Recap of 2012

This year has probably been the hardest year of my life.  There has been a lot of downs throughout the year but there has also been some ups.  Through it all I have the Lord to thank for getting me through it all.  He was my rock and my strength.  As long I stayed faithful to Him, I knew that I would get through this rough pack and come out stronger on the other end.
At the beginning of the start of 2012, we were still unemployed and receiving unemployment.  To help supplement that income, my 32 year old hubby decided to go back to school.  This was a tough and scary decision for him, as he hadn't been in school since 1999.  I totally supported his decision to go back to school as I knew that it would benefit us in the future.  At the same time, I picked up a part time job at a local business.  The job schedule allowed me to drop Boo off at school while, my husband stayed at home with Baby.  The extra income from the Montgomery GI Bill and the part time job definitely help relieve the financial strain.
As my family was going through changes, so was my church family.  Our church became an independent church in January. We have been blessed to be part of the leadership team at our church.

Service at Northpointe Community Church

Hubby at his CO academy graduation

All the changes did not stop there.  In April of this year, my hubby got a job with the Nevada Department of Corrections......aka prison guard at a state prison.  We were very excited that he was able to get this job as our 6 months unemployment was coming up and we did not really want to file for an extension.  However, we knew that this job came with a lot of dangers.  He would be working with medium to maximum security prisoners.  But we knew that the Lord provided us with this job and that we should be grateful for the job.  He went through 6 weeks of academy and then started actual work on the yard.  The shift he received was actually a blessing.  He worked 1pm-9pm.  This allowed him to be home in the morning but still came home in time to get a good nights sleep.  This new schedule even allowed him to continue classes in the fall.  I also continued to work during this time.  Life was fairly chaotic at this point in time.  And I decided to take on a second job at this time to continue to supplement our income.
Life continued like this until the end of summer.  At this point in time, I found out that the academy that we had been sending Boo to would be officially closing.  This brought a lot of heartache for our family and for several of our very close friends.  We scrambled at the end of August to find someplace that we could send Boo.  But there was nothing that we could do or change.  I struggled through a lot of anger at this point.  I was deeply sad and hurting.  And this was also the point in time that I decided I wanted to break all ties with Las Vegas. I started looking for jobs for my husband in Texas, where he is from.  And I found two police departments that were hiring in his hometown.  I told him about the jobs and we decided that he should apply.

At the same time I was going through all this emotion, I was blessed to be able to have my mom come visit me.  I only get to see my mom once a year as my parents live in another country.  I love it when my mom comes to visit.  She helps me with the girls, cooks and cleans for me.  She was also able to celebrate Baby's birthday with us.  Since my mom was here, I decided to have a birthday party at McDonald's with some of our closest friends.  Baby wanted a Minnie Mouse themed birthday as that's what she got.

After my mom left I faced the daunting realization that I will be homeschooling Boo this year.  When my husband and I discussed what we would do with our children's education, we always wanted them to have a Christian education.  We did not want to subject our daughters to the public school systems.  However, I never wanted to homeschool.  I knew that I did not have the patience to teach my only children.  But I should never have said never because here I was at the end of August searching online for the best Christian homeschool curriculum there was.  I finally settled on 3 different curriculums  one for Boo, one for Baby and the third was a supplement that focused on reading.  At the front of September I started this new adventure. So far, the schooling is going well.  I am not as consistent as I should be and because of the move have fallen behind a little.  But Boo is continuing to learn to read and write this year which she is starting to really get a handle on.  Also Baby is learning her numbers and letters.  (She's not getting a handle on it as much as I thought she would.)  Its a challenge juggling a 5 year old and a 3 year old.  They are on completely different levels and I may have been more ambitious when I selected the curriculum.  I am just praying that Boo will be able to read and write and Baby will know all her numbers and letters by the end of the school year.   

The girls standing next to their desks

When I started homeschooling, I was also working the two jobs and my hubby was going to school and work.  I decided that I would quit my two part time jobs so that I focus on doing school with the girls.  Since my husband was attending school also, we were receiving the Montgomery GI Bill.  This really help supplement our finances.  Around this time, we heard back from both police departments that they would like to interview my husband.  Through the months of September, October and November, Hubby flew back and forth to TX several times for interviews, tests, and background checks.  There were several times in this endeavor that my hubby wanted to pull the plug.  For each trip to Texas, it would cost us roughly $500.00. He felt that we were not financially set up to continue to fly back and forth and also make the move if he was offered the position.  We didn't know if at some point the Lord would close the doors and we would have spent close to $3000 for nothing.  I however, was still in a funk about the many changes that had happened during the year and I persuaded him that we needed to get out of Las Vegas.  And the Lord continued to open the doors and provide for us.  On December 11th, my hubby was offered a position with one of the police departments and we were moving to Texas.  The bad news was that he would be starting work on the 28th of January.  This only gave us 6 weeks to get everything in order.    

But the Lord has been good to us.  We are now leaving in a week and have been able to get almost everything in order.  Not only that but we have been financially blessed throughout this whole adventure.  We have put very little on the credit cards.  Also we are looking at making the move all in cash.  Every obstacle that we thought would slow us down turned out to not be an obstacle at all.  I have to give God the glory for everything that he has provided for us during this time.  I didn't know how we were going to make it when we had no job, I didn't know how we were going to make it when hubby got the new job that paid 1/3 of what were what we were making, and I didn't know how we were going to make it when the Lord told us we had to move in 6 weeks.  I don't know why I ever doubted the Lord.  My pastor's daughter wrote something in her blog that really made a lot of sense, "At the end of a trial we never tell ourselves "Wow, I'm sure glad I stressed my way through that one. It might have had a different outcome if I hadn't!"  So true.  So true.  I actually elaborate more on this in my other post, so I won't go too much into detail here.  

So we have only 8 more days here in Las Vegas.  I have enjoyed the adventure that we have had here.  At the beginning of September, I was itching to escape from here.  But as my time in Las Vegas ends, I find myself realizing all the things that I am going to miss and all the things that I loved about living here.  I know that the Lord has something bigger and better for us in Texas but leaving a place that you have called home for 4 years is always bittersweet.  I look forward to the new adventures that I will be venturing on in Texas but my heart will long for the family that I am leaving behind.  

Ramblings about my devotions

One of the things that I try at the beginning of the new year is to start a bible reading plan and a devotional.  Enviable, as the year goes on, I go off track and just read whatever passage I can.  This year, as a Christmas present, my hubby bought me a Kindle Fire.  I am hoping that with this new tool, I will be able to stay on track better this year.
I love my new Kindle and I subscribe to several email listings that email me free ebooks that are available for that day.  One of them is called Spirit Filled Kindle.  When you subscribe to the emails, you get several emails a day with at less 4 free or discounted ebooks.  You might be wondering what I am rambling on about.  Well I mention all this because one of the books that I bought for free is called Near to the Heart of God: Meditations on 366 Best Loved Hymns.
This book has a short devotional for each day of the year.  The author ties in the day with a hymn that concedes with that date.  Then the author has the lyrics of the hymn and a scipture verse that supports that hymn.  For the 9th and 10th of January, the author has Trusting Jesus and Anywhere with Jesus.  Both of these hymns hit home with me.
As most of you know, my husband found a job in his home town.  We will be moving from Las Vegas to Texas in 8 days.  This is a very hard change for me.  When we moved to Vegas, I thought that this was where God had settled us for good.  However, with the events of the past year and a half, we discovered that is was not the case.  The Lord was just using this as a launching pad for us to move us back to family.  Many of you may be wondering why this is such a hard change for me.  Some of you may even be asking why would you want to live in the Sin City Capital of the World.  Well, the only way I can answer this is by saying that I have come to love this city as my home and I have come to love my church as my family.  My heart is crying on the inside because I am yet again moving and leaving those that I love dearly.  My church family has done more for me and my family than some people's biological family will even consider doing for them.  As the days get closer to moving, my anxieties of starting over and finding people that will love me and my family seems daunting.  However, as I read these two hymns tonight, I realize that I need to trust Jesus and that I would follow Him where ever He leads me.  Below I have the lyrics the hymns:

Trusting Jesus:
Simply trusting every day,
Trusting through a stormy way;
Even when my faith is small,
Trusting Jesus, that is all.
Refrain:
Trusting as the moments fly,
Trusting as the days go by;
Trusting Him whate’er befall,
Trusting Jesus, that is all.
-Psalms 28:7
Anywhere with Jesus:
Anywhere with Jesus I can safely go,
Anywhere He leads me in this world below;
Anywhere without Him dearest joys would fade;
Anywhere with Jesus I am not afraid.
Refrain
Anywhere, anywhere! Fear I cannot know;
Anywhere with Jesus I can safely go.
-Joshua 1:16
I know that the Lord has His will mapped out for my life.  I know that by following His will for my life, my life will be full and I will lack nothing.  However, this does not stop me from worrying and stressing.  But These two hymns and something that I read on my pastor's daughter's blog today has made me realize that I need to completely trust Him and be willing to to follow me anywhere. Because I rather be anxiety and be where Jesus is then unstressed but not have Jesus.  As the lyrics say "Anywhere without Him dearest joys would fade."  Even with all my anxieties of the move, I would never want my joy to fade.  Therefore, I will follow and trust Jesus into Texas.