Walking by faith...

We are SO THRILLED to be having a baby and are really excited to see where God continues to take us. It’s been such a faith walk already! I think faith stories are really important, important for those around us and important to share with the generations to come. For me, I love to hear other people’s faith story because it reminds me and encourages me that God is still moving and doing BIG things!!

God is certainly doing big things for us! There have definitely been some tough spots for us, but God has still been there all along. Today is a tough spot, so while reminding myself how far we have come, I want to share with others.

George and I have wanted children all along and we hoped and prayed that that would be in God’s plan for us. Somewhere along the way though, our mentality changed and it wasn’t about God’s plan for us anymore…it was about money and career jobs and what made sense (and maybe, even a little about what people would think of us). We found ourselves yearning for children, but saying “We can’t have kids, not until G has a career job.” We had completely put our faith and hope for a family on a job! God wasn’t a part of it all. God started working on our hearts and convicting us that He was the giver of children…and jobs…and provision.

We both knew what God was saying to us and took the huge leap of faith and obedience to truly trust in Him for our family and provision. It was exciting and a little scary all at once, but we were full of peace and completely on the same page that this is how God was leading us. I knew that if God had a baby for us, that He would provide for us too (I still believe that, but need reminded every now and then).

Though I had faith, I still felt a little jaded about other things in our life. Somewhere inside of me, I though God would tease us and that we would wait FOREVER for a baby…I was assuming at least 18 months. When it didn’t take that long, we were SHOCKED and SO, SO EXCITED!!! We loved this baby instantly and were thrilled to see how God would show up. I decided I would stay at [Stupid Baby Company] until Cocoapuff came since that’s where we had our insurance. It made things better…until my boss called me in and basically said I’d be fired (which he later back pedaled on, but didn’t tell me). That made things worse. It changed the work environment even more and added a lot of stress. Each day was and has been sooooooo hard and I just want to stay home (or run away crying, but that may have more to do with this whole raging hormones thing)! I don’t feel like it would be right to take another full-time in demand job knowing I will quit in just a few months. That just seems wrong to the company spending the time and money to hire and train someone and wrong to the possibly long term employee I’d be beating out of the position. Oh, and it's not like good full time jobs with benefits are exactly easy to find! I feel very stuck and some days God feels oh so far away!

George continues searching for jobs faithfully and working 2 retail jobs, 6 days a week. We had SO MUCH hope when he had a second interview...we could see our future stretched before us and it was goooooood! Today, George heard that he did not get that job.

As faith walks tend to be, there are ups and downs. Some days are super hard and there isn’t much faith to go around. Today was one of those days.

But things changed. Our loving family and friends have rallied around us and supported us with prayer, scripture and encouragement. I am so glad we don't walk this path alone!!

We KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt that God does have a plan for us-we also know that may mean even more painful waiting, and that part sucks!! The other thing we KNOW is that our sweet little Cocoapuff fits perfectly in God's timing. God has placed him/her in our family right now and in this world for a time and purpose. Not once have we second guessed or worried about adding a baby to the mix. Not once have we been sad or anxious about our Cocoapuff. The job part, now that's another story!

So the faith walk continues. God will show up. God is showing up...I just want the job part to be here now! Until then, we keep praying, hoping and walking by faith...we are a work in progress and so is our story.

If you have more encouragement and scripture to pour out on us, feel free!