REDEMPTION & JUSTICE

Redemption is a beautiful thing. Hanging on to your faith when all else seems lost is a beautiful thing. Watching in awe as our God who is just rewards your faith and redeems...well there are no words to describe it!

I love the fact that we serve a God who is just. This means no matter what others say about you, think about you, how they act towards you or lie about you as long as your faith is strong God will take care of them for you. Oh, trust me it isn't easy to sit and wait on God. We are a "now" society! We want to see others suffer the consequences of their actions. But in the long run you have to keep your eyes on the goal and allow God to take care of you "problem." After all in the end He alone will judge all of us.

Those who know me well know that this past year has sucked for my family and that's a nice word. We've been lied to, lied about, treated like crap, talked about and some have turned their back on us. Those guilty of this are people we loved and thought loved us. But sometimes God allows these things to happen to bring us closer to Him. We had a choice and we chose to grow closer to God and let Him work in our lives.

Now if you are not a believer or if you view God as this tyrant, rigid King who sits on His throne and demands this and that you couldn't be more wrong. He is good and kind. He loves us with agape love and He cares for us. I also believe He has a since of humor. He knows my heart and how I was raised and sometimes my "old street school" comes out. I told someone the other day that I will fight for my family spiritually, emotionally, mentally and yes physically! When that last word came out I thought "oh oh that isn't right. I waited for my conscience to begin working on me but all I had was peace. A beautiful, serene peace. It was like God was saying "only if you had to Elaine." Yes, only if I had to. So just because I am a christian doesn't mean when I turn the other cheek I will allow you to attack my life and family.We can't make choices for others but we do have full responsibility for our choices. As for me and my house we choose to remain strong in our faith, our love for one another and mostly our love for God.
As my husband held my hand in church this morning and our children sat next to us and we prayed I thanked God for all He has given me. He chose this man for me. He blessed us with 6 amazing children and 5 soon to be 6 amazing grandest children and a beautiful daughter in love. Yes Redemption is a beautiful thing.
The last month has been crazy with proms, graduation, birthdays and Mother Day. So to my sisters, friends and anyone else...enjoy!

I love this crew!

Mothers Day

I think they are making a statement. Don't mess with our little sister!

Proud of our girl!

Celebrating Dustin's 24th birthday

Prom

CHOOSE TO LOVE

One of the most important truths I have learned the past few months is that love is a choice and we must teach our mind to lead our hearts. A year ago I would have said "bull". Even as a Christian I thought you followed your heart because that is where you felt everything...right? After all when we are happy our heart jumps for joy. When we are sad it breaks. When we are angry, well my heart can go all over the map. But think about it. We see or hear, process then we "choose" how we are going to react and that is when our heart goes to work. It all begins in our mind. There are scriptures that prove this. I am learning to allow my mind to lead my heart. 

I just finished doing the LOVE DARE from the movie Fireproof. It was not always easy but I did it! I highly suggest it. I also read Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. That book changed how I view my love for everyone! One of the very best books I have ever read. This is all part of the learning process.

It wasn't easy for me to grasp all of this new knowledge because my spiritual gifts are mercy and compassion. These two gifts can make your heart break more than you think you can handle and your mind go mach 10 all at once! Putting my mind in charge of my heart has helped me set pretty healthy boundaries. So when my heart wants to help all the orphans in this world my mind will say "really Elaine?

Grammy and Jameson, just because!

As I learn to love even when it doesn't feel right to or learn to forgive when it doesn't seem fair or hang in there when I don't think I can, I know I am growing the way God desires for me to grow. That makes it all worth it.

LOVE & MARRIAGE

After my last post about marriage I received a lot of private emails agreeing with what I said and I was also asked a few questions. Like what happened? What happened doesn't matter. What matters is my husband and I had choices to make. We chose to fight the good fight together...like we always have.  What doesn't destroy you makes you stronger. We are stronger!
Satan sends many things to destroy marriages. Alcohol, pornography, drugs, women, men, work, hobbies, money. The list goes on and on. All of these things are Satan's tools to seek and destroy. But as Christians we know that marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman. A plan God Himself designed. A Holy union. And if God is for us then who can stand against us? The answer? No one...absolutely no one! 
Those things listed above may win the battle for a little while but love and I am not talking the first two years your married " in love" I am talking agape love that comes only through Jesus Christ, that love will always win. That is a promise. 
It's all about choices my friends. All of us will make bad choices at one time or another, that's a given. What is important is what we choose to learn from those bad choices.
You shouldn't forget the past but never focus on it. Move forward with confidence and faith. I have learned love is a choice. We choose to love through the hurts,the tears and the doubt. That is true love!

Love is not something you feel. It's something you do.
~David Wilkerson 

MARRIAGE FOR LIFE

Today my husband Mike and I celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary. All anniversaries are special but this one was special in a different way. The last few months have been hard. Every marriage goes through hard times. Some of those times are harder than others. It's what you learn during those times that will decide if you are going to make it or not.
 One of the many things I have learned is that you can choose to love. That doesn't mean you don't feel love. Choosing to love your spouse or anyone for that matter means your not giving up.
This day and age people throw marriage away. The world makes it to easy. Marriage is work. Hard work. But the work is worth it. 
Sadly after a while life gets in the way. Work, family, people. Satan uses many things to distract us from what is most important to us. Thankfully Mike and I have a lot of faith in God and we listen to Him instead of paying attention to what Satan sends our way.
The odds were against Mike and I to make it. Some said it would last a year...maybe. But we made a choice and 26 years later we are still choosing to make our marriage work.
This morning when this man that I have spent over 26 years with walked into the room I thanked God that He gave me a husband who in spite of both of us chooses us!!
I have always told our kids that for your marriage to work you must love your spouse more than you hate what they said or did to you. I have a Love Dare Reminder app I read every day and the other day this was the reminder.
                                       Love Fights Fare
Love reminds you that your marriage is to valuable to allow it to self-destruct, and that your love for your spouse is more important than whatever your fighting about.

Will your marriage always be AMAZING? Good grief no! Will you always like your spouse? No. But you should always choose to love your spouse in the good and bad times and even when you don't like them.

                                                         MIKE& ELAINE
                                       26 YEARS, 6 KIDS, 5 GRANDESTKIDS (AND 1 ON THE WAY!)
                                      GOD KNEW WHAT HE WAS DOING WHEN HE BROUGHT THESE
                                      TWO HEARTS TOGETHER!

ADOPTION

Guess what I found out? No matter what is going on in your world life goes on. Thank God! With that being said we celebrated two of our daughters birthdays. Jordan turned 18 & Cameron turned 14. They are remarkable young women and I couldn't be more proud of them. 
Every year on our daughters birthday I can't help but think of the three women who gave birth to them. I can only imagine the heartache they went through to make the decision to place their baby for adoption so they might have a better life. 
I hope someday they will know what a precious gift each of them gave our family. How much they are loved. That they are beautiful inside and out. They have a heart for God. They are kind and good. They are strong and brave.

Adoption gave us three beautiful daughters. Adoption became a passion for me. Adoption is for one momma a painful experience and for the other momma a beautiful experience. 
And for anyone out there who may wonder/doubt if there is a difference between the love you have for your biological child or your adopted child, trust me there is no difference. If there is then you have a heart condition. 
I read this somewhere and I quote it often. "I have six children, three of them are adopted, I forget which ones."
Love is a choice. Choose to love no matter what.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JORDAN!

Today our princess turns 18 years old. It doesn't seem possible! It feels like just yesterday Mike got off the plane and handed me our precious princess. She was 3 months old. There were a ton of people at the airport waiting for the princess to arrive. She was sleeping when Mike handed her to me and she never woke up…not once. She was cooed over, passed around, kissed and never woke up! Well, she did open one eye for a minute then went back to sleep. She still does that!

That night Mike and I watched her all night long because we were sure she would wake up because her night and days would be mixed up. Not our girl! She woke up bright and early the next morning and looked around like “what is everyone looking at?” It was Fathers Day and a news crew was there to do a story. Mike and I were so tired but not our princess! She was bright, perky and ready to go!

Jordan you have blessed my life in ways I could never have imagined. Your desire for excellence, your passion for the orphan, your love for God and your family make you an Extraordinary Woman! You will do great things with your life and I am so honored that God chose me to be your Oma. 
I am so proud of you and all that you have accomplished in your 18 years. The world can be a scary place but you show no fear.  You are a child of God and it shows in everything you do!  

“And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this? Esther 

Giving It All to God

I haven't posted very much lately. Life has thrown me a few obstacles in the last few months and sadly I let it  consume my life. What a waste. One of the many lessons learned through this little trial is that you can not let the choices  of others ruin your life. There are always two sides to a story but most will listen to one side without any facts or inputs and believe every word. That is their problem, not mine.

As for me I am so blessed to be surrounded by some of the most amazing family & friends anyone in the world can ask for. But more than anything I am blessed to be the daughter of the one true God. Because of Him I survived the trails the last few months have thrown my way and I will survive anything else life decides to throw at me.

Every day I spend the morning with God and without fail He places a word of truth and hope in my heart. I don't always trust man but I will always trust God. One of the many amazing things about God is that He loves us no matter what we have done, no matter what we think, or how we act. His love is unconditional. He wants us to have the very best in life but sometimes in order to receive the best we need to go through the worse. It is during that time of  despair that we can only reach up to the One who will take us in His arms and love us.

Sadly, for many Christians it is this time of despair that we want God to fix things fast and easy. I mean who wouldn't? None of us likes pain or heartbreak. But if He did that for us then we would turn into shallow, lazy, uncaring people who only thought of ourselves. And we wouldn't need Him. I need God. I want the best of this life God gave me. In order to have that I need to give it all to God. Not just bits and pieces at my choosing, all of it.  I have to trust Him and put my faith in Him...only.

Dependence upon God makes heroes of ordinary people like you and me!  Bruce Wilkinson