The Show Must Go On

Meet Buster. The newest member of our family. We rescued him from a shelter where he ended up after several hurricanes in Northern North Carolina.

He definitely brings added responsibility but more importantly added joy and exuberance to our boisterous family. I'm perfectly willing to have an extra little body to bathe, take to the potty and play with if he keeps up his end of the deal, to be a loving, faithful playmate and companion to our little ones. He sits patiently watching as they take their bath at night, lays at the foot of their beds for goodnight stories and songs, follows them up on the slides at the playground and lets them lay on him, give him endless bear hugs and tail tugs and even submits to being dressed in baby doll bonnets and bows.

He comes at a time of upheaval and change as we are nearing Tim's deployment and relinquishing hopes of his completion of Sapper school this past month. In a fluke occurrence Tim came down with a condition involving too much protein in his bloodstream which almost caused him to pass out on several occasions and ultimately ended his time at the school. It was a hard hit for he and I both because we had planned and pushed and negotiated family time and training time and excitedly started him off only for it to end before he graduated and received his tab.

A year ago I would have thought, so what? Big deal. But now having experienced a taste of military life and it's trials and triumphs I am fully invested in the importance of this life of ministry and sacrifice for others beyond just our own family.

So here we stand, on the brink of one of the biggest changes in our little family's history, hopeful and sad at the same time. Knowing there will be struggle and heartache, important lessons learned and a greater sense of our deep need for Christ as a daily part of our life.

My goal used to be to avoid hurt and sacrifice at all costs, that it could not be the best thing for me, for my family. But now I see how God uses difficulties and the unknown to fashion me more like His Son, to give me a greater sense of confidence in who He has created me to be, to help me to lighten up, relax and laugh a good deal more. Some things are so much bigger than my control. So why try to avoid and counteract and run from things that are tough. This year apart can break us or make us more of a family. It's all in the perspective and in who has the last word.

"He knows the way that I take and when He has tested me I will come forth as gold."- Job 23:10