The Lord Has Met My Every Need...

    I have to take just a moment, ok a few moments, to testify about how God provided in a large way for us yesterday. For you to understand I have to give a little back story. 

 A few years ago we were in a very undesirable situation. We had lived with my in-laws for a year and then moved in with my parents. My husband had joined the national guard but was still waiting to attend basic training. He was having a very hard time finding and keeping a steady full time job, we had zero cash, and I was pregnant. On top of that we were continually going in debt because of custody court battles we were in with his ex-wife. From our perspective, things were looking dim and there wasn't much hope of change anytime soon. 

 Fast forward several months, I was 8 months pregnant, my husband had just completed basic training and was at his individual training. I went in for a normal prenatal check up with the complaint that my foot hurt. My midwife sent me to the ER to make sure I didn't have a blood clot. After an X-ray and doppler of my legs the doctors at the ER determined  I had sprung my ankle, put me in a brace, and sent me home. I knew, however, that was not the case. My foot continued to keep hurting. The next week I went in for an ultra sound, was explaining to the technician how my foot still hurt, how they had checked my legs for clots and the technician said I looked extremely out of breath and she wasn't going to let me leave until I saw a doctor because they might have missed the blood clot and it may have traveled. Well, I knew I was out of breath, but I was 8 months pregnant with my third baby and was thinking that was just the norm. 

 The doctor (not the one I normally saw) was perturbed and thought everything was fine, but per the request of the ultra sound technician, sent me to the OB triage for observation. They hooked me up and I sat there for several hours. Later that night they released me saying everything looked fine. By the time I had made my way to the car my mom was concerned about the lack of breath I had and made her way back up to labor and delivery to demand they admit me and do more tests.

 My midwife was now the doctor on call and agreed to watch me over night. They did more ultra sounds on my legs to again insure there was no blood clot. When, again, that came back normal she decided to get the cardiologist involved. He came and sat beside my bed and asked me about 8000 questions, did and EKG, which came back normal, and then decided to do and ultrasound on my heart. 

With in seconds I hear the cardiologist say to the technician, "That doesn't look good to me, does it to you?" 

 Turns out I had a congenital heart defect I had no idea about, where I had too many veins going into the right side of my heart making it enlarged. To pretty much sum up the miraculous ways God had mercy on me, the cardiologist said that had they not found this when they did, I would have just dropped dead at age 30 because of heart failure. I was 25.

 I didn't have any blood clots, and my foot only had a broken blood vessel. The pregnancy had saved my life. I was put on bed rest for the rest of the pregnancy and scheduled to have open heart surgery a few months after I delivered the baby. My husband arrived home 4 hours before I gave birth to our son. I was thankful to have him home, but that also meant that our insurance was no longer active because he wasn't active duty any longer and that we no longer had an income. 

 My husbands national guard unit worked it out so that my husband could do his 2 week annual training during the time I would need to have my surgery so it would be covered under the insurance. It worked out beautifully. 

 So imagine our surprise when we opened the mail one day to find an $80,000 bill from the surgery. We learned that some how the bill had not gone through insurance because it was showing that we didn't have any. 

 In true military fashion, they had no record of the my husbands orders for annual training. We also didn't have any copy of the orders, only a memo and pay stubs. Neither of which the insurance would accept as proof to run the bill. For the last 2 years we have been back and forth trying to find and get the orders. We most certainly do not have 80k, especially on top of the 50k we are paying in court debt. 

 Since all this has taken place my husband went active duty and the Lord has blessed us immensely. We now have a savings and are on track to be debt free in a matter of years minus this 80k dollar heart surgery bill. 

 Yesterday, my husband was randomly cleaning out his email folders while at work and low and behold found an email with his orders for his annual training two years ago!!! Just like that God wiped out our debt! I almost burst into tears when he told me. 

 There is no doubt in my mind this was God's provision and blessing over our lives. We have been praying for these orders to be found for two years. I am so very thankful for the love God lavishes on us as his children and the way he supplies our every need. There is power in prayer! God is alive! He cares about you! He cares about your needs! He is faithful to provide! Don't forget it! 

About Trust

SOOO, today I had this splendid (note sarcasm) idea to take a drive up into the mountains. It was a beautiful day, my husband had been aching to go hiking and I didn't want to be in the house all day. So it was a good idea right.

 

Off we went, or maybe I should say, up we went. The views and the scenery were indescribable. The first hour and half was great. We took lots of pictures, got out and hiked up some hills, took some more pictures, ate some snacks, laughed, took more pictures, put the kids and the dog back in the car and kept going up. 

Then the safety net of the massive pine trees lining the road started to disappear exposing the cliffs we were driving so close to, the road got narrow and very bumpy, and it started snowing! I panicked. I'm not kidding. 

My stress level went through the roof and all the sudden my husband could do nothing right. I was uncomfortable, feeling out of control, agitated, unsafe, and I just wanted to go home. I wanted to be somewhere that looked familiar. I wanted to be able to have my feet on solid ground that was not 9000ft in the air. I wanted to be in control. 

The road was only going higher and the end of the road was no where in sight. Literally, I could see the road and it was still going up and around the mountain. I kept telling my husband you have got to slow down, you are going too fast, slow down. Are you sure this road will lead us out to the highway and back home soon? I don't think it is going to. Did you make sure? Slow down, slow down. Let's just turn around.  

My husband grabbed my hand and said, just trust me Ali. I can't go any slower or we won't make it up the mountain. I'm going as slow as I can. It will take us even longer to turn around and go back the way we came at this point.  Just trust me, I love you.

Sound familiar? Isn't this how it goes in our walk with our Savior at times? Things are going well, you're going on a new journey, you're traveling up the mountain and the sights are beautiful and your laughing and talking and making memories. Then the conditions start to change. The situation gets uncomfortable, scary, and you start to feel out of place and out of control. You start to panic and worry. You forget about the beautiful trees and mountains that are all around and you start to focus on what isn't yours to worry about. You start to question if this will ever end, why you came in the first place, and how continuing could be of any relevance. 

I know that this has been the case in my walk with Christ at many points in my life. Let me tell you what I've learned from it. 

Panicking and worrying are a lot easier then staying calm and trusting. If you shut your mouth long enough you will feel your maker and creator reach over and grab your hand and whisper in your heart, "Just trust me. We can't turn back now, we've come too far. I haven't given you anymore then you can handle. I love you, just trust me."

I'm so thankful that my husband is steadfast in his love for Christ and he spoke the words of truth into my life today. I'm even more thankful that the difference between my over dramatic, freak out today and a relationship with God is that God is always sure of the outcome. 

He knows the future, the past, the present and everything I need, want, and don't have to make it through this life. I'm thankful that he is the Beginning and the End and everything in between. I'm thankful that unlike man he never changes. I'm thankful his love is unconditional and steadfast. I'm thankful that he has not given me the spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind. Most of all, I'm thankful he never gives up on me. 

We made it out of the mountains today. (Surprise, I know) In one of the little towns we went through on the way back home we found this super cute, little maw and pop restaurant that served me the best country fried steak that I've ever tasted. Wouldn't you know if I had forced my husband to turn around, I would have missed out on that tasty blessing. I also would have being feeling a lot of disappointment, tension, and guilt on top of my panic. 

God always knows whats best. Always. He is worth trusting no matter the cost. The blessing will out weigh the discomfort every time. And if your lucky enough to be married to a Godly man like me, then you're always blessed! 

Cami's 3rd Birthday

Our day in (mostly) pictures:

Of course we have to start the morning with chocolate milk

 Then we skyped with Mamaw and Pops, so they could see us open the  presents they sent us.

  Thanks Mamaw and Pops!! 

 Then Cami got in trouble. Gunnar thought it would be nice to sit in time out with her. (too sweet) 

 Cake pop for the birthday girl!

 

Off to the bookstore!! 

Cami needed to preform on the stage...

We found a very large basket at a thrift store.

Birthday lunch complete with coloring and lemons. 

Off to the Candy store!

Surprise visit from Ms. Jamie and Mr. Brad and baby triston!!

Skype with some cousins!! We also skyped with Uncle Corey and Aunt Jess but mommy forgot to take a picture.. (sorry)

Bedtime story from one of the new books

What a great 3rd Birthday! 

Clean Eating Turkey Roll

I normally sit down and make a meal plan for the week. This helps me to stay on budget and away from Prozac when it comes to dinner time. Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about. While these two faces are cute, they are always hungry. Without fail they always seem to need 800 different things at dinner time, a drink, a diaper change, to go potty, to wash their hands, help with a toy, to watch a movie and of course the dog has to go potty too. You get the idea. Thus I have found the meal plan is key! 

This week I waited until grocery shopping day to make my list. This is always a bad idea! I quickly ran to Pinterest http://pinterest.com/adetamore/ to find some easy recipes. Lucky for me, I happened upon a lot of "clean eating" sites. So, I thought, its healthy I guess. I copied a bunch of recipes and nervously wrote them on my meal plan for the week. We hadn't ever tried anything on the list or anything like it. I crossed my fingers and hoped the meals would taste, at least, okay. This is what my list looks like. 

I like to organize my groceries into categories. I feel like the shopping goes faster that way. We all know the longer we are in the store, the more we buy. 

Anyway, all that to say we had our first meal today. It was Pasta Roll-Ups with Turkey and Spinach and they were was so good! I got the recipe from here http://punchfork.com/recipe/Pasta-Roll-ups-with-Turkey-and-Spinach-Clean-Eating . 

Basically this is what you do.. 
In a large skillet you cook some cut up onions and garlic and add some ground turkey. After your turkey is cooked you add your spices, a 28oz can of whole tomatoes, juice and all. Mix it up and let it simmer, stirring occasionally and trying to break up the tomatoes. It looks like this- 

While that is simmering, cook your pasta noodles, drain and lay them out to cool off. You can also be mixing your "stuffing" together. In a medium bowl you mix one egg, 15oz ricotta cheese, some mozzarella cheese, and spinach. The recipe calls for frozen, but I bought fresh and just chopped it myself. I also used Colby cheese instead of mozzarella because I pulled the mozzarella out and it was molded. Yuk! 

I forgot to take a picture while the mix was still in the bowl. (oops) Make sure you save some of your cheese to put on top. Next you use your fingers to put the mix on the pasta. It makes about 8 rolls. (This is really fun for the kids to help with.) 

Next you put some of your sauce on the bottom of a pan. Roll up your pasta rolls and put them right on top of the sauce like this. 

After you get them all in there, put the rest of your sauce on top of your rolls and then sprinkle the cheese on top of that. 

Cover and bake at 400 for 20mins, uncover and broil for 5min and viola!

The taste is really yummy and it's healthy! The kids even ate it!