You Make Beautiful Things

All this pain

I wonder if I'll ever find my way

I wonder if my life could really change at all?

All this earth

Could all that is lost ever be found

Could a garden come up from this ground at all?

You make beautiful things

You make beautiful things out of the dust,

You make beautiful things

You make beautiful things out of us.

All around

Hope is springing up from this old ground

Out of chaos life is being found in You.

These are the lyrics from a song by a little known band called Gungor.  Yeah, funny name, but I just love the song.  The image of a perfect God taking our messes, our hardships our troubles and our lostness and making it beautiful.  There is no doubt about it, God makes beautiful things out of the dust.

The Lord has been doing some beautiful things in my family's life and I think that it is time that I introduce you all to my brother.

Yes, I have a brother that came into my life about 4 years ago.  It is new, it is exciting, and surprising, but simply wonderful.  For those of you bursting with curiosity, I am not going to get into the details, they aren't important.  What is important is that the Lord has taken past events and turned them into beautiful things.  I have a brother, sister in law and a niece and nephew.

Mike, Kathy, Mikey and Maggie all came for a nice long visit this past week and we really did have a blast getting to know one another and catching up.  Mike is a big teaser and I kept on telling him that maybe it was a good thing we didn't meet till we were adults because I probably would have punched him too many times to count growing up.

Much of our time was spent letting the kids (especially mine) enjoy the horses up on the mountain.  They had a blast and Lily of course couldn't help but enjoy every minute.

She was especially cute when Memaw told her to hold onto Foxy while she grazed.  Lily did as she was told by holding onto the far end of the rope.

I could not take enough pictures of this little mess.  Too precious!

One of the days she got bored waiting to go riding with Memaw so she decided to get dirty instead.  I was simply amazed at how cute a dirty little girl could look.

We made a stop at Jumpstreet with all of the kids and took some time at the Broncos Stadium to get race packets for the Colfax Half Marathon.

It seemed like we rarely slowed down and the week went by in a blur.

It was nice because I hit the 36 week mark during their visit!  Ah, another milestone down!

This past week has brought to light the amazing redemptive power of the Cross and of Christ.  This week He redeemed a relationship, this week He made beautiful things out of the dust!

MOM

Well, inevitably so, I have gotten behind on my blogging.  With so much going on in my life, doing a day after Mother's day post just didn't happen and I have now found myself nearly a week past that day and just now getting to it.  Oh well, such is life.  I keep telling myself that this is just the beginning of being to busy to stay on top of things.

Anyways, Mothers Day was an interesting day this year primarily because Grandma Fran wasn't here.  Every year I send cards to all of the Mothers and Grandmothers in our life and it hit me really hard when I realized that I don't get to send my Grandma her card.   It seems that the loss of Gran Fran is somehow harder now than it was 5 months ago.  Furthermore, I knew that Mother's Day was going to be especially difficult for my Mom and Aunt Jayne.  They are now in a whole new place in life where they have become the matriarchs.  Their Grandmas and now Momma are gone and I can only imagine being in that space.  With so many new babies and life amongst us it provided a lot of joy, but the loss was felt too.

We decided to keep it simple and enjoy a picnic in the park just Bob, Lily, Evie, Memaw, Papa and Me.  It was wonderful and quiet, a perfect way to enjoy the afternoon and celebrate Mom and Me.

 

I found myself relishing the fact that I am now considered amongst the Mothers, and that I too, am hopefully raising a new generation of Mommys.  A Mother is such an incredible person.  I have always loved mine, and am eternally grateful for her.  Becoming a Mom and seeing how much Lily loves me and wants me in her life is so humbling and so unbelievably rewarding.  If you have a great Mother, honor and love her, every moment, every day.

Mother's Day is a special day of just being able to pause amidst the rush of "being Mom" and remember why we do what we do.  It's so we leave a legacy.  One just like my Grandma left my Momma, one that she is leaving for me, and one that I will be blessed to leave to my girls.

Happy Happy Day to all of the great women who call themselves a Momma!