Immeasurably More

It has been a while hasn't it? Life has gotten busier with getting married and adding to my tribe! Difficulties have presented themselves pretty quickly and consistently these past two months. About 2 days after getting married, the emotional battles began. Not because of my new husband, but because of outsiders opinions about us and our marriage. God knows our hearts desires. He knows our intentions and has blessed and challenged us. The key is to not let the challenges overtake us and make us doubt God's faithfulness. My focus for this blog is going to shift a little, now that I'm a married woman. Some of what I touch on may be different than what I typically share. Maybe.... First I want to talk about.... BOUNDARIES IN MARRIAGE! Anyone call that one? Haha! Boundaries in a marriage look different than boundaries outside of a marriage relationship. I had boundaries as a single, dating woman to define myself, keep my independence and establish my character. My bas...

Hey guys! I wrote this article back in January, then felt like it needed to wait a while. I asked my friend Tyler to read through it and offer his thoughts. He's dealing with similar things right now and I really appreciate his advice and wisdom. So occasionally you'll see a note from Tyler. I hope this is enlightening and thought provoking! Every night before we go to bed, the kids and I have our special routine.  First, t hey take turns getting tucked in. Madi like s  to pray, then sing. Adam likes to sing, then pray. Madi is old enough to pray herself. We have a few things we always pray about, then depending on what the day brought us, we will add in other things. I feel it's important for the kids to develop their own thoughts and opinions about people. So we don't talk negatively about people. If you remember, that's one of my own personal standards and it's one I strive to teach my ki ds to develop as well.  “So encourage each other and bu...

I'm having a hard time starting this article. After reading through my past couple posts, I want to share something different with you. I want to share something like the first few posts. Something encouraging and uplifting. The truth is though, that I still wrestle and always will wrestle with these dang human emotions and feelings. I want to be genuine and authentic. So you are going to get it all. Not only the high points, but the low points. God is good. He is SO good. I love Him so much. I still have all my photo albums on Facebook that contain pictures and memories of my ex husband. Our mutual friends, our families, our beautiful children. There were a lot of sweet moments and memories. Even before we were together, there are a lot of great memories with my family and my friends from college. I have great memories of my childhood, too. Playing with the Riggs' boys and my friend Danielle. Those were great times. Lately I've been feeling very out of place. Feeling...

Hot dang! I thought these days were behind me. God has been teaching me so much lately. Everything has seemed to be on the right track for a couple months and His word has been speaking so loudly to me, confirming that I'm on the right track. Then today happened. Nothing really specific happened. It really was a good day with the kids. We had such great time together! Then insecurity and anger crept in like the jerk it is. Add a sappy song and it's a perfect recipe for disaster. What in the world!? I think there will just be bad days some times. Fighting the urge tonight to do anything I'll regret. It's hard. The struggle is so real! I'm thankful I have the kids tonight. Thankful I have my parent's to talk me through these emotions. Thankful that Christ Himself has experienced all the same trials He asks me to endure. He goes ahead of me in each situation. Also walks beside me, helping me along. Tonight is one of those lay-on-the-floor-and-cry-out-for-help...

That picture is from my journal today. It's all I could get out in paper. For those of you who don't know, today would have been my 7 year wedding anniversary. We are coming up on almost 1 year of separation, and 3 months of officially being divorced. I got an email notification yesterday from a family website reminding me today was my anniversary. It wasn't like I forgot. I knew it was coming. That reminder though was like a knife to my heart. Things weren't suppose to be this way. This isn't what I dreamed of 7 years ago. I fully accept responsibility for my part in how our marriage ended. I'm not playing the victim card. I've been through counseling and have healed a great deal since it all ended. I'm still human though and have emotions. I'll always remember the big dates from my marriage. I remember the dates we found out we were pregnant with each child. The dates of our miscarriages, and when those babies due dates were. I will always reme...

  December 28, 2016 I have this notebook I take to my work each day. It's full of random thoughts, scriptures and potential blog posts. It dates back to August 2016, which isn't really very long in the grand scheme, but it's amazing to see all I've been through, even just in the past couple months. I started to do better spiritually back in August, but then struggled again for a couple months. A few things I wrote about needed to be brutally edited and intensely prayed over before I could share them with you. I don't want to overshare or post a blog in anger in the heat of a moment. I don't know who all reads my blog, so I want to be super discerning and thoughtful about what I post. I don't want to speak negatively about my ex and the path he's chosen. There's no purpose in it. Of course that doesn't mean I don't have those thoughts at times. I certainly do. I give them to God. Being bitter and negative isn't going to help my s...