God is Always Good

May 15, 2014 by Aliesha

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If you’re a new reader, you may want to take a second and read this post from November, where I shared about why we left the ministry last year, and what had transpired from August to November.

Today, I’m picking up where we left off in November… no ministry position, no job, no more severance, no insurance…

I’ll jump right to the good part: Tad is starting a new job today! The job is full-time, includes benefits, and will allow him to work from home partially while doing something in his skill set (computer repairs) that he will (hopefully) enjoy!

I know you will rejoice with us and say along with us that God is good!

But I want to remind you that God is always good.

When Tad left this morning for his new job, God was good. When Tad lost his job in August (you know, the one he left his other ministry job for when I was 40 weeks pregnant with Jude), God was still good.

When new babies are born, God is good. When mothers wait with empty arms for a child, God is good.

When God provides in amazing ways and miraculously makes ends meet, He is good. When payments are missed and houses are foreclosed, God is still good.

When we are blessed with health and longevity, God is good. But just as equally, when we are sick and when people die, God is good.

When tornadoes pass over us and do not touch down in our neighborhood, God is good. When tornadoes and floods and hurricanes and fires destroy everything, God is good.

No matter the trial or the celebration, God is good, and He is faithful.

Over the last nine months of Tad’s unemployment (six months without a regular, full-time paycheck), God was so faithful to provide for our family, using His Church (the body of Christ, not one particular congregation) to meet our practical needs. Tad worked like crazy doing more part-time jobs than I can count, most of which were mind-numbingly boring. God took care of our family and gave us hope, even in our bleakest moments.

When I wrote that post last November, I had no idea that it would be another six months until Tad had full-time work. We know that God worked good in our character during that time, and we have so many stories of His faithfulness to share with others and with our children when they get older.

You may be facing something challenging today. Hold on to hope. God is always, always good!

“Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him,

on those who hope in his steadfast love.”

Psalm 33:18

“Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.”

Psalm 42:11

“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith,

we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we

rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings,

knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character,

and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame,

because God’s love has been poured into our hearts

through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

Romans 5:1-5

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Bubbles, Tree Climbing, and Family

May 1, 2014 by Aliesha

I’m so glad I married into a good family! Tad’s family is so dear to me, and I am so blessed that we are able to spend time with them on a pretty regular basis, even though we are separated by over 100 miles.

I had to grab a few photos Sunday afternoon before we headed home after our fun weekend!

We blew some bubbles…

Climbed a tree…

Played a ukulele…

And shared lots of hugs!

{ photo bomb! }

I’m glad God placed me in my “second family”!

The Zoo

April 30, 2014 by Aliesha

This past weekend we went to Richmond for a fun couple of days with Tad’s family! On Saturday, we went to the zoo, which we hadn’t visited since Vera was eight months old.

We all had a blast! The zoo is really large, with tons and tons of different animals! I was juggling kids most of the time, so I didn’t get as many pictures as I would have liked, but I’m loving the shots I did get.

Vera and Cordelia liked seeing the prairie dogs!

Isn’t Cordelia’s little ringlet so cute?

Love my girlies.

It was a gorgeous day!

This orangutan seemed like he enjoyed watching us as much as we enjoyed watching him!

This was another animal that seemed to think WE were funny looking!

Mama giraffe just had a baby on Monday (watch the birth video here!), so we were so excited to see the “little” guy (200 lbs. and 6.5 ft. tall!) on Saturday. When we first saw him, he was nursing his mom.

But eventually he peeked out so we could get a better view.

The mother seems like she is bonding with him well! She was very doting.

I got to feed some of the giraffes by hand!

Slobbery tongue!

Tad and me

My, what pretty eyes you have!

Vera really wanted to feed the giraffe too, but she’d chicken out at the last second and drop the food on the ground instead. She really liked the giraffes, though! Cordelia fed one, but was less than enthused about the slobber on her hand.

Cousin Drew had fun feeding the giraffes too!

The baby!

He was just precious.

The other baby, even more precious. 🙂

Here’s Vera trying again!

This is the dad, we think, giving kisses to his little guy.

Jude was a happy boy all day! He really enjoyed the fresh air and sunshine.

There were also five new baby cheetah cubs, which we were able to see from a distance. I may as well not even post this picture, since it’s so far away! (Here are better images of them.)