God is Sovereign and He Can ROCK Your World!

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Where do you even begin, when so much has happened in the past few months, weeks and days?

Catalina(just turned 4) and Celeste(2) have began, and are almost complete with their transition into our family!

What began as a simple letter to request pictures of Isaac's biological sisters, has been orchestrated by a sovereign God to change our family forever!

Back in June, 2008 we felt like the Lord wanted us to try to get pictures of Catalina & Celeste. We had no idea that by mailing a simple letter, God would change our lives forever!

This journey has already been full of ups, downs and so many unknowns! The one thing that we were(and still are) certain of is the goodness, faithfulness and sovereignty of our God who loves us perfectly.

We believe that long before we even knew they existed, God had written these girls into our family! God's sovereignty had chosen them to be our children!

Psalm 139 is a scripture that is often read by or to expectant mothers. It is a passage that is filled with reassurance of God's sovereignty.

Do we really even understand what that means?

Webster's defines sovereignty as "supreme excellence...free from external control".

Psalm 139:16 "You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed."

We often say that God is sovereign, yet wake up morning after morning to figure out our day or problems of life in our own knowledge and strength. We live day after day struggling to have "control" over our lives. I am as guilty as anyone! God is teaching me the comfort in resting in HIS sovereignty. God is refining us to HIS truth. Sitting under God's truth, even when life is overwhelming, is such a safe place!

So yes...we are a family of 8! Chris, Shannan, Megan, Tyler, Emma, Catalina, Celeste and Isaac!

We are not great people who have done some supreme act of kindness! We are all part of God's plan to live the gospel and bring Him glory....by HIS grace only!

Psalm 127:3 "Children are a gift from the Lord.."

James 1:17 "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."

I Have The T-Shirt...I'm a Runner!

You read that right...I have a race t-shirt and a number to prove that I did it! 

Ok, well I didn't do it in the fashion that some of you might consider success. However, I saw the Lord do things in me that I never dreamed possible!! 

I am the girl who hated running! 

Seriously - I was the most ANTI-RUNNING person that you had ever met! 

And then the LORD shook my world! He reminded me that there was NO part of my life that was 'off limits'! 

"But Lord..."

None of my excuses worked, and I began to run.....very slowly! 

When I first began I could barely run 60 seconds! 

During my training I ran a mile! Without stopping! Now that is some miracle work from an amazing God! 

I didn't make my goal of running a mile without walking in the race. 

I could beat myself up.

I could quit.

I could pout.

OR....

I could just continue to train and be obedient to what the Lord is teaching me! Taking care of my body is a responsibility that I have ignored for too many years! 

I want my kids to see obedience not rebellion. 

I want them to all learn to treat their bodies as the Temples that they are.

So...I run! Yep, I admit it, I am a runner. 

My whole family ran! [My husband more than anyone else in the race because he ran back and finished the race with each one of us! He is Super Man in case you didn't know!]

We are runners!

I pray that we continue to run - both physically & in this thing we are living called 'life'.

There may have been a finish line in the race, but we have not yet crossed it in this life!

I will continue to be obedient. 

I will continue to ask the Lord to teach me to be disciplined. 

I will continue to ask the Lord to teach me about perseverance.

All of this is impossible without my Lord! You see, I confess to being one of the most undisciplined people you could ever meet - especially in this area.

But God is teaching me. 

Obedience is always blessed - and when our God blesses, it is beyond anything you could imagine! 

Eph 3:20 "Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think."

14 Years....Praise the Lord!

Today, 14 years ago, I married my best friend! 

Wow, that makes us sound old! Actually one of the things we joke about all the time is growing old together and what that will look like! 

For those of you that don't know, Chris and I have a "God-story" kind of marriage! We may have looked ok on the outside but we were a mess!

By all social standards...

By all logic...

We should have been divorced!

But by the grace of God, He saved our marriage! Our pastor recently asked for married couples to stand for others to see, if they were still married only by the grace of God. Our knees could not stay bent. We popped out of our seats.

We know that it was the Lord who saved our marriage, and we give him all the glory!

 Not only did He save our marriage, but he is making it into something more beautiful than I could have ever imagined! 

The Lord is sanctifying us, and continues to teach us daily how to live as a godly husband & wife.

I praise the Lord for today. 

I praise the Lord for his grace! 

If the next 14 years are as amazing as just the last...I can't wait! 

AWESOME

I think this is the first ever blog comment I have made. I just want to publiclly lift you up Shannan and encourage you in what you have begun to do. You are an Amazing woman of Faith and Humility before God. I am so blessed to be married to such a wonderful, Godly, BEAUTIFUL woman!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!! I cant wait to cross the finish line of the race with you...
Christopher

On The Sidelines OR In The Race..

So there is a lot of chatter about this 5K race that is taking place. My friend Jenn is putting together a 5K & maybe a 10K that will benefit the Child Survival Program at Compassion. Normally I would write about what an great opportunity this is for us to support an amazing ministry. Unfortunately that has already been done here and then here.

So why am I writing about this race? 

Because I am going to be in it. 

Those of you who know me are waiting for the punch line.

You see this is where I would normally make a funny joke about how I think running is sick. This is where I would normally write all about how I am going to make fun posters for my friends who are going to be running & drive along beside them in my car cheering them on. 

Simply put I do not run. Or at least I used to not run. 

The Lord has a funny way of telling us to do things that we have said we would never do! 

All of my life I have not been able to run. I was the kid who made everyone on the basketball team run extra "horses" because I would always stop.

I was the kid who tried to get lapped in PE class so I could run one less lap.

I was the kid who threw the shot put on the track team because the coaches said I wasn't "a runner".

Well the Lord is changing all of that. He has told me to run.

Right now I can only run for 60 seconds and then I am done! But hey...I am running. Run 60 walk 90...that's the plan for now.

So why am I writing all of this?

Because the Lord is asking me to do something that I KNOW I can't do! There is no way that on my own I can do this. If I am ever able to run a mile, it will be because of the Lord! 

I am scared to death. 

I am scared that I won't stick it out....maybe its the 25 years of failure that hint to this. 

I am scared that I will quit.

BUT...here is what I know....I know that God never asks us to do things that aren't for our best! God wants good things for me. God wants to teach me so much! 

So let's do this thing together in humility. If I can do this...anyone can! 

The Lord always rewards obedience! 

So I will run this race. I will finish...even if I can't run the whole time. I will ask the Lord to teach me. I will finish by His grace & in his strength! 

Let's start this journey together....8 1/2 weeks to go if you are counting.

Happy Birthday Daddy-O

You may look at this picture and wonder, "What in the world?" But if you know Chris at all, you just smile and shake your head! Only Chris would put nasty Galveston beach seaweed on his head and chase our children out of the water!

Happy Birthday to the most amazing husband and greatest Daddy in the world! I asked the kids what they loved about their Daddy and these are some of their responses....

• he is silly (imagine that)
• he dances in the kitchen with us (girls)
• he wrestles with me (guess who?)
• he takes us on dates (girls)
• he loves to spend time with us even if we aren't doing anything
• he can build things
• he is funny
• he growls at me (we imagined that's what Isaac would say)
• he plays football & catch with me
• he helps me with my homework (Megan)
• he is a hard worker (Megan)
• he is just nice (they all said that one..I will remind them of that )

It is truly a blessing to be married to this man for almost 14 years - Praise the Lord!! It is fun to watch all that the Lord is doing in his life, all he is teaching him, the leader he has become to our family!

The Lord has used Chris in so many ways to teach me...how to love, how to be more compassionate & generous. I could go on & on...

I love you honey! I used to say that I couldn't wait to grow old with you, now I will just say, "I can't wait to grow OLDER with you!"

Happy Birthday Daddy-O!

FELDMAN FAMILY HOLIDAY UPDATE 2008

What an amazing year we have had! We have seen the Lord move in our lives and in our family in a way that we could have never imagined! The Lord has refined us, encouraged us, added to our family in ways that we had no idea, and challenged us to trust him for the amazing faithful God he is! He has begun an amazing reorientation of our family to look the way he has always intended! We find ourselves at the end of this year thanking God for a year of many blessings!

For those of you who haven’t heard from us in a while, you may ask who the fourth kid in the picture is? He is our precious Isaac. You can read our journey of adoption here, or call us and we would love to tell you of God’s faithfulness and his sovereignty! Chances are if you don’t know about Isaac, then we need to catch up anyway!

Megan is in 7th grade now and doing so good! She also started youth this year. She is turning into such a beautiful young lady, both physically and spiritually! Her desire to hear God’s voice and be obedient has challenged both Chris & myself.

Tyler is in 5th grade and still in the dual language program. It is amazing how he is fluent in Spanish! Chris has actually taken him on patient visits to his Spanish speaking clients whom he was having trouble communicating with. We know that this is a gift from the Lord and we can’t wait to see all the ways that he is going to use this skill in Tyler’s life.

Emma is in 1st grade and also in the dual language program. This has been an amazing year for her, as she was drawn to salvation and was baptized! We love to be challenged by her constant love for putting God in every aspect of her life! Her childlike faith is so simple, and we could all learn from it!

Isaac is our newest precious gift! He is 7 months old, and a big boy! We truly had no idea last Christmas what our family would look like, but no we couldn’t imagine our lives without him! The Lord has also added to our family by giving us an amazing relationship with Isaac’s birth mom, Kacie. You can join us this new year in prayer for the salvation of Kacie and her family. We have no idea what this new year holds for our family! As much as we never could have predicted all that the Lord had for us last year! What we know is that God continues to reveal himself to us. He continues to show us his character, and remind us of his unfailing love! He is a good daddy God!

We pray that the Christ of Christmas will reign in your lives and hearts this holiday season! May you truly experience his abundance…his peace… his joy… his hope…..this CHRISTmas season and into the new year!