Baby Blessings

Life is hard, its messy, it's beautiful and rewarding! This year has been a roller coaster of emotions for our family.  We started out the year so excited because we were pregnant and were expecting our second child in September.  Bring in the hard and messy...we had a miscarriage in late January.  We felt like the rug was ripped out from under us, and it was a struggle to get back on our feet...emotionally speaking.  Even our precious 4 year old wasn't sure why God would take our baby back.  We kept our faith strong and hung on to one another.  We prayed and continued to celebrate the life we were living. Our sweet daughter had her 4th birthday (and her first ER visit that included sutures days before).  She performed in her first dance recital.  Jon and I continued to run together and made a trip to Austin to run with my sister.  We continued to try and pray for God to bless us with another baby.  We spent lots of time together as a family doing typical fun summer things.  We found out in August that we were pregnant.  Excited was the first emotion, but was quickly smothered by fear.  Fear that another miscarriage would happen.  Numerous visits to the doctor and the baby was growing and looking healthy.  Shout out to our OB, Dr. Scotto, she has been great and shared in our grief and celebrated our joy all while easing our minds. The pregnancy hasn't been the easiest, but I'm taking it one day at a time.  Slowly energy is returning and nausea is not as frequent.  I'm thankful! Beyond thankful! We are just shy of making it through the first trimester. While fear is still an emotion, joy and excitement has started to take a front seat. I continue to pray that God protects us and allows my body to nurture and grow a healthy full term baby.  With all that being said, we are thrilled to announce that Baby Cox #2 will be here April 2018.  

Too Much to Handle

People always say "God won't give you more than you can handle."  I completely disagree with this statement.  I'm sure you're reading this thinking, "why would she say our great God would do such a thing?"  Let me tell you why.  God desires for us to have a relationship with Him, to rely on Him, to know that He is our father.  There are times in our lives when we are faced with things that are too much to handle.  Infidelity in a marriage, devastating diagnosis, miscarriage or the loss of a child, losing a job, or maybe a lot of small unfortunate things that all add up to something big.  People are faced with tragedies and hardships every single day.  On our own, we cannot handle the situations. While we may have a good support system through family or friends, it is nothing compared to the support of our God.  He has written everyone's life long before we can begin to plan it ourselves.  He knows exactly what needs to happen to shape us into the person we are meant to be.  Difficult times are meant to bring us closer to God, to lean on him. He tells us in Proverbs 3:5, trust in Him and do not rely on our own understanding.  He brings us through the hard times when we rely on Him and allow Him to guide us in the next direction.  I say all this because I know and fully believe it.  I have had many difficult times, difficult seasons, been faced with difficult news and decisions all because it has shaped me into who I am today.  And I know there are more ahead, because God is not done with me yet.  I also remember all the great things he has blessed me with, so not only do I rely on Him in the hard times, but I praise Him in the good times as well. He is a mighty and loving God who is capable of unimaginable things. Have faith and keep the faith in good times and in bad!