Storeyland Update

Dear Family and Friends:

It certainly has been a while since I've written anything on my blog! I may have to do the update in 2 parts!!! When I signed in tonight, I realized that my last post was in February!! Wow, time certainly goes fast! Life gets busy with 5 children and when I decided to take a short break from blogging to concentrate on other things, I didn't realize how long that break would be. My apologies to my faithful readers who may have been a bit disappointed to see I took a 3 month hiatus! Here is a quick update to bring you up to par as to what's been happening in Storeyland!

March 2009

Rachael turned 10 on March 3rd!! We went to Amherst during March Break as part of her double digit birthday celebration. The children had a blast at the Super 8 motel which had an 80 ft water slide etc. Rachael is such a beautiful little lady. She is very artistic and creative. She is a joy to have around and is very helpful! She is a precious gift from God!

Happy 10th Birthday Sweetie!!

Rachael.....age 2

Rachael....age 10!!

The following are a few pictures we took in Amherst NS. They had an ice storm during March Break and we actually had no power at the hotel a couple of nights. We had a blast when that happened. All the guests came out of their rooms and hung out in the halls were the emergency lights lasted for 45 minutes. The children enjoyed a movie via a portable DVD player on a night stand in the middle of the hallway. I had brought a bunch of cupcakes for our children to decorate and we ended up sharing with the other children who had a blast decorating cupcakes in the dark. We shared a lot of laughter and fun that night and got to meet a lot of great people. It made our stay even more special. We took what could have been a boring night for the children and turned it into a memory they'll cherish forever.

~The children watching "Horton Hears a Who"

just after the power went out.

(This pic was taken before the crowd arrived!)

~The ice on the tree's was beautiful to see but

left quite a mess for the power crews to clean up!

It was nice to get away from the norm for a few days! The rest of March went by really fast. My precious Mother celebrated her 50th birthday on March 23rd! She is looking younger everyday!! I hope somehow I've inherited that gene. LOL My sister hosted a 50th party for her to celebrate such a milestone. We are so happy to have a praying Mother who is young enough to hang out and have fun with us. She had me in her teens and sometimes we are more like sister's than Mother & Daughter...she is very special to me :)

Happy 50th Birthday Mother!!!

~Mom and Rachael posing at her party

with the painting of a wolf Rachael did

for her 50th birthday!!

~Storeyland update....to be continued :)

Joy Comes in the Morning

I am not a morning person. I tend to wake up very slowly and slightly disgruntled. I am nocturnal, I can clean, read, pray or relax into the wee hours of the night. I love the alone time I can get when the house has quieted down after an extremely busy day and everyone is sleeping. However, being a busy mom of 5 children I am learning quickly that I need to find a solution to this little problem of mine. I wake up most mornings very tired and no matter what kind of relaxation techniques I use to go to sleep, I lay there wide awake just waiting for that blessed slumber. Most nights I fall asleep praying. I am so thankful that God hears and answers our prayers. I am learning more and more every day just how much God cares about his children.

In this troubled, superficial world we live in, we need to believe in something that is real and can give us hope. Even in the midst of tragedy, we can have internal peace and joy when we realize that we have a God that is bigger than all our problems. When God created us he placed in us a void that only he can fill. I truly believe that you'll never know true happiness until you come to know the God that created you. So many people are sick and tired of being sick and tired. Even Christians can get that way, but we have to remember that the Joy of the Lord is our strength (Neh 8:10). One of the tools the enemy of our soul likes to use against us is getting our focas on the problem rather than on the one who can take care of it. It is when we have no joy and we feel we can't face another day that we need a new perspective on our problem. I may have mentioned this quote before but it has helped me so many times that I want to share it again:

"Rather than saying God here is my problem...we should say problem, HERE IS MY GOD!"

I am so glad that the bad times don't last forever and we can have comfort in the fact that God is in the midst of life's storm with us. Recently, my family has faced some pretty tough situations but I am thankful that when the morning sun broke through the darkness of the night, riding on it's warm rays was JOY! I am here to offer you hope and encouragement to the fact that your darkness wont last if you trust God. The light of his love will break through the gloom and joy will come. If you think you've done all you can to obtain joy by the worlds standards and are still unhappy, I encourage you to pick up a Bible and start reading the book of Psalms. Try prayer, it does work and it does change things.

Psalm 30:5 says "For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favor is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. "