This Whole House: August 2013

The. Last. Year.

I remember when I was pregnant with River a lady came up to Wade and I at church and said that she felt like the Lord was wanting us to know that with the birth of this baby, there would be many blessings. She also said that burdens that we had been carrying would be relieved. In other words, life would get better. This sounds obvious with the birth of a new baby, but what this lady did not know, was that she was speaking LIFE into many circumstances that Wade and I had truly been carrying as burdens. When these words were spoken to us while standing on the front row of church, we KNEW that this was what we needed to hear.

But here is what we didn't know... that before it would get better, it would seem as though it was getting worse.

July 6th, 2012 we gave birth to our sweet baby girl, River Beth. Life was beautiful and busy. As we learned to manage our growing family of 5, we also struggled to manage our finances. A constant struggle of ours since the layoff.

Then the unthinkable happened. Wade lost his job. Again. River was just 4 weeks old and what I did not disclose in the post about this before, was that Wade was fired. Yup. Fired. On a Sunday afternoon through a text message. Classy huh?

From there we went through the unemployment, DSS, food stamps, just trying to make it one more time phase all to end up with a new job just a few months later, that hardly paid in Jacksonville. Oh, he hated it to say the least. But he put on the smile, prayed for God to intervene and went to work each day.

Over the next four months, Wade had 4 interviews, started a new job, 4 hospital visits (one which was Wade's heart... hmmm wonder why?), broken down trucks and our landlords selling our house which led to a quick move. Not to mention I trained for a half marathon through all of this and somehow managed to complete the 13.1 miles on race day. And did I mention we had a new baby?

Through all of this chaos, it would have been easy for Wade and I to forget the words that lady spoke to us almost a year ago, But we didn't. We may have barely had our heads above water at times and we may have even had our moments of doubt in what God was doing, but those simple words of "its going to get better" kept us together somehow. They were the hope that we needed to stick it out.

June 2013, these words begin to take form. Wade got a promotion. We found a house to renovate and call our own. The half marathon training was over (sorry couldn't resist). Health begin to enter our home. And Life was getting better.

Or was it? Possibly we were getting stronger.

God has a way of making things better. Sometimes it's a supernatural miracle that causes us to stop in our tracks. And other times it's a process that causes us to look back in hindsight and see all the puzzle pieces being placed in such a divine manner that it is impossible to mistaken it for anything other than the work of God.

The Process seems to be the way He likes to refine Wade and I. And this time, I think we are finally becoming okay with it.

July 6th, 2013, we celebrated our sweet River Beth's 1st Birthday in our new house. I remember standing in the back yard and watching all those that came gathered on the deck. Life stood still at that moment. And it was good. Life ~~was~~ is good.

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So here are some pictures... Enjoy.