The Start of a new School Year - Many New Things

Today marks the start of a new school year.  We have lots of new things happening in our life. 

New High School
Gonzo was hired at Ft. Worth Dunbar High School as the Defensive Coordinator.  We prayed our guts out about THE job that God had for us.  The way this job appeared was no accident and had nothing to do with Gonzo, but only God.  He provided it!  We can't help but feel great joy when we think about that.  He stretched us to a point where we laid it all down and gave it to Him.  After all, it's all His anyways!  We just have to get to a place that we can give up on our efforts that will make no difference.

New Babies
The twins are just precious!  They are such good babies and are doing so well.  Every time I look at them I am reminded of the trial that we walked through as a family while I was pregnant.  They are our symbol from now until I die of God's faithfulness.  His faithfulness to walk with us through the desert.

New Preschool
Adda is going to start preschool on Thursday.  She will be going two days a week and could not be more excited.  Mostly she wants to tell everyone she sees about her new rainbow nap mat.  God totally allowed this to happen and we are so grateful.  This will be so good for her.  And, lets be honest it will be good for those of us left at home.  One less kid will make my house seem like a library!  We are very much looking forward to seeing how God will grow her this school year.  We are praying for her to blossom and make a new friend who's family loves the Lord dearly!  She is in the same class as Abel (her cousin) so they both will have a built in friend on Day 1.

  
New Mascot and School Color (for Gonzo)
One of the most exciting parts about this new job is the mascot and colors.  You Lovington people will appreciate this.  We are now Wildcats and our colors are blue and white.  But it's not just any blue, it's the one and only Wildcat Blue!  I'm so fired up about it that I have taught Adda and Ella all my high school cheers.  It was meant to be!!!  Now I just need to get some Wildcat gear for the girls and I.  All my Wildcat stuff says Lovington on it.  That might be a little weird to show up with Lovington Wildcat shirts on at the game!

New Church
Our church is finally open.  For that last almost year we have been meeting at Fielder Road on Sunday nights.  A few weeks after the twins were born the church was ready to open for services.  On the first Sunday they turned away about 200 cars from the two services combined.  There is now a third service and God is doing big things through this campus of The Village Church!  It was been so sweet to be able to worship with my brother and Andrea.  I love that my girls will get to worship Jesus along side their cousins.


With all these new things happening around us things can't help but be a tiny bit crazy!  That's an understatement!!!  I feel like my feet don't touch the ground until bedtime (my bedtime that is) and they aren't even on the ground then!  No doubt, this has been a very crazy 6 months of our lives, but so so good!  God's love and mercy are wrapped around every single new thing in our lives.

Genesis 1
¹ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ² Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
   ³ And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴ God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
   ⁶ And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” ⁷ So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. ⁸ God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
   ⁹ And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. ¹⁰ God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
      ¹¹ Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. ¹² The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. ¹³ And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.
   ¹⁴ And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, ¹⁵ and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. ¹⁶ God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. ¹⁷ God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, ¹⁸ to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹ And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.
   ²⁰ And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” ²¹ So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²² God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” ²³ And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.
   ²⁴ And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. ²⁵ God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
      ²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,^[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
   ²⁷ So God created mankind in his own image,
   in the image of God he created them;
   male and female he created them.
   ²⁸ God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
      ²⁹ Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. ³⁰ And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
      ³¹ God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

God speaks to us in this smooth flowing rhythm telling us all about the things He has created.  He tells us throughout this chapter that "it was good" giving us a clear picture of His great love for us.  I can read this chapter over and over and feel a peace in my soul.  His love is great and IT IS GOOD!  Go back and read it in this still, smooth rhythm.  You will feel a peace and sense God's great love! 

My Granny used to say all the time that her life was "good".  And, to be honest a portion of her life was not good.  It was not how God intended it to be.  Things happened to her that were not supposed to be.  The clear picture of God's Redeeming Love is that she could see that because of HIM her life was GOOD!

When I think about all the new things that have happened to us recently all I can say is, it is good!  It's all been hard, but oh so good!    

Can you look at the hard things and know that God has it figured out anyways?  Can you step back and realize that He has a better plan than you have in mind?  Can you look at what's going on in your life and say with great passion and tenderness that it's all been good?  There is a peace in this place!

Here is a pretty sweet picture of peace!  God's plan is good!  Oh, so so Good!