Joy

It has been awhile since my last post because life has been crazy busy. I don't know if you all know but I have been homeschooling my oldest son (Eli) and we have been finishing up our school for the year. In the midst of this my mother has been really sick and we are still going to doctor's appointments to figure out what is going on with her and her stomach issues. She finally gets to have a endoscopy done June 27th! I'm still a little angry that we have to wait that long but there is nothing that I can do about it. It is really out of my hands, and God has been teaching me about patience throughout this ridiculous process! I know He is in control and that He works all things for His glory!

 On top of all of that my sweet Grandmother died almost a month ago and the loss of her has been very sad but joyous all at the same time. Hence the title of this post, JOY. My grandmother had a stroke in January and had slowly gotten so bad that she could no longer swallow anything but thickened liquid. And while I hate that she is no longer here for me to talk to and love on, I have great JOY in knowing that she is with my SAVIOR, and that I will see her again! She left this world with the majority of my family around her holding hands and praying over her. It was one of the first times that I had felt pure joy in months of watching her suffer and slowly deteriorate. She was a wonderful woman who loved the Lord and her family, and I'm so thankful that she helped lead and guide me for the majority of my life! I'm so blessed that God saved her, and that she lived her life teaching me to love the Lord with all my heart. I'm so full of JOY that the Lord saved me, and unworthy sinner, and I pray that he will use me to instill that same love for Him in my own children's hearts!

So blessed that I got to hold this sweet soft hand when she left this world and meet Jesus! Thank you Lord for that sweet moment of peace!

Apples Apples Apples:)

Today our family took a little day trip to Skytop Apple Orchard to pick apples and have fun with the kids! We had a blast! It was our first experience there and it did not disappoint! Micah loved all the pumpkins that were out everywhere for the fall and Eli loved the apple trees and the wagon we ended up pulling the boys around in. I'm so thankful for these precious family moments that God blesses us with all the time. I'm so blessed to have a loving husband and 2 cute and spunky little boys to consume my time here on this earth! Here are some pictures from today. Enjoy!

Micah turned 1

My youngest turned 1 year old on September 18th! Micah Daniel Golob brings so much fun and joy to our family! We were so excited to celebrate his birthday with friends and family! He had a mustache bash and he was adorable! Although my husband keeps telling me that this party was more for me than Micah since he won't remember it, but at least he will have the pictures to look back on when he is older! Hopefully he will appreciate the work mommy put into celebrating his life! So here are the pictures! I hope you all enjoy!

Birthday Boy!

Cake and cup cake table

Micah's birthday invitation- made by my friend Lara Eller

I could not have gotten this all done without this precious friend! Thank you Sarah for all your help!

My daddy and Micah:)

Uncle Matt and Micah...see he can be a sweetheart sometimes:)

My sweet Eli

My brother and Emma

My sweet friend Amanda that let us use her house for Micah's party! We are so grateful!

Love this picture of Micah, but bad angle for me! 

Micah and Sadie

God gracious love

As several of you know my mom had knee replacement surgery on September 5th. It has been a long journey of recovery for her and I am thankful to my God that she is still here and improving daily. For those of you that don't know she could have died due to complications and infections but by the grace of the Lord she is still here and now at home and continuing to get better. I'm so thankful for this blessing!

As for my daddy, well... he is having a harder time breathing these days and for those of you to know him, know how stubborn he really is, and he refuses to go to the Doctor. So I'm in continual prayer for him and the ability to be graceful and loving when I try to speak to him, even though what I really want to do is hit him over the head and drag his butt to the doctor!

But through all the crazy God has been gracious! My parents are still here, I am still standing and fighting the good fight! Some days are harder than others. Its hard seeing your parents and knowing that you have to take care of them now. I remember as a child thinking to myself, "I can't wait to grow up so that I can live on my own and make my own choices." Man I had no idea how easy I had it! I miss the days where I was always taken care of by my parents, and when I was sick there was always someone to take care of me and make me feel better. Its so funny that as we get older our roles change, and we become the caregiver. We have children of our own that we must take care of, and as a mom you never have the day off no matter how bad you feel! And then eventually our parents are the ones that need to be taken care of and as good loving children we are taking care of our beloved parents, who used to take care of us. But through all of it God is gracious! He has graciously given me 2 wonderful loving parents who would die for me if they had to do so. He has graciously blessed me with  a wonderful husband who loves the Lord and loves me, and takes care of our family. He has graciously blessed me with 2 beautiful boys when there are so many women that can not have children. He has graciously given us a wonderful church body with wonderful brothers and sisters in Christ!

So even in the midst of the storm God is graciously pouring His love out to me and it calms my soul. Things could always be worse, so take each blessing and thank Him for it! So today I'm praising the Lord for all my blessings. I'm praising Him that though things are hard He still keeps me even though I don't deserve Him.

2 Corinthians 12: 9

And He has said to me, 

"My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness."

Most gladly, Therefore, I will rather boast

about my weakness, so that the power  of

Christ may dwell in me.

Thankful that God is my strength

So life has been crazy busy and stressful these last 2 weeks. My mom had her knee replacement done September 5th. She came through surgery well and they moved her to the cottages for rehab that following Monday. Even though she made it through surgery well all of the pain medicines have made her very sick and it is hard for her to keep anything down. She was also doubling over in pain more than normal, so of course they immediately thought blood clot, thankfully it was not a blood clot. Then they found an infection in her knee, so she is now on high powered antibiotics along with all of her pain medication, needless to say it has been a really ruff few weeks for her. I hate seeing her this way but I know that the Lord has a plan for everything that is happening now, and I am just trusting in Him!

In other news, Eli had his first day of co-op on September 9th. So we are now officially a homeschooling family! I'm just thankful that he likes school! He even wanted to do school this past Saturday! Oh my what a nut! I told him that we don't do school on the weekends, hopefully he will eventually be ok with this, because this mama needs a break for her mind to rest! Here are some pictures of Eli's first day of school, he was just too cute, so I took lots of pictures!

We also went downtown and walked around Falls Park as a family and here are some pictures of our adventure!

Its also been an emotional day for me missing this sweet man I had the privalege of calling Grandpa. It has been 4 years since he passed away and I still miss him terribly. Praise the Lord that I will see him again in glory one day!

And to top off this day my baby turns 1 year old tomorrow! I can't believe it has been a year already! God has blessed me so much I don't even have words for it other than, I am not worthy of it and I'm so thankful that God blesses me anyway! Even in my struggles He is there! Mercy what a Savior! I'm so blessed to be a daughter of the King of Kings!

God bless,

Autumn