it's the most wonderful time of year!

i am back, after much too long of a sabbatical. whoops. how does time fly so fast?

rather than apologize and say i need to get better at consistency (though i truly believe that i do) i am going to share what i have learned the last 26 days in my not posting period.

1. i love being unemployed.

i am enjoying my last bit of time as a student and have decided to take a break from being a working student (plus, as everyone tells me, i have the rest of my life to work!). boy, oh boy, is life so sweet this way. i get so much more done, in school work and in reading my bible and running and being a much more fun and spontaneous daughter with my sweet mama bird.

2. i don't want to do any job that requires extensive field note writing.

i'm taking a class that requires me to write field notes twice a week and, to be quite frank, by the end of the two and a half hours it takes me to document every detail i could possibly recall during my volunteer time, i have zero desire to sit in front of my computer screen again.

3. i am madly in love with my other half, jason.

i made a promise to myself to not be ridiculous, or remotely reminiscient of a hormonal teenage girl, in writing about my beau. however, he has just bloomed into quite the funny man and i am so proud to call him mine. not only do i think he's absolutely one hundred percent precious, but most everyone else does too. let me just say,

he is a TOUCHDOWN!

(he'll appreciate this being the football lover he is, although i'm much more partial to SCOREEE!)

4. mama bird = best friend for life (yep, now i'm sounding like a second grade girl)

everything that has happened with my dad has brought my family closer together and this makes me thankful. but more than that, my mom is more my best friend now than ever before. yep, she's a real life version of house, m.d. (great show!) and i'm proud to get to call her mine.

5. there is a time for everything.

God has set out a great path for me, for my family, for my beau... and i'm thankful to be a part of all of the crazy adventures that life throws our way. plus, He is providing us all with time...

a time to cry

a time to fear

a time to question

a time to rejoice

a time to thank

a time to wish

a time to embrace

a time to pray

a time to cling

a time to laugh

but in all of this time, He has given us hope, faith, and love to an endless, infinite degree. thank God for His goodness that goes so far beyond the greatest stretch of the imagination.

thank you, thank you, thank you.

in ecclesiastes 3:4-8, God lets us know about time... about how things change but about how they return... just like the swing at the playset in elementary school. back and forth, back and forth, but in the end, it's all in His control.

a time to weep and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn and a time to dance.

a time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;

a time to embrace and a time to shun embracing.

a time to search and a time to give up as lost;

a time to keep and a time to throw away.

a time to tear apart and a time to sew together;

a time to be silent and a time to speak.

a time to love and a time to hate;

a time for war and a time for peace.

yay for his perfect timing. thank goodness i'm not in charge of all this and can just enjoy the ride (as much as i want to be a planner!)

song of the day:

let it snow, let it snow

by: lady antebellum

yipeee! it's that time of year for Christmas cheer!!!

timmy timmy time

with graduation impending... well, in the next 9ish months, i have started to panic about what it is i am going to do with the rest of my life. in fact, i'm obsessed with thinking, planning, and worrying about what is to come with the end of my college looming in the near distance. i am not such why this is something i cannot seem to place in His hands since He has proved to have perfect timing in perfect plans for me, but i'm busy keeping it in my little palm.

my life, or at least one of the greatest parts of my testimony, speaks to the wonderful timing that God has for His believers. jeremiah chase, my precious littlest brother, is a blessing from God that came just when we needed him. and boy, oh boy, did we need him! but this story is just too glorifying to not be told!

in sixth grade i decided i really wanted a younger sister. oh man, did i want one. i prayed and prayed that God do what is best for our family but please, oh please, give me that little sister. a leader from church pointed me to jeremiah 29:11 and said, "amber, this is my favorite verse and i feel like it'll bless you as you pray for your younger sibling."

when getting back home i quickly looked up the verse and to my surprise it said:

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." -Jeremiah 29:11

well, He did have a plan. about six months later my parents sat my brother, scooter, and i down and let us know that we were going to begin the process of adoption. one year later, we were finally approved to have a child placed in our home. about three weeks later, we got the call. after a family vote we were on our way to the adoption agency to pick up sweet baby hallie. her and her mother had tested positive for cocaine at the time of her birth and she needed a safe place to stay. we just loved her and i was ecstatic that my little sister was here. God was perfect and He granted my prayer for a little sister. amen.

for three days we doted on her until it was time to have a visitation with her mom. a visitation that became a permanent stay from which she never returned. i was beside myself with devastation. i was livid with Him for taking away the little sister He should know that i deserve. my family really struggled to bounce back from the loss of Hallie. a family friend from church came over one afternoon and shared a bible verse with the family that she was sure would help was during our test of faith.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." -Jeremiah 29:11

with a change of our agency and about eight months we were back on track. a month and a half later, another call came and the amazing baby jeremiah was placed in our home. from the moment that we met jeremiah in the lobby of the agency building to his sweet little self wiggling at my feet on the sofa this very second (i'm visiting home for the three day weekend!), he has been a light, a hope, a blessing.

a year and two months later we stood in front of a judge in the los angeles family courthouse, jeremiah became a minegar. what a lucky family we are! so my sister, though i wanted her so badly, didn't happen. but my amazing little brother did. amen. He is good and faithful in everything that He does. hallelujah.

the bible speaks of His amazing timing. it speaks of the great things He has planned for you, for me, and for all.

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end." -Ecclesiastes 3:11

that's right, He has set out eternity. our lives are already laid out ahead of us, we just must remember to long after glorifying Him. thank goodness He has it all figured out because i sure don't.

song of the day:

in God's time by:barry scott and second wind