Here is my awesome family as of April 28th, 2019! Our previous family picture was taken 2 years ago just before we lost our son, Clayton, on April 19th 2017. In this recent photo we have our newest blessing. Our baby Faith is a few weeks old. There is nothing like a new baby in the house! And how special that she was born in April. God is good!

  Below is our family photo taken two weeks before our son Clayton's accident. We had no clue what was soon to happen. But God has a way of preparing us for what we can't see coming, and is always there with us in the midst of the storms. He is our anchor. Our refuge and strength. To read all the blog posts since our son's death click here.

 Thank you for following my blog. I hope it has been an encouragement and blessing to you. And please share with your friends.  I would love to reach as many people as I can with hope and encouragement.
​ In Him, Mae

  May we keep in mind that the opposition and tribulations we go through in life can produce some of the greatest fruit in us. They can cause us to face  things and do things we could not have done had we not had that opposition, tragedies, or tribulations.  These things will make us go running to God. They will make us pray. And make us to increase our faith. We often view opposition as a bad thing, and it can certainly feel that way. But these things can  be an opportunity. An opportunity for more of God's blessing in our lives. And an opportunity for our growth, and to be an out reach and blessing in someone else's life.
 Even in the unbearable seasons of life, He is nearer than we often think. He promises to never leave us nor for sale us. So let's keep praising. Keep worshiping. Keep believing. Keep Loving. Keep trusting.
 ​ In Him Mae

 Here is the latest book I am reading. It has been very encouraging to me, and some of the inspiration for this blog post was from this book. I highly recommend this book, Restart Your Heart by Jetezen Franklin, to anyone who has been hurt by things in life.
​I have yet to read Jentezen Franklin's book, Love Like You've Never Been Hurt. Jentezen refers to that book many times in this one, as well has excerpts from that book. So I would recommend both books.

  With Mother's Day just around the corner I thought I would share this acronym I put together for purposeful mothering.
 Mothering is a huge responsibility and one of the greatest roles we can have in life. In Christ, we can do this!
​    Purposeful Mothering
P - Parenting with a purpose and vision in my mind.
U - Utilizing and using what God has given us for the job He has given us to accomplish
R - Reason, routine, rules, and relationship ( remember rules without relationship breeds rebellion. )
P - Priority setting, portraying Christ in all things, pointing them to the Father
O - On the job 24/7, open and honest with our children
S-  Showing the Saviour by our lifestyle, serving others, spending quality time
E - Effective child training, pouring all our effort and energy into it knowing this is an eternal investment
F - Faithfully fulfilling our God-given destiny
U - unity - being and working in unity, and striving to have a strong family unit
L - Loving unconditionally, learning continually, and listening intently to our children​

​

​M -  Making the most of every moment, modelling a Christ-like life, mindful of the things that matter most
O - Others that a mother puts before her own needs
T- Teaching by example, training our children in the way they should go, taking every opportunity to talk about the goodness and faithfulness of God
H -  Holding our children's hearts, and drawing our children to the heart of God
E - Eternal investment, effort, and establishing lasting and meaningful relationships with our children
R -  Risking everything for the kingdom of God, Relentless - her love for her children will never die, resting in God
I - Investing our time and energy, investing in our children's future and souls, insisting on good attitudes
N - No moments are wasted, no time is lost, nothing is done in vain
G - Guiding our children, guarding our children's hearts, and                                                        giving our children our undivided attention

 I know how hard a job mothering is, and that we mothers need all the encouragement we can get. And as a fellow mom of 9 and raising my children for God as best I can, I want to be that encouragement for you.
You can do this. God made you for this.
Seek Him wisdom, guidance, and direction as you mothering your sweet blessings He has given you!
 Keep strong in Him,
Mae
 P.S. You can check out my little book I have made just for mothers to be an encouragement and inspiration for you. More Than a Mother.

The role we play
​
We have a role to play to be on the receiving end of God’s peace and blessings.

Isaiah 26:3-4  (KJV) 3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. 4 Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength:
 God is the one who keeps us going. He is the one who gives us peace, and not just peace, but perfect peace. He is the one who heals our broken hearts, restores, and gives us joy again.
God gives us hope. He gives us strength. He gives us comfort, and the courage to keep on going. And keep going strong. He gives us a new lease on life.
But we have a role to play, and a job to do in all of this.

  We have to make the choice to trust Him. To rest in Him. To believe Him. To stay in His Word.
 To believe His Word. And trust His Word, that what He said He will do. Trust Him for who He is and what He does. Keep holding on to faith. And keep hoping.
To choose joy over self-pity.
To choose to go through.
To keep our heads and eyes lifted up to Him.
To let go of our own strength and wisdom and seek His.
To keep trusting and believing that He will do His part and keep us in perfect peace.

 Good thoughts and inspiration only come from being in His Word, and communing with Him. Oh, the peace we often forfeit and needless pain we bear, the only because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. And because we do not seek God, draw unto Him, read His Word regularly, and keep our minds on Him, and on the things above.
 What the world gives us is short term and temporal.
 What God gives us is long term and eternal.
 The world gives us band-aids or a quick fix.
 God gives us complete and perfect healing.
 The world gives us pleasure to make us feel good for a short time, but often that brings about even more problems in the long run.
​ God gives us that which will outlast this lifetime.

 Here is our newest baby! A Girl!! Faith Irene, weighing 7 lb.s and 5 oz.s
Born via c-section on April 2nd, 2019.
Now we have 5 boys and 4 girls!
And I am now not only the youngest of 9, but also the mother of 9 too!
 The delivery went great. Wow, c-section is sure faster and easier than going through the long hard labor I have been use to. But the recovery process slower, and I am certainly more sore. But doing good. And baby is all healthy and eating and sleeping great!

 I was in the hospital for 2 days after the birth. The children sure were happy to have me and baby come home! You can see their joy and excitement in these photos. There is certainly nothing like a new baby in the house! And no better gift to give your children than the blessing a new brother or sister.

 Do you know what you're having?
  We never find out head of time if we are having a boy or girl, so the big gender reveal is at birth. Sometimes we have had a strong feeling one way or the other during pregnancy and we have been right. This time Paul felt it would be a boy, and though I had felt right off to begin with it was girl, I nearly lost that hope near the end due to him being so certain it was a boy. But she was a girl!
    The name Faith came to me shortly after I knew I was expecting. I had just had a miscarriage the month before. And when I found out I was expecting again, though I do not recall how it cam to me exactly, rather by a dream or just something that pooped in my head, it was like I was told by God we were going to have a baby girl and her name would be Faith. Something that was really neat was that I ended up with 3 wall hangings all about at that same time with the word Faith on them. I thought that was really cool. I have 5 in all now.
 Though along the pregnancy I did wonder if we would end up with a girl after-all. So I would often say I am holding out faith that this baby will be Faith.

  Since we were not completely sure our baby would be a girl we did not have a middle name ready, though I had played around with a couple names, but none I was really satisfied with. And honestly I really didn't hold out too much hope at that point for a girl anyway. Paul and the boys were all very confident we were having a boy. I was out numbed!
 So how and when did we get our middle name?
 Well the day she was born we started thinking of names. And asked others what they thought sounded good with Faith. We were given many great ideas, but really I wanted a name with a special meaning, something that meant life or restoring of life.
 With this new baby right from the beginning of pregnancy I was over joyed that God gave us new life again after loosing our son Clayton in April of 2017. I didn't know if He would bless us with another baby or not, though I was hoping. Especially with the baby being due in April was very special too. It was like God giving us a new date in April. One with good memories.
 So back to choosing a middle name.
​  We googled names that meant life or restoration of life. And there was several, but none really seemed right. Then in the evening after Paul had gone home for the night, he sends me a text and ask what i think of the name Irene. Now Irene is one of my middle names. I would never ever thought of using it. It just never came to me, and I certainly didn't know it had any special meaning. But guess what, Paul said he googled it and it means peace.
​ So what did I think of Irene knowing it means peace? I told him I thought it was great! So Faith Irene it was!

  And the more I thought about the name Irene and how it meant peace, the more I realized just how special, meaningful, and very appropriate it was. 
 Peace and faith go together wonderfully! It is when we have complete faith and trust in God that we will be at perfect peace. 
   Isaiah 26:3-4 KJV ) Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the LORD for ever:for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength:
 
  And that is what God did for us after loosing Clayton. We had faith in Him, that even though we could not understand or know why this happened, we trusted Him just the same. And with that trust and deep faith in Christ, in return He gave us such deep peace and loving comfort. It was amazing the peace I felt right after our tragic loss. The pain still very real, but a deep and underlying  peace that one can not even begin to describe, and that only God can give.
 And God is still doing that for us. We keep trusting and believing that He is working all things for our good. And He keeps giving us peace and joy. Only in God!

  What are you going through that you wonder if you can even keep on going? What are you trusting God for? What is it that has you barley hanging on? Do you feel like you've almost lost all hope of anything ever changing in your circumstance?
  Please keep believing, keep trusting, and keep up your faith in God that He is in control and that He is working all things out for your good. ( Romans 8:28 ) 

 Keep your mind on God and the things of God. Keep in His Word. And he will give you peace and comfort. And a reason, a purpose, and hope to keep going!

  In Him, Mae
 P.S. Please feel free to contact me if you would like someone to talk to as you are going through a rough time in your life. I would love to be an encouragement and support to you. And offer the comfort God has given me.