to write, but I've had a lot on my mind lately and a lot of big changes in life! With Thanksgiving just two days away, I have realized that I need to be more grateful all the time! I find myself constantly asking God for things in my prayers, but not nearly enough do I spend time actually THANKING Him for things!!! It's sad that many of us forget to be thankful except during the holiday when we celebrate what we're thankful for. We shouldn't have to have a holiday in order to be thankful. With that being said, here are 10 things that I am thankful for:

10. Our new home and the fact that Mark's dad was able to come down and help us fix it up

9. New friends as well as those who have been our friends for years

8. Our new church family and freedom to worship God openly whenever we want to!

7. Good health

6. Loving and supportive family

5. My husband and his hard work and desire to serve the Lord

4. Little things that we often take for granted such as laughter, a pet, or waking up to sunshine

3. God's forgiveness, grace, and mercy

2. God's perfect timing!

1. The precious little life that God is forming inside me!

Did that last one surprise you?! It surprised us too! It's true...Mark and I are expecting our first baby due at the end of June 2010!! Most of you who have read my blog are aware that we have tried to conceive for over two years and were in the very beginning stages of adoption before we moved to Oklahoma a couple months ago. When we moved to Oklahoma, we had to put the adoption process on hold for a couple of months while we looked for a home and got settled in here. About a month and a half ago (while I was visiting my family in Michigan) I found out that we are pregnant, and boy was it one of the best surprises ever! I sometimes still have a hard time remembering that it's actually real! When you spend two and a half years thinking that you may never give birth to a child, it makes it harder to believe that it actually is real! As hard as the past two and a half years have been, I wouldn't have it any other way. I know that I needed to go through those trials in order to grow and become more reliant on the Lord. God's timing is perfect and this is the child that He has had in mind for us long before he/she was ever conceived. During the past two years, God has really opened our hearts to international adoption, and Mark and I still believe that God wants for us to adopt one day, but obviously right now is not the time. I still pray that if God wants us to adopt, He will show us when the time is right. For now we are focusing on thanking the Lord for this precious gift He has given us, and are praying for perfect health for this child, as well as wisdom to raise this child to follow after the Lord. Right now I am 10 weeks along and we got to hear the heartbeat for the first time yesterday! What a precious sound to hear!

In other recent news, we closed on our house last Thursday! It needs a little bit of work before we move in, but I know it will be a wonderful first home for our growing family!! We are thankful that Mark's dad is here from Indianapolis helping us fix it up right now. I will post before/after pictures when it's all done!

We are loving our new church family, and are grateful for their love and care for us! Mark loves his new job as minister of music and he is doing an amazing job! We will be spending Thanksgiving with a family from our church (which we are very grateful for!). This will also be the first time that we do not do any traveling around Christmas. Mark's family will be coming to spend a few days with us around Christmas, but we will not be able to see my family at all. I am grateful that I at least got to spend some time with them in October.

Well, there ya go...that is a very shortened version of all the big changes that have been happening in our lives! We are so thankful for the Lord's blessings as well as the trials that He uses to make us stronger. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!