Before leaving for Tennessee, Jonathan and I prayed for several different things, one being to have a blessed, joyful time. Yesterday, I realized that joyful doesn’t mean happy, carefree, but God centered and God focused.

Here are some highlights from our Thanksgiving week:

Wednesday – Julia fell off the front porch step and busted open her lip.

Thursday/Friday morning – Hannah was up every 1-2 hours because something I ate for dinner bothered her tummy. We were all up from 3:30-5. Started the day at 7. I woke up to: having started my cycle (what the what?!?) and a sinus headache. That lasted all day. Sweeeet….

Saturday – Julia got attacked by the family dog. You read that right. Not by Jack, mind you, but my parents’ old Golden Retriever mix dog, Buddy. Apparently, she was playing with him like she does Jack. Buddy didn’t like it so well, and in one split second had Julia pinned to the ground, teeth in the back of her head.*

Still, Saturday afternoon as we were packing, I thought “I’ve had a really good trip.” Then as I reviewed the last four days, I realized, there was a lot of bad mixed in with the good. A lot of “not happy” moments that took precedence over the “happy”. But for whatever reason, my heart wasn’t focused on those. My heart was focused on the good. And then I realized that God had answered our prayer. Our trip had been blessed. We arrived safely, we stayed unified as a couple and family, we enjoyed the company of our family – even more it seemed than usual, and God’s grace was being played out minute by minute. From keeping us joyful while the girls’ sleep patterns went askew, to ensuring the right parent was outside when Julia had both accidents (that would be Jonathan!). On our drive home last night, I listened to David Crowder Band’s new song How He Loves from their album Church Music. This song capitivated my heart and made me see that God is my great lover, the protector of my heart, the one who guides me through life and allows me to see His grace over shadowing the muck of this world.

He is jealous for me, Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us oh
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all

He is jealous for me, Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us oh,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all

He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.

And we are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If His grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
And heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way…

That He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.

Yeah, He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.

*For the record, after a nap Julia was fine. With my supervision, she petted Buddy without reservation and played with the little dogs completely without fear. Jack is still her Jack. And we realized, now more than ever, we really have to teach her about interacting with other dogs. Lesson learned for all of us!