Many thanks on a thankful Thanksgiving!

Well tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I just wanted to take this time to pause and give thanks. There are moments when it feels like Thanksgiving is just going to be another day. And there are moments when I am caught up with the thoughts of the day after and all the planning I have to do for next month. But to pause and think about the present and remember what tomorrow is all about brings a smile to my face and a joy in my heart.


1. John. He compliments my life so well, I truly know that God made him for me. He always makes me laugh and I always find myself in awe of him. The love he has for me is great and unconditional. He is always trying to better himself and our life. When he looks at me he looks into my heart and soul. He is so supportive and he helps me discover what I want and achieve. His humility and grace he as for life is such an amazing example to me. I love him so so so very much.


2. Tiffany. My secret lover, lol (inside joke). She is always there for me and without even saying it she knows what I am thinking. I know we can argue and butt heads but she will still be there at the end of the argument. She really is my best friend and God placed us in each other's lives for a reason.


3. My home. I will be honest and say that for the past couple of years I have always complained about my house and was always talking about the days when I am out of here. But as we all know this year the economy has not been good and I am constantly hearing about foreclosures and how hard it is for anyone to buy a home right now. It made me realize that I am so incredibly blessed to have my mortgage paid every month and I have this house. This house is truly my home. It is not the walls or the roof that make it that way but it is the memories and the love that feel this place that make it so special.


4. Cell sisters. I love all of these women. (They are not all in the photo obviously) They are amazing examples for me and they truly do help me grow each and every day. They might hate me for saying this but I love having the feeling that I have a bunch of moms. The love and help they show me is so amazing and I couldn't imagine not being able to seem them every week. They are so important that I am going to shout out all there names; Adrienne, Joyce, Wendie, Selena, Ameritia, Reyna, Shelly, Jackie, Nadine, Carolyn, and Lesley!


5. Me. Yes I am thankful for me. God has given me health and strength. I remember a day when I didn't like myself or who I was. But my relationship with Jesus has given me a new perspective. I know there is a plan for my life and the plan is good because all things work for the good and glory of God. I have purpose and I am so thankful that God has trusted me to carry it out!

"I know the plans I have for you. . ."

I don’t know who reads our blog. Sometimes I care and sometimes I don’t. At the heart of everything it really doesn’t matter. It’s nice to just blog and talk about things going on in life. They might be important or completely trivial and will be long forgotten. I know I just enjoy writing and expressing opinions or moments in my life. Yes, it is John’s blog too, but I am sure you will see that I will be the only one writing. He says it is my job as the “wifey” to keep everyone updated. I am starting to ramble so I am going to get started with the purpose of this evening’s blog.

What I am about to talk about isn’t necessarily easy. I never thought I was going to share or discuss the issue. I felt like I should write about it but every time that thought entered my mind I would be instantly bombarded with all the different things people might say and I wasn’t ready until now. I realized that it is okay to let those close to me know what is going and understand where I am coming from. And yes there is a selfish reason, I need some prayer. I didn’t want to have personal conversations with everyone that might be just a bit too painful. Okay enough of the drama and suspense, I will start from the beginning.

John and I decided – what seems like a long time ago – to have children. It was nothing we really shared because we would just share it when we were pregnant. Well I have learned over the past 11 months getting pregnant is not necessarily easy. I was okay the first few months then by May I was utterly consumed. I was reading every article possible on the hows and ways to become pregnant. I truly believe I was driving John crazy. I kept up this whole process until October. In October I started a class at my church, No Other Gods, I was like hey why not I am sure I have idols in my life. So class started and it was just within a few days that God revealed to me that I was putting fertility/pregnancy before Him and everything else. I had been trying to take control from God. John had been praying and has told me since May that pregnancy would happen in God’s timing, He has the perfect plan. I would always say I know but in my head I thought I knew better.

As I dove deeper and deeper into the class I was realizing the effect this was taking on my life. I was avoiding loved ones because I didn’t want to be around babies. I was happy in general but I didn’t have the joy of the Lord. I was letting my craving for motherhood drown me. It was slowly destroying me and the love I am to offer to everyone. I would get words of encouragement from some of my close friends and I would slap on a smile and say thank you I will take that into prayer. But of course I did not. I just could not bear going one more month hoping and then being utterly disappointed. The two people closest to me that knew what was going on was there to offer support and utter the two words I absolutely hate, “I’m sorry”. I know they meant well but the words just felt like they were stabbing my soul.

So over the past weeks God has been leading me and guiding me through this pain. I have learned to let go. I was starting to lose my identity I was wrapping it all up in motherhood – or lack thereof. He showed me my true identity is in Christ. I think as Christians there are many times in life we lose sight of that one simple truth. We forget what that moment felt like when we gave it all to Him and the weight was lifted from our shoulders. Over the past 11 months I, me, myself, has put weight on my own shoulders. I created emptiness within myself. What truly delivered me from this idol was one simple verse that I have taught in Sunday school many many times before. Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for”, declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”

The Lord knows me and He knows everything He wants for me He has my plan and He is in control. Nowhere in the Bible does my name appear, “Aimee knows, Aimee has a plan, Aimee is in control”. It is the Lord who knows, plans, and controls all things. I have hope again, something I lost for awhile, but I now have again.

Before I close this brings me to what is going on presently. As some of you might remember I was hospitalized back in June for severe pain in my right side. They thought it was appendicitis but my tests were normal. After a few days they sent me on my way and told me to follow up with OB/GYN to get everything checked through. Well since I was still so caught up with my own plan at the time I probably didn’t give it as much consideration as I should have yes I followed up I just didn't really focus on what truly was going on with me. However, at the end of October I went in and we discussed everything that is going on and the doctors believe it is possible I have endometriosis. Unfortunately if I do have this it is something I will have forever, but it is treatable and manageable and many women go on to have children. They have scheduled me to go in on December 8th to take a look and remove any endo that they can if it is there. Also while they are in there they are going check everything out and inject some dye to make sure everything is clear. I will not lie, at first I had doubts and some scary thoughts cross my mind. But God quickly whispered into my soul, For I know the plans I have for you Aimee! I truly do believe God and I know everything next month is going to be brought to light and when it is God will show His glory and more of the plan to us.

If you read all the way through this I thank you for your time and patience. I felt led to write about what I have been going through and I also want to express my apologies because I have shut people out for the last while. Please know that I love each and every one of you. I pray that if there is anything that you are dealing with similar or different and it is bringing pain into your life know that God has a plan and He is in control.

SO Much SOOO Much has been going on!!!

*long deep sigh* Heylo everyone!!! How are y'all doing? We are good, good and tired actually. If you noticed previously I was blogging about our floor project, well, it's not quite done. Almost, really close, but not done. We had to put the house at the bottom of the priority list for awhile. But that is okay because we were doing something that was special.

Last weekend our Pastor celebrated 21 years!!!! Every year at our church we do a Pastor Appreciate dinner. This year the Daily Bread Ministry (it's our Catering Ministry) took on the task to prepare the food for our Pastor and 300 church members. John and I are a part of this ministry and we were really excited that we could do something like this for our Pastor. We always go outside of the church to cater, so this in a way was our coming out party. We went big and we came big. God really blessed the team and even when we thought certain things were going to fall through God showed up. As it is says in His Word God's time is always on time. So that is what we have been doing for the past month is preparing for the dinner. We prepared so much food and it was so good. Our team was small but we put our heart in it and I personally thought it tasted so much better than catered meals. Probably because of where the effort was coming from. Below are just a few pictures that I was able to take real quick.



Lighting the sterns so the food will stay warm



Shannen checkin up on things



It's getting there



Almost there



We're ready to go



Our Pastor's table, its absolutely beautiful



The team, we look pretty awesome!!!




So that is what we've been doing the past while. Tonight is a surprise birthday party, tomorrow is Tiffany's wedding reception, and then . . . well hopefully nothing!!! I AM NOT cooking Thanksgiving dinner!!!!

Change?

Well, it looks like we have our new President-elect. Mr. Barack Obama. I was hoping for John McCain, but to be honest I knew from the beginning there was no way he was ever going to win. Look what he was up against. The United States was desperate for change. Mr. Obama has made his campaign all about change. And let's be honest the fact he is a Black man has totally helped. Yes, I am very excited that after all these years an African American is going to be President, I am just not excited about Obama. And I was really hoping color wouldn't be a factor in voting. Yes we can argue this point until it's dead, but I believe with all my heart people voted for him because of the color of his skin, and not what he could do for this country. If people did vote for him because of what he can do for this country, than that is really scary, and it means people want to change what America is about. I believe whole heartedly that Barack Obama is a socialist and he will change America into a socialist country. Hmm. . .look at the list of other Socialist countries:
China
Cuba
Korea
Laos
Vietnam

Out of those countries is there any country that you would just want to love living in? NO!!! I don't understand the logic.

What else does he plan to change? Handouts! He is going to be big on handouts. I am so assured now that if I want to be lazy and not really contribute to America he will make it ok!!

But hey at least he is green right? After all I know I am going to have a money for Hybrid. You know how I am going to get the money to buy a hybrid? From Mr. Obama himself. I am so excited for all the checks I will be recieving in the mail. Scratch that, I am going to change my bank account to his bank account. Or at least go to my bank and authorize that it is okay for Mr. Obama to make deposits in my account.

I am also deeply excited for the change on ethics. ACORN was such a great example. New ethics statement everyone, "Screw over whoever you want, unless they make less than 200,000 then give them a handout!"

And I am so glad we won't need Armed Forces anymore. Mr. Obama is going to be best friends with everyone!!!! I can't wait to have Osama bin Laden over for dinner.

The best part of his presidency will be the FREEDOM of CHOICE ACT!!! Abort your baby at anytime. It's definitely the woman's choice. No more needing to hurry up and make a decision, sleep on it for 6 months or more. When you do make the decision you can still abort your baby. I believe Mr. Obama will be performing them himself. His kids are so lucky, if they make a mistake he doesn't want them to be punished with a baby. Those were his exact words ladies and gentlemen, "If my daughters make a mistake, I don't want them to be punished with a baby." Yes everytime I look at babies I see what a punishment they are to everyone!!!

Well in all seriousness now, Mr. Obama might bring some good change. The war in Iraq, Veterans Affairs, Education, and possibly Healthcare. But I won't be shocked and saddened when there is no real change. I do pray for this country and I will now pray for Mr. Obama. I pray that he will remember his proclaimed relationship with Jesus Christ, and make changes to things he has said he will do.

Mr. Obama has made alot of promises this country. Most of them I doubt he will keep. But I have been wrong before. I am just glad that my savior is Jesus Christ. And it is in His word, Romans 13:1 "Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God."

So I will submit and follow all laws of this country, but I will not cast aside anything taught by God. The Lord has reasons for everything He does and I will trust Him even now. For God is way more knowledgeable than I or any of us. And as a believer I know I am not doomed for the Lord will not forsake me. As Christians we know we don't belong to this world system, nor should we desire it. So I pray Mr. Obama will lead this country wisely, and if he doesn't I pray we will make it.