Can anyone explain this??

Today, as we walked into our house after spending the afternoon at a family get together, we noticed something unusual on our shed roof. Any ideas on why the snow fell off the middle and not the ends?? :)

Little Soldier of the Lord

For Christmas this year, my husband and I gave our almost 3 year old nephew an armor dress up set. More specifically, an Armor of the Lord dress up set!! Check out his cute fierceness!!

Brandishing his Sword of the Spirit!

Big smiles!

He knows how to protect his face with his
helmet of salvation!!


Check out his fierce warrior look!!

A lesson in trusting the Lord.

There are some days when I really need to be reminded that God is in control. And Thursday was one of them. I had spent the afternoon Christmas shopping with a girl from my youth group in a city about an hour away. I had a work Christmas party that night, so time was short and we were in a rush most of the afternoon to make it back in time for the party.

After I got home and was frantically changing into clothes for the party, I came to a dead stop in the middle of my kitchen when I looked down at my left hand. My engagement ring was missing!! As any normal married/engaged woman would do, I FREAKED OUT. I began running around like a chicken with its head cut off, frantically shaking through the clothes I had just changed out of, digging through the garbage and the bags of items I had come home with, and searching the corners of the floor and under hutches and shelving units. I definitely reached my heart rate for the day....

Because of my work party, I only had about 10 minutes to scour the little bit of my house that I had been in since getting home, so, needless to say, I didn't find anything. And decided I'd be better off going to the work party and then coming home to search more. That way I'd avoid being more upset at the party than I would have to be.

After what seemed like an agonizingly long dinner with my co-workers, I hurried home and began the search again. This time digging out my trusty Mag Lite flashlight and searching in every nook and cranny inside, digging through my purse, sweeping the floor, dumping all of my Christmas gifts out on the floor and shaking out the bags they were in, and practically crawling back and forth along our walkway outside (in 5 degree weather), as well as hunting through my car, car trunk, and the ground all around my car. All to no avail. I then called all four of the business that I had shopped in that afternoon, and gave them my phone number and the information regarding my ring. None of them had seen it or had anything turned in. I found myself in tears, terribly upset, and wanting nothing more than to talk to my Mom.

God knew what He was doing when He gave us mothers....she was able to listen to my dreadful story and sympathize with my raging emotions. And she prayed with me. Prayed that the Lord would be glorified through this somehow, and that He would direct us to the ring at just the right time. And that it would be a testimony of how great our God is and that He is in control of every detail of our mundane lives.

I finally decided to go to bed, after talking with my hubby, and he promised to help me look harder in the morning, when it was light out. Then he left for work (he works the night shift). So I was left to my own racing imagination and anxious ponderings of the outcome of my most precious gift of love. So I turned to the Lord. I begged Him to help us find it somehow, but I also asked Him to help me have a good attitude, regardless of the outcome. Even if *gulp* we never did find my oh-so-special ring that carried a hundred memories and was a public declaration of my husband's love and commitment to me. I also spent time focusing on verses such as:

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."
Prov. 3:5-6

and

"It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man."
Psalm 118:8

I also had a song running through my head from when I was a kid. The words to it say,

"When I am afraid I will trust in You, I will trust in You, I will trust in You. When I am afraid I will trust in You, in God whose Word I praise."

I found great comfort in these, and though it wasn't easy, I commited the fate of my ring to the Lord, and restlessly drifted to sleep.

The following morning I was having a rough time getting ready for work without tearing up at the thought of losing my ring for forever, and yet continually telling myself that it was just a material possession and not that important in light of my eternal destiny. As I was wrestling with myself mentally, Joe came home. He walked through the door saying my name in such a way that I knew something had happened. And indeed it had -- he had found my ring!! It's amazing really. After praying about our situation all night at work, he had come home, taken two steps from his car door, and "just happened" to look down at the ground and saw my ring. Amazing. God is soo incredibly good.

And it gets even better...

My mom had prayed about my situation after getting off the phone with me, and she had specifically asked the Lord to show her through what she read in the Bible that night whether or not I would find my ring, all the while feeling a little silly about asking God to do something so bold. So she opened her Bible, and her reading for that night was on the Shepherd and the Lost Sheep, and how he searched for it until He found it (Luke 15:4-7). Coincidence? I think not....God knew. And He led Joe's eyes just to the right spot to find it. And I am forever grateful to Him!!

And I plan on getting my engagement ring and wedding band sautered togehter as soon as possible....

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!