As we all look forward to what God has planned in 2010, I wanted to close this year of blogging much the same way a ribbon adorns a package...it ties it all together neatly and beautifully.:) A way of ending one chapter and starting another...or, as I try to put my blog into book form for my family (using Blurb)...a way to close out this first "book".
As I look back over this past year...my mouth hangs open a bit. Many things were not as I would have planned and...some were more painful than I thought I could endure and others were more beautiful than anything I could have dreamed up! But both came from the sovereign hand of God for our sanctification and His glory and, as I look back, I would never have wanted it any different than what God had ordained.
2009 was full of more medical adventures than we have ever had in our family before. Bryan's knee surgery and rehab, my appendectomy, the removal of Faith's tonsils and adenoids and her pneumonia,Caleb's surgery, Swine Flue, Giardia, head fungus, Strep Throat and numerous trips to the doctors for ear infections, blood tests and immunizations!
2009 was full of children....6 beautiful children to be exact. Our adoption is the highlight of our year and a defining moment in the life of the Pichura Family. A family of 6 became a family of 8 overnight and has grown into a family of friends ever since then. It is God's doing and it is beautiful in our eyes! We are a work in progress but who isn't?! We don't expect to hit perfection till glory but we are so thankful that God put us together to grow and learn as we are being sanctified!
2009 was full of God's provision. Every year is...but this year we got to see His hand at work in ways we had not before through our adoption and, even now, through Bryans time without work. We have been humbled, blessed and, most of all, reminded that what we have is not our own...it is God's. He want's us to be faithful stewards of His money as we disperse it as well as glorify His name when He provides for us through the "hands" of others!
2009 was full of laughter and tears. Tears from the physical pain of injury and surgeries, tears from the emotional pain of adoption and job loss and all the little things that creep up and remind you that your eyes are not fixed on the Hope of Glory, Jesus Christ. It was also full of laughter...the giggles of children fill our house daily! We have laughed to the point of tears over the things our children say...both those learning to speak English and those who try to make phrases they hear apart of their vocabulary!
2009 was full of trips. Trips to Seattle, California, Oregon, the beach, campgrounds, Ethiopia :), New York and Canada. Many miles were logged and many memories were made!
2009 can be summed up with a myriad of Bible verses. Daily the Lord is awakening our hearts to sin that "so easily entangles" and has tangled up in our heart. Daily He is showing us His heart of grace and mercy and, through His Word, exhorting us to walk in His love and with His heart as we serve those around us. Daily He is using His Word to transform our minds and help us to treasure what we once thought was foolishness and to regard as foolishness what we once thought to be a treasure! Through studying His Word we are confronted daily with the "Godness of God" and that changes everything! There is a verse,though, that resonates in my heart almost every week and seems a fitting way to describe this past year as well as encourage our hearts with this coming year...a fitting way to end this year of blogs....
"The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."
Job 1:21b
Comments
He is faithful!