My family

This is my most wonderful, kind, patient, loving man that I have the great honor to call my husband, Mark. He is and will always be the true love of my life. A very wonderful gift from God above, that is my husband and I thank God everyday for him.

Also in this picture is our grand-daughter Bailey. She is an absolute joy for us to spend time with her. Mark is not very emotional outwardly, but the look of his face when she smiles at him or recognizes him is beyond explanation! He would give his live for her is needed. The dog in the picture is Tessa, one of out Shi-tzus.

This is my youngest son, Alex. He is now 20 years old and in college. He is a unique creation and gift from God. He is his father's son! I know God gave him to us for a very special reason and we love him and are very proud of him. He is a strong man of God and I truly believe that God has a very special job for him.

This is my mother and father. Two of the most wonderful people that God placed on this earth. They worked hard the whole life to give my brother and myself a good life. I owe them more than I could ever repay them, and I thank God that he gave me to them to raise.

These pictures of of my brother, Carter and his wife, Allyn and daughter Addison. These were taken at is very early birthday party, 40th. Carter and Allyn are such fun to spend time with, I only wish we lived closer. And my niece, Addison, makes me feel young as we dance around the hallway. I love them all so much!

This is my father and mother-in-law with me and my husband. They live in Gatlinburg and are two of the most positive people I have ever met in my life. I am not sure of what kind of daughter-in-law I have been to them, but if I have fallen short of their hopes or have ever hurt their feelings, I know even if nothing is said, they forgive and truly forget. They are wonderful, loving people.

Below is my oldest son, Nick and his family. His lovely wife and my daughter-in-law, Nicole and their daughter, my grand-daughter, Bailey. Nick and Nicole have been married over 3 years and were together either as friends or boyfriend/girlfriend seems forever. They met when Nick was in either 4th or 5th grade at St. John's School. Nick is a teacher and soccer coach as well as a devoted husband and father. Nicole is in real estate and loves to cook and has wanted to be a mother for as long as I can remember and she is doing a wonderful job with Bailey. I am not sure what kind of mother-in-law I am, but I pray they know I am here if they need me and that I pray for them everyday. Bailey is the absolute joy of my life. I would do anything I could for her as would her grandfather, Mark and her Uncle Alex.

Well, this is my family. Family is the first institution that God created. He created it before the church, so logic would say that it is very important to him. When we leave our family that we grew up in and marry - there by joining the two families- families grow. Whether you are directly related or the "in-law" don't forget that your parents and your spouses parent and siblings are all part of your family now. And family will always be there for you, just as God meant for it to be. I know my family is here for me and I believe they all know I am here for them!

Family love is a love that is beyond explanation.

Pain

In our world today, there are so many different pains. There is physical pain, mental pain, emotional pain and heart pain. Most pains come and go. Some are worse than others, some last longer than others, and some go away completely, and still some never go away.

The ones that often don't go away are from what I call heart pain. They are pain caused by those that are close to us, those who we love and trust. Often they do not even know they are causing pain and unfortunately sometimes they know they are causing the pain. For some unexplainable reason they seem to take joy in causing the pain, like it gives the control or payback for something that really no longer matters.

How do we deal with that pain? If you go to that person, they act like it was not on purpose, or they brush it off as "you should not feel that way" or "don't let it get to you" .

Some pain is so deep that although you want to let it go, you don't know how. For some people they can just just go on and ignore the pain and the person causing it, for others it becomes so overpowering they choose to take the life God gave them. In both cases, I feel sorry for them.

As I see it, either case does not have God in their life, so they handle it wrong or don't handle it at all.

If you have a family, and you have extended family through "in-laws" you have felt the pain of the heart. Those that are the closest to us are the ones that can hurt us the most. Why? Because we open our hearts to them. We open our lives; therefore, giving them the chance to hurt us. When (not if)... when it happens how will you handle it?

Jesus tells us to give it to him, place it at his feet and forgive it and them forget it. For me, personally, forgiving is not the problem, but forgetting is somewhat harder. Some will say that if I have not forgotten it, then I have not forgiven. I disagree with that, we can forgive them and with time forget it also. As long as we do not act or bring up the hurt or try to get revenge, then

with time we can forget.

We each have our own situations that we deal with on a daily basis, happiness, sadness, hurt, helping other and hopefully healing. I will make a deal with you if you are reading this:

I will pray for healing for your pain, and you pray for healing for my pains too.

Father of all Heaven and Earth,

May God heal the pains of all those that read this blog. May each heart be open to the love of God. That each person will be filled with the loving, forgiving and healing spirit that only the God of heaven can provide.

Amen

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