Wednesday, October 31, 2012

A Decade

I am 10 years old! 

I was born again a decade ago.
 
I was raised in the Catholic church.  I went to church every Sunday and CCE every Wednesday. It was just what you did.  I never questioned the existence of God or anything, but it was just church. Other than Wednesday and Sunday, God was not a part of my life.
 
When I was about 12 my uncle was saved and he convinced my grandmother to leave the Catholic church. The Catholic church preaches salvation by works, they worship Mary, etc. Not bibilical, God honoring, or good.
 
Naturally we left too, but we didn't attend another church.
 
I always said when I was 16 and could drive, I would go to church by myself. I had a desire to attend church- it was more of a moral thing I think.
 
Then when I was 16 I began dating a boy, and he and his family attended church every Sunday.  Just what I was looking for.
 
For the first time, I actually sat through a real sermon and not a tradition filled event that happened to quote 2 scriptures during the whole shebang. I was blown away that I was learning about God. It was not just church, it was more!
 
Somewhere in late October 2002, I trusted Christ as my Savior.  On a night sometime after that, my BF's mom asked if I had ever done the sinners prayer, and I said no, but I was saved.  She lead me through it anyway, and congratulated me on my salvation.  I knew I was already saved at this point, but it was still nice. 
 
God got hold of me hard and I began changing immediately. 
 
My BF and I looked into engagement rings, (yes I was only 16, I know, but we did). His family was on board- dating is for marriage after all.  I had dreamed my entire life of being married and starting a family.  My dreams were coming true!
 
But something wasn't right. Even though I loved him and his family, I knew he was not the one God had created me to marry.  My first big act of obedience to my God was to break off this relationship.  After almost a year together, and engagement ring talk/shopping, I was single.
 
Then I was 17 and a senior in high school. I was single for the first time in my entire life, (seriously, I had a BF even in preschool. I was NEVER single).
 
Though I did not attend church this year, nor did I read my Bible really, God grew me so so much. I spent a lot of time with my Christian aunt and uncle and her parents.  Everytime we were together I asked them countless questions about my Savior.  They were church for me that year. That and worship music.  I listened to nothing else. :)
 
When I was about to start college, my friend invited me to her church. You see, I had no idea which church to go to my senior year, and I did not want to go alone so I just didn't go.
 
I went to her church and it just felt right.  I went back the next Sunday alone because her BF, (now husband), and chosen a different church. Now I was attending alone and it was oh so right.
 
A month later I was baptized. When I was saved 2 years prior I didn't understand why I needed to be baptized since I was baptized as a baby. Baby baptism in pointless.  Baptism is an outward expression of an inward change. A baby is not saved, and therefore does not need to be baptized. Baptism does not save- trust in Jesus saves.
 
I was a happy member of Cornerstone Community Bible Church.
 
I was still single, but a year later I became restless and began dating guys, knowing they were not right for me. Dating is for marriage!
 
But I had been so used to being in a relationship, and I so desired marriage, that I grew impatient.
 
Finally in 2006, despite my disobedience, God blessed me with what I had so been yearning for.
 
I was told by numerous people that my standards were too high and I needed to lower them.  Well, when I found Paul, he didn't just meet my standards, he exceeded them!
 
I lived at home for college and it was hard to try to break away as an adult when I was still viewed as a child.  We met in April and if I had lived away from home we would have married that June.  But, we did not, obviously. :) 
 
That October my sister was killed in a car accident. The next couple days I neither slept nor ate. Until about the third day, God calmed my spirit. You see, I wasn't sure if Tracie was in Heaven. Contrary to popular belief, being a good person will not get you into Heaven. You must give your life to Christ to enter into Heaven. Period. I wasn't sure if she had done that. So three days later, God revealed to me that she had in fact given her life to Him, and she was with Him in Heaven. God does not lie, so I knew she was in Heaven. After that I was able to eat, sleep, and function much better.
 
Knowing where I would spend eternity and that she was there too, was very comforting to me. I learned through this whole experience that Jesus was my Prince of Peace.  He IS the Prince of Peace, but I met Him as my Prince of Peace. After this experience I knew nothing this life could throw at me could separate me from His love and peace.

A tragedy that usually pushed people away from God brought me closer to Him.

6 months later Paul and I were married, and we have spent our married life serving the Lord along side each other.

My biggest act of obedience was in 2008 when I felt God telling me to forgo trying to get pregnant and just pursue adoption.  It was a hard pill to swallow, but when I did, it was easy to be obedient.

Looking back at the last 10 years, I see immense growth, but I have a lot more growth to do. I am so thankful that God chose to save me.  It was nothing I did- it was all Him!

Here's hoping that the next decade will prove to be even more God honoring than this one!

In this next decade, I pray that Paul and I grow closer together and we serve God even more than we have. I pray that God allows me to work for the orphan in the ways I feel He is leading me.  And most importantly, I pray Annie comes to know Jesus as her Savior in this next decade. I pray for that every night, and I also pray that she lives radically for Him, always!

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Wild Wild West

West Texas Wildflowers that is :)

We were on a walk last week and I saw these weeds wildflowers growing on an empty lot.  They reminded me of baby's breath mixed with daisies.  Why can't these weeds wildflowers grow in our yard?! I also wish they would dry like the way they look so I could keep them in Annie's room permanently.  Out of sheer boredom love of these flowers, I took some pics. :)







 

Monday, October 29, 2012

Celebrating 2nd Gotchaversary

2 years ago today, God answered my prayers, and my dreams came true!

You don't have to search too hard on this blog to see how deeply I yearned to be a mommy. This blog is full of posts, for years, of me crying about that heartache.

3 days are very special to us in regards to Annie: her birthday, her Gotcha day, and her Adoption day. We will always celebrate all 3. :) Life is good for Annie. :)


 smelling her flowers
 my camera strap was touching the flash at this moment, and it actually sparked and smoked. crazy! this pic still turned out nice though after I added a little light where it would let me. :)





 Normally I would make the cake myself, but it was just for the 3 of us- we did not need a whole cake. And besides, these cupcakes made for the unofical theme- Cinderella/blue.  side note: I usually detest grocery whipped cream icing- ick. But for the last few years, I have found that Walmart uses buttercream icing. Even though I knew this, by the looks of these cupcakes I assumed they were the yucky kind- nope buttercream! :) If you ever need to buy grocery store cakes, I reccomend Walmart!




Are those all for me?!


Little People Princesses and Prince Charming and Beast from Walmart














Sunday, October 28, 2012

Second Gotchaversary

Tomorrow marks two years since Annie moved in with us! Tomorrow we will have a little family celebration, (pics to follow). :) In the years to come we will mark this day with fun places to celebrate- like Build-a-Bear, Chuck E Cheese, etc...depending on when her anniversary falls. :)
10.29.10
10.29.11

What a difference a year makes! Look at that baby! (excuse my face...not the best of me, but this wast the perfect recreation of last year) :)
 
I will be setting the timer to try to recreate this shot again, and hopefully with a better angle of Yours Truly. ;)

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Birth Photography Memories

In the wee hours of this morning, Noah joined the world during a natural, home delivery. I was given the privilege of photographing it, and its an experience I'll never forget! Def consider home births people-they're amazing! Happy birthday sweet Noah!

Here is my post from last year that talks more about it and has a video of all the pics, well not all of them, but the ones that I deemed appropriate for the blog. :)

CLICK HERE

Friday, October 26, 2012

Time Warp

I have been blogging for almost 5 years now, (Dec 07). I cannot tell you how thankful I am for this blog and I highly encourage everyone to start one- and if you do, let me know because I love reading other blogs! :)
 
One thing that made me sad, was I had not kept up with all of the headers I made over the years.
 
Well, out of nowhere, all of the photos from my blog showed up on my phone- all of them- including old headers! YEA!
 
When I first started blogging, everyone just had the title typed in plain through blogger.  Then I started seeing some fancy headers that people were paying for, (like after a few weeks of blogging). I was not about to pay someone so I took to photoshop, and the rest is history.
 
You will get a good laugh at these headers, and  you will see how the trends changed over the years- changing for each season, etc-the first one is the most laughable- enjoy! lol
 
 There are just no words for this silly silly header! lol The next 2 are not much better...


 The first decent looking one :)

 This one and the next two came after I started writing. I had never written anything before, and all of a sudden, I was writing.  I have said many times Annie is my muse and it is so true- even in August 08- more than a year before she was born! See here, here and here.


 I was not very into this one and changed it fairly quickly...
This one always looked really nice!

This one makes me tear up to this day.  (Merry Christmas by Third Day) I was dying to adopt THEN! I dreamed that the next Christmas I could finish out the lyrics to this song which goes into, "It's Christmas time again,and now you're home..." Little did I know God would have us wait almost 2 years until that was fulfilled. I'm not sad about the timing because Annie was still a year away from being born at this time, but it is just makes me tear up remembering the pain of waiting. and waiting. and waiting. Just count how many of these headers talk about having kids...
 The first Christmas header...

I remember really liking this one :)
 ....................................










 Friday and Saturday Header
 Sunday Header


 One of my favorites! It was really busy, but in a nice way...Matthew West's "Motions."


 
 This one and the next one lasted a day...they were a trial run :)








 This post was after the snow in Houston 09
 This is def one of my favorite headers. God taught me a lesson through the snow-enjoying life and not just waiting to adopt- and this was reflecting of that. Post here.
 
 


The above two were when we were in training for adoption certification.  This one below was when we welcomed the boys, Woody and Buzz, into our home and thus became the Keierleber Characters- lasted 2 years! Yeah, 2 years of referring to everyone by nickname. I am glad that is over. :)



Then we lost the boys :( but we got Annie!!!! :)

 In this one above, and the one below- these were done while we had hope Nemo was going to join us. As we know, he did not, and you will see in 2 below, that his name is removed.


 One of my favorites!  I may have to go back to this idea because I love it so!
2012 we were planning on adopting again, Briar Rose.




 Then we decided to not adopt again and keep Annie an only child. In doing so, it allowed me to drop the characters and use our real names. :)
 I still love this one. It had a matching multi colored chevron background :)
And the current on for posterity! :)
 
 
 
If you want me to make a header for  you, just let me know! I will go with what you like and I promise you won't end up with header #1. ;)