This year has been a year of change. In 2010, we've had many new adventures in our lives. Some good, some hard, some indescribable. But, here we are getting ready to ring in the new year happy an healthy.
Looking back I have to think of the high points. We celebrated Isaac's first birthday! We had another precious baby boy in May. We moved to Florida. After 7 long months I got a job and we moved to TN.
I will not focus on the low points of the year as we are still trying to heal from the hurt. Reliving that pain doesn't help the healing process. But I will say this. This year has been a year that we have been put the Refiner's Fire. There have been moments that I pray I will forget and moments I pray I won't forget. But, I must say through it God has molded us into who we are. He is showing us every day that we still have some very rough edges. But, I must say that even though this past year has been one of the hardest of my life and I would never willingly repeat this year, I wouldn't change anything.
If you know our lives over the past 12 months you might ask me why I wouldn't change anything. If I changed anything I wouldn't have learned the things I did. I wouldn't have seen God work in the ways that He did. I wouldn't have seen His provision in the ways that I did. I wouldn't be able to stand here and list off 20 way or more that God has provided and the only way I can explain what's happened is God's provision. I wouldn't be able to say that today I have a relationship with God like I never have before. I wouldn't be living in TN and have an amazing house and furniture to go in it.
Looking back, I am very thankful for this past year. I have an amazing husband and two precious boys. We have had many different adventures through this last year, but I wouldn't have wanted to have these adventures with anyone else than my husband. After almost 6 years of marriage I can say that we love each other more today.
God has also brought into our life many new friends. Without these friends that God had placed in our lives I'm not sure how we would've made it through this year.
I can also thank the Lord for our health. As I think, there are so many families struggling with health problems not knowing how long their family remember will be here in 2011. As we've been without insurance for most of this year, I must say that I am so thankful that for the most part we have been very healthy and as far as we know we are very healthy.
Even though this year has brought about much change, I've learned several things. Some lessons I've learned again. Just like how faithful God is. I know this in my heart but I've learned again how faithful He is. I'm also beginning to learn what things in life are important. It's not what you have. As picture frame I bought this year said "The important things in life aren't "things" at all." How true is that? Today I don't have everything I want. But I have everything I need. I have a God who loves me unconditionally. He provides for my daily needs. I have my family, both the ones in my house and the ones in Arizona, Florida, Ohio and West Virginia. I have a roof over my head and I've always had food to eat. God gives me exactly what I need exactly when I need it and not a moment before He knows I need it.
Even though I'm looking forward to a new year, I pray that I never forget the lessons that I have learned this year.
I pray that this year, you will learn to love what you have and not to want for the things that you don't have, that you will rely on God for your daily needs, something that I'm learning to do every day, that you will cherish every moment you have with your family and friends and learn to love them unconditionally.
Our Family
November 2013
December 31, 2010
December 26, 2010
Christmas 2010
You'll see quickly that these are in reverse order. Starting with the newest first! Please enjoy our Christmas.
Issac's "Say Cheese" face!
His coat made him so big we couldn't buckle the car seat. Too bad he's already over the weight limit.
Love my baby boy
My boys have to take a bath together or they cry till the other one comes in.
Christmas Presents
Nothing to do with Christmas, just an example of why we undress him when it's time to eat. 
Issac's "Say Cheese" face!
His coat made him so big we couldn't buckle the car seat. Too bad he's already over the weight limit.
Love my baby boy
My boys have to take a bath together or they cry till the other one comes in.
Christmas Presents
Our Ginergerbread House. He loved it, but more candy was eaten than put on the house. This boy hasn't had more sugar in the last 3 days than he has had his entire life. But, it's Christmas :)
Nothing to do with Christmas, just an example of why we undress him when it's time to eat. 
December 24, 2010
Christmas Eve
Well, today is Christmas Eve and I think we're almost ready for Christmas. I think! All of the presents are wrapped, the house is almost clean and the steaks for tonight's dinner are marinating.
I got on Facebook for the first time today and saw that my family is getting ready for the annual Christmas Eve party in Huntington and it made me a little sad that I won't be there yet again this year. Now, we're going to WV tomorrow to see family but it's just not the same :(
This year, Christmas is very different for us. I think it's a theme in our life right now. Things just aren't the same. There's a new normal that we must adjust to. Change is good, but it's not always easy. But we have learned many things this year. At Thanksgiving I'm not sure we were ready to be thankful. Even though we reminded ourselves throughout the day of all the things that we had, it was still a very different Thanksgiving.
So this year at Christmas, I'm choosing to be very thankful. I guess in a way I'm trying to make up for not being so thankful at Thanksgiving. We are learning how much we really have even though there are times we think we don't have that much. We might not have all the "things" we are used to and Christmas under our tree looks different, but we have so much.
This year has been a year of blessing in many ways. It's been a hard year. A year I never ever want to repeat again. But I think we're at a point where we can look back and see exactly how God has blessed us and is still blessing us. The main lesson I've learned this year that God's blessings aren't always in the package that you think they are going to be in. Never in a million years would I have imagined God would bless us in the ways his has through the people He has used. Looking back, it's hard to believe that one big reminder of God's faithfulness this year has been a washer and dryer. Who would've guessed that God used that to remind us of how much He's given us.
I guess we can say that life isn't what we thought it would look like. But, we pray that our lives look more like God wants them to rather than what we would've imagined them to be. We find joy in so many things that we would've never found joy in before. We are so thankful for our two precious boys. They bring us so much joy every day. We love how they are starting to play together and laugh together. Isaac is such a loving big brother. Noah is becoming such a big boy. We can't believe how happy they make us.
My hope for you this year is that you find the Joy that we've found this year. I challenge you to take a few moments this season and look around you. Don't focus on what you don't have, but focus on what God has supplied for you this year.
Merry Christmas!
I got on Facebook for the first time today and saw that my family is getting ready for the annual Christmas Eve party in Huntington and it made me a little sad that I won't be there yet again this year. Now, we're going to WV tomorrow to see family but it's just not the same :(
This year, Christmas is very different for us. I think it's a theme in our life right now. Things just aren't the same. There's a new normal that we must adjust to. Change is good, but it's not always easy. But we have learned many things this year. At Thanksgiving I'm not sure we were ready to be thankful. Even though we reminded ourselves throughout the day of all the things that we had, it was still a very different Thanksgiving.
So this year at Christmas, I'm choosing to be very thankful. I guess in a way I'm trying to make up for not being so thankful at Thanksgiving. We are learning how much we really have even though there are times we think we don't have that much. We might not have all the "things" we are used to and Christmas under our tree looks different, but we have so much.
This year has been a year of blessing in many ways. It's been a hard year. A year I never ever want to repeat again. But I think we're at a point where we can look back and see exactly how God has blessed us and is still blessing us. The main lesson I've learned this year that God's blessings aren't always in the package that you think they are going to be in. Never in a million years would I have imagined God would bless us in the ways his has through the people He has used. Looking back, it's hard to believe that one big reminder of God's faithfulness this year has been a washer and dryer. Who would've guessed that God used that to remind us of how much He's given us.
I guess we can say that life isn't what we thought it would look like. But, we pray that our lives look more like God wants them to rather than what we would've imagined them to be. We find joy in so many things that we would've never found joy in before. We are so thankful for our two precious boys. They bring us so much joy every day. We love how they are starting to play together and laugh together. Isaac is such a loving big brother. Noah is becoming such a big boy. We can't believe how happy they make us.
My hope for you this year is that you find the Joy that we've found this year. I challenge you to take a few moments this season and look around you. Don't focus on what you don't have, but focus on what God has supplied for you this year.
Merry Christmas!
December 21, 2010
Christmas Newsletter
This year has been a year of change in the Ford
household. Lots of change. We had a new baby,
our precious Baby Noah. We moved 4 times and
have finally settled in Smyrna, Tennessee.
After 6 months without either of us having a job,
Anne was offered a job at Middle Tennessee State
University in November and gladly accepted. We
truly believe this is where God has called us, we just
aren't sure why He has called us here. We have
been praying that He will soon reveal to us exactly
what we should be doing here other than just living
life.
Currently Anne is the Registration Coordinator and
she does a little bit of everything in the Scheduling
Center. Bill is taking care of the two boys at home.
It's very important to us that one of us is home with
the boys. Anne definitely has the easier job of the
two.
Issac will be celebrating his 2nd birthday in just a few
weeks. We're not quite sure where the last two
years have gone. He's a normal 2 year old. Nonstop
energy, trying to test every limit and learn new
things. He's obsessed with baseball, Mickey Mouse
and the Moon and Stars. When I say obsessed I'm
not exaggerating Everything is about baseball. He's
getting to be such a big boy and has become quite
the conversationalist. He's never met a stranger and
love to be with people.
Noah is now 7 months old. He's such a happy
baby. He's got two teeth, is sitting up and starting to
crawl. He used to be a Momma's boy only. Now he
much prefers his Daddy. Daddy knows just how to
make him smile. Noah loves his big brother. He
laughs hysterically when Isaac gets in trouble. He
and Isaac sit in the floor and have laughing contests
just to see who can laugh louder. We love to watch
them play together. I can't wait to see them play
together when they are older.
We have to sum up this year by saying that we
have been through so much but it has made us
thankful for the small blessings that God has given
us. We have our health and our family and our true
friends. Most of all we have God's love and
forgiveness and we are so thankful for that gift.
Our prayer for you is that you will never forget the
gift that God has given us through His son.
Love,
Bill, Anne, Isaac and Noah
He loves to play
Oh this smile gets me every time.
This says it all. This is his "I'm 2 and I do what I want" face.
Sven from Sweden :-)
household. Lots of change. We had a new baby,
our precious Baby Noah. We moved 4 times and
have finally settled in Smyrna, Tennessee.
After 6 months without either of us having a job,
Anne was offered a job at Middle Tennessee State
University in November and gladly accepted. We
truly believe this is where God has called us, we just
aren't sure why He has called us here. We have
been praying that He will soon reveal to us exactly
what we should be doing here other than just living
life.
Currently Anne is the Registration Coordinator and
she does a little bit of everything in the Scheduling
Center. Bill is taking care of the two boys at home.
It's very important to us that one of us is home with
the boys. Anne definitely has the easier job of the
two.
Issac will be celebrating his 2nd birthday in just a few
weeks. We're not quite sure where the last two
years have gone. He's a normal 2 year old. Nonstop
energy, trying to test every limit and learn new
things. He's obsessed with baseball, Mickey Mouse
and the Moon and Stars. When I say obsessed I'm
not exaggerating Everything is about baseball. He's
getting to be such a big boy and has become quite
the conversationalist. He's never met a stranger and
love to be with people.
Noah is now 7 months old. He's such a happy
baby. He's got two teeth, is sitting up and starting to
crawl. He used to be a Momma's boy only. Now he
much prefers his Daddy. Daddy knows just how to
make him smile. Noah loves his big brother. He
laughs hysterically when Isaac gets in trouble. He
and Isaac sit in the floor and have laughing contests
just to see who can laugh louder. We love to watch
them play together. I can't wait to see them play
together when they are older.
We have to sum up this year by saying that we
have been through so much but it has made us
thankful for the small blessings that God has given
us. We have our health and our family and our true
friends. Most of all we have God's love and
forgiveness and we are so thankful for that gift.
Our prayer for you is that you will never forget the
gift that God has given us through His son.
Love,
Bill, Anne, Isaac and Noah
The best of the two of them. You just can't get them happy at the same time.
He loves to play
Oh this smile gets me every time.
This says it all. This is his "I'm 2 and I do what I want" face.
Sven from Sweden :-)
December 20, 2010
I don't wanna grow up.
Today I have decided that I no longer want to be a grown up. I don't want to deal with the grown up things of life anymore. I want a demotion. I want to be a kid again, this adult thing is too hard.
Now don't get me wrong, I like making the rules and enforcing the rules. But, I don't want the responsibility that goes along with making the rules. I want to be carefree and not worried about how bills are gonna get paid, put food on the table, gas in the car plus do it all and still spend quality time with my family.
I don't want to have a poor me party. A pity party is not something that I don't want to partake in. Mainly because in reality I know I don't have to worry about all of the adult things of life. God has a plan on how to take care of it all. Isn't it amazing that we have a Creator that cares enough about us to know every fine detail of how we were formed. He has so much to do, but never forgets we are here. We never have to worry if God's left us. He promises in His Word that He will never leave us.
But here's the important part that I think we, as followers of Christ, forget. He will not leave, but He also never promised that each day would be a walk in the park. There are days that are hard. Down right stinky, crappy, horrible days. But if our hope is in the One who gave His life for us, then we must know those nasty days are just a fleeting moment in life. When we're going through it, it doesn't seem that way, but they are fleeting moments.
5 years ago, I wouldn't have guessed I would have two baby boys in my life. 3 years ago, I would've never dreamed I would move 3000 miles away from everything I ever knew. A year ago, I would've never believed I'd be living in Tennessee. But the cool thing is.......God knew all of this. He knew it and He had a plan for it and He still has a plan for it. Even when we forget He has a plan. He does.
So to sum up all these random thought, on days like today when I want to be a kid again, I must not forget that God has a perfect plan, even when I can't see where that next step might take me.
Now don't get me wrong, I like making the rules and enforcing the rules. But, I don't want the responsibility that goes along with making the rules. I want to be carefree and not worried about how bills are gonna get paid, put food on the table, gas in the car plus do it all and still spend quality time with my family.
I don't want to have a poor me party. A pity party is not something that I don't want to partake in. Mainly because in reality I know I don't have to worry about all of the adult things of life. God has a plan on how to take care of it all. Isn't it amazing that we have a Creator that cares enough about us to know every fine detail of how we were formed. He has so much to do, but never forgets we are here. We never have to worry if God's left us. He promises in His Word that He will never leave us.
But here's the important part that I think we, as followers of Christ, forget. He will not leave, but He also never promised that each day would be a walk in the park. There are days that are hard. Down right stinky, crappy, horrible days. But if our hope is in the One who gave His life for us, then we must know those nasty days are just a fleeting moment in life. When we're going through it, it doesn't seem that way, but they are fleeting moments.
5 years ago, I wouldn't have guessed I would have two baby boys in my life. 3 years ago, I would've never dreamed I would move 3000 miles away from everything I ever knew. A year ago, I would've never believed I'd be living in Tennessee. But the cool thing is.......God knew all of this. He knew it and He had a plan for it and He still has a plan for it. Even when we forget He has a plan. He does.
So to sum up all these random thought, on days like today when I want to be a kid again, I must not forget that God has a perfect plan, even when I can't see where that next step might take me.
December 16, 2010
Such a good day.
Today I took a day off. It was the best thing I've done in a very long time.
Usually when we have a fun family day planned it ends with someone in tears and going to bed, but not today! We had plans to hit up our two favorites stores, Target and Walmart. But Bill said lets go to a different mall. So we drove to Cool Springs mall. It was so much fun, but let's just say the mall was filled with stores that I've never seen in person since they are so expensive. But we loved it. Isaac god to ride the carousel horses, he played in the cars, and loved the rentable strollers. We found a Build a Bear store which we were so excited about. We got Isaac a Build a Bear Doggie when he was about 6 months old and we wanted to get Noah one, but we didn't know where a Build a Bear was. So when we found one today we had to make Noah one. It's one of his Christmas presents and it's a bunny rabbit that giggles. He will love it!
We finished at the mall and went to Chipotle for lunch. Yummy Yummy is all I have to say. We headed home and stopped at Target because Isaac had been crying for "cookie, Tar Tar" since we passed it last night. To explain, he gets a cookie at Target so any time he sees the red bulls eye, he yells "cookie, Tar Tar" in only the way Isaac can. We got to go shopping with the gift card Aunt Vickie got the boys which was so much fun!
Noah has decided he's going to grow up today. He has two teeth and been cutting the top two for a while now. We noticed they were almost through yesterday. Last night when we checked his gums were so swollen that they are black and blue. It's so sad, but he seems to be in a good mood. He also decided today that he wants to crawl. He's been pushing up on his hands and knees and moving himself around the room. Not exactly crawling yet, but making progress and can get where he wants. Isaac never pushed himself up and crawled. He just did the army crawl and then walked. Hopefully Noah won't follow so close in his brother's footsteps when it comes to walking and crawling.
So our little family is having fun celebrating the holiday's! Too bad I have to go to work tomorrow. But only 4 more days then I'm off for 11 days! Have I mentioned that I love working for the state and getting of so much time that's paid!
Usually when we have a fun family day planned it ends with someone in tears and going to bed, but not today! We had plans to hit up our two favorites stores, Target and Walmart. But Bill said lets go to a different mall. So we drove to Cool Springs mall. It was so much fun, but let's just say the mall was filled with stores that I've never seen in person since they are so expensive. But we loved it. Isaac god to ride the carousel horses, he played in the cars, and loved the rentable strollers. We found a Build a Bear store which we were so excited about. We got Isaac a Build a Bear Doggie when he was about 6 months old and we wanted to get Noah one, but we didn't know where a Build a Bear was. So when we found one today we had to make Noah one. It's one of his Christmas presents and it's a bunny rabbit that giggles. He will love it!
We finished at the mall and went to Chipotle for lunch. Yummy Yummy is all I have to say. We headed home and stopped at Target because Isaac had been crying for "cookie, Tar Tar" since we passed it last night. To explain, he gets a cookie at Target so any time he sees the red bulls eye, he yells "cookie, Tar Tar" in only the way Isaac can. We got to go shopping with the gift card Aunt Vickie got the boys which was so much fun!
Noah has decided he's going to grow up today. He has two teeth and been cutting the top two for a while now. We noticed they were almost through yesterday. Last night when we checked his gums were so swollen that they are black and blue. It's so sad, but he seems to be in a good mood. He also decided today that he wants to crawl. He's been pushing up on his hands and knees and moving himself around the room. Not exactly crawling yet, but making progress and can get where he wants. Isaac never pushed himself up and crawled. He just did the army crawl and then walked. Hopefully Noah won't follow so close in his brother's footsteps when it comes to walking and crawling.
So our little family is having fun celebrating the holiday's! Too bad I have to go to work tomorrow. But only 4 more days then I'm off for 11 days! Have I mentioned that I love working for the state and getting of so much time that's paid!
December 14, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)