happy Valentines

encouragement from others...

I haven't had much to say this week so far, 

so I thought I'd leave a few links that have encouraged me 

over the past few days...

And my favorite picture of the weekend! 

LOVE when I can capture snowflakes 

(or snowflicks as Princess chocolate curls calls them) 

Autism Moms Have

 Stress Similar To Combat Soldiers

Adoptive family reunite their daughter with her foster sister

(grab a tissue) 

Does love heal all wounds from childhood trauma?

Whats in your hand?

Great read for the special needs dads out there


Autism doesn't actually lack empathy, quite the opposite

When the big picture is overwhelming...

It's time to step further in and focus on the minor details...

I was sick the first half of the week, along with Princess Sunshine

and as life goes, when mommy gets sick, everything tends to fall apart...

I was SO overwhelmed by it all and worn thin in the hardness of parenting

the broken heart of mothering broken hearts...

I knew it was time to take a step closer, and find the small, the beautiful and remember 

that if the Lord makes incredible detail and beauty in even the smallest things 

He is all the more at work creating beauty in the BIG things in life

like my children and the complex needs each one...

If He creates such elegance in the death of a flower

Isn't He even more concerned with beauty in the life of His child

Remembering that He is at work in all the great and all the small details

Every moment

and every day...

So of course in the thick of this motherhood journey, 

He is creating beauty...

He is writing His story for each of these children

and refining me

I pray that knowing that...

encourages YOU

Mountains

Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it; shout, O depths of the earth; break forth into singing, O mountains, O forest, and every tree in it! For the Lord has redeemed Jacob, and will be glorified in Israel.

~Isaiah 44:23~

preview

fall is here....

10 years old...

I can hardly believe he's ten, my little squeegee bug, my little redheaded newborn

Taye, you are growing up SO fast.

Remember to trust in Jesus all your days

remember that our joy is not found in our circumstances but in the Lord.

Remember that you are loved beyond measure...

20 months old...

I am SO beyond floored that my beautiful girl is 20 months old already, 

seems like it was just yesterday that her birth mom placed her into my arms with tears in her eyes

and such love and pure pride and joy in her heart.

I LOVE you Dolly girl!

 You are SO amazing...

Trust

a little photography

Been enjoying a little creativity and photography for a few friends...

two boys in the woods