A day late and a dollar short...

Don't you love sayings.  My grandmother had the craziest ones.  One of her favorites was, "All this and heaven too."  Or how about, "Close only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades."  One saying I have come to dislike is the one that people like to utter as they pat you on the back during those difficult moments.  It's always spoken in softer tones but rings loud and clear in my ears, "God doesn't give you more than you can handle."  Just writing it brings anger to my heart.  It makes me feel inadequate and less than.  Thankfully, after about the hundredth person spoke that to me and I bit my tongue so hard I tasted blood, God spoke truth to me through a very special book called Kisses from Katie.

So here it is, God DOES give us more than we can handle!  Seriously, He does!  Why, you ask.  Because if he didn't we could handle it and wouldn't need him, plain and simple.  Oh how that one truth resonated with my heart.  The last few months have provided way more than I could handle.  Way more!  Three of our beautiful children have had surgery.  My sweet Nina had her 6th ear surgery in a little over 12 months, to remove a tumor in her mastoid bone and try to get her ears working correctly.  We are struggling to make sense of all this precious girl has had to endure, take care of our other 4 kiddos, bond with our wild man who is on turbo speed all waking hours, and manage a household that includes multiple food allergies, numerous daily medications, weekly doctor visits and therapy appointments.  Uh, that is way more than I can handle, but I am so thankful that He can!  I love this passage from The Message translation,

Philippians 4:12-14
I'm just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little.  I've found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty.  Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am.  I don't mean that your help didn't mean a lot to me-it did.  It was a beautiful thing that you came alongside me in my troubles.

So, yes I have way more than I can handle.  I am thankful that I don't have more than He can handle!  And yes, I am so grateful for those who walk alongside us in our troubles.  Those who listen, pray, accept and love us in our daily struggles to raise up the blessings God has given us.  A huge shout out to Katie Davis who wrote the book and shared her heart and her story.  What a blessing to see how God has worked mightily in and through her.

More on that in a later post.  Because God really spoke to me about some other things through that book.  I'll leave you with some pictures of what we have been up to.

Butterfly Release Day

Nina's Birthday

                                                                                                  

Moges' first, but certainly not last, stitches

Happy Birthday Moges!

Katya and Katie Davis

Heaven on Earth

Until next time,

Dabney