Where Do I Even Begin...finished this post!

  I haven't written on this blog is so long...and so much has changed in my life! The Lord's hand has been upon every turn and change, thankfully! For by His grace I have not run away from His ways! Though at times, I wanted to run...He has kept me and guided me into wonderful paths (both hard and good ones)!  This Psalm is super comforting...

PSALM 121

"I lift up my eyes to the hills.

From where does my help come?

My help comes from the Lord,

who made heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved;

he who keeps you will not slumber.

Behold, he who keeps Israel

will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper;

the Lord is your shade on your right hand.

The sun shall not strike you by day,

nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all evil;

he will keep your life.

The Lord will keep

your going out and your coming in

from this time forth and forevermore."

I praise the Lord for all the ways He has moved me and has brought me into a new season in life!  I never thought that so much could change in a matter of months, yet the Lord loves to do the impossible and in doing so, grow us and make us more like His Son.   Here's a little list of what has been happening in the past year, all taylored-fit for me to learn how to depend upon and better know our faithful God!

Febuary 21, 2009...engaged to a wonderful man, Mark Gronotte.   He took me sking and gave me a surprise proposal on the slopes! Now the next 3 months were planning the wedding and finishing up my semester at Southern! We had so much help and encouragement along the way...thanks to my sweet family for coming all the way from Texas to be with us and for being in the wedding too (with all their kids-9!) 

May 28, 2009...We signed the papers and closed on our first home Thursday before the wedding!  This is for sure a fixer-upper home! It was built almost 100 years ago.  We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into for our first year of marriage!  But the Lord graciously opened it up for us!  There will be lost of pictures to come of the renovations we have done.   We just put our boxes in the house with the help of friends and family and came back after our honeymoon to see crazy mess of boxes!  It's been an adventure for sure! We have had lots of help from his family and friends from church!! We couldn't complete it without them! Its located just a couple blocks from our church! We have lots of friends from church who moved in nearby to help reach out to this community!! May the Lord bring many in Shelby Park to a saving knowledge of the Gospel of Christ!

May 30, 2009...we were married at our wonderful church, Immanual Baptist by our Pastor Ryan Fullerton.  By God's grace, our first kiss on the lips was at the alter, thanks for the Lord's kindness!We had such a wonderful time at the wedding celebrating the goodness of the Lord in fulfilling our desires to be married and with much anticpation to display the Gospel through our marriage! (I'll get a picture of us from our wedding soon!) 

June 1-June 7, 2009....We went to Disney World for our honeymoon!! It was a blast and a sweet joy to be with the love of my life, Mark in the funnest place on earth! :)  

June 30th weekend....We went on our first month-aversary to Mammoth Cave to go hiking! We stayed in a cute little cabin and enjoyed the beauty of God's creation!    It was such a sweet and joyful weekend!   and to our surprise we got Pregnant that weekend...we didn't know it at the time, but all dates point to this weekend!  More shock and surprise to come when we realize it several weeks later! :)

Well, the next 7 months have been dedicated to renovations on the house, working, and learning a lot of what it means to be a wife for Mark! (And feeling the ups and downs of expecting a baby!) The Lord has given us alot of grace for each other and through misunderstandings and joys we both can see the Lord's growth in us as we are approaching our 8th month of marriage! The more as time goes, the more we can see the Lord's hand in directing our lives together for His glory! 

Back in October Mark hurt his knee in a major way through teaching at his side job martial arts to kids!  He was doing a demonstration and came down wrong on his knee and tore the insides!! This put him in a brace for one month before we could get him into surgery! 6 weeks ago he had his surgery and it was a success!  This is his first week off crutches and able to drive himself to work! :) We did not expect this at all, but the Lord has shown us grace all along the way! I hate to admit, I didn't handle this very well in the begining.  However, the Lord has shown faithful throughout this whole trial and see that the Lord purposed it to do good in us and unite us in Him!  We are so thankful that Mark is on the way to recovery and is almost back to his full energy! :)  We had so much support and help through our church family and our family that we know we have been carried along by so many prayers and encouragement!  Praise the Lord for this trial, which might be the first time I have said that and meant it in my  heart! :)

I need to download pictures of my baby bump! It has grown alot by now! I'm in my 31st week of pregnancy and can't believe how much time has gone by! We are expecting a baby girl by the end of March! Oh, I see and can taste the kindness of the Lord in every detail of life!  May our lips praise Him and our hearts rejoice in the goodness of the Lord all our days!

More Pictures to come...grace and peace in Christ. :)