WHEW! we have had quite the week! If it could go wrong it DID! I won't go into detail but I am sure glad its Friday! It seems like we hit these streaks where "stuff" happens beyond our control and it all hits at once. Today or this morning started off great. A pastor from our church called and said the Golden Gophers (our senior group) had some things for us for Christmas, could he drop them off. It wasn't but a few minutes and he was on our door step with bags and bags of paper products, laundry detergent, softener, dishwasher soaps, dish soaps, shampoos, toothpastes, deodorants, foil, wax paper, etc. You name it and we probably got it this morning. He also handed me card and gave me a hug and was off. The kids and I tore into the bags like it was Christmas. How could they have known that we had no more laundry detergent, haven't had napkins in weeks, on our last drop of shampoo, and of course we are always, always out of toilet paper? What an unbelievable blessing, and to top it off in the card was a generous gift of money to be used for needs for Victoria, and how could they have known that at that very moment we were down to two diapers? What an amazing way God has of blessing us just when we need it the most and in those blessings we find peace and comfort to hold onto during the times that the bottom seems to drop out of everything. As I was traveling home this afternoon from a nearby city I was on the phone to Den telling him how hard it is to trust God when the tough times come, when there seems to be no end to the testings, when you are down to your last dime, with no gas in the car, a car with a flat tire in the driveway, no $$ for food, and to top it off our main vehicle broke down on me as well! Its just been a week full of testings. . . . .I don't test well! I am not a good test-taker! and I am ashamed of my responses at times when they come. My inner soul wants nothing more than to thank God for them, that He finds us worthy enough to use these trials to move us, to refine us, to shape and mold us into individuals, a unit, a family that He wants us to be. I think its equally hard to deal with them when its "supposed" to be a joyous time of year, and that doesn't help with having attitude either. But as I sit here and think back over the week, not only did God place in our paths issues that we couldn't push out of the way alone, but we were also blessed in many ways as well. If I could be totally honest, we probably had more blessings than trials, it just seems like the trails are HUGE, yet just looking back a day or two and I am realizing that we got some HUGE blessings too! I am fighting within myself to choose the right way, the right path, the right responses; my heart wants to do the right thing, to have the right response but it doesn't always choose to come out in such a manner. It has taken a few quiet moments of reflection to realize I have so very much to be thankful for and in these moments to also as forgiveness for the responses that haven't been Godly.

As you begin this beautiful Christmas weekend may God grant you true peace in Him no matter what circumstances befall you, knowing that God works His perfect will in us.

Have a truly blessed Christmas celebrating His brith with your beloved family and friends. . . . . .