Here I raise my Ebenezer

last week we were lapping up Estes Park, Colorado … and someone might have taken a bazillion pictures, and that someone might be posting half a bazillion of them soon.  just because i am that girl and because i could not get enough.

never, never, not ever, ever could i get enough of this glorious place. every experience was my new favorite and every turn was more majestic than the one before.

i would move there tomorrow if i could pack up my life and everyone in it…not even joking. 

we squeezed every ounce of each day hiking trails, scouting for animals, wading in creeks, peeing in woods…basically all the touristy Texans seeking adventures one might think of.  but one of our favorite experiences was not on a map or in a guidebook…

it was our family building an Ebenezer

Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Jeshanah, and named it Ebenezer (Stone of Help); for he said, "Thus far the LORD has helped us."  1 Samuel 7:12

Samuel erected a stone to remember God’s help and restoration, to declare His faithfulness through a time of pain and suffering.

today is a BIG day…a celebration of life and victory and the God who poured Himself out so these could be ours. today is the one month birthday of Ella Kate & Bennett, Jamie & Zach’s precious twins, a milestone of milestones.

and today is today because God is a Helper to the helpless and a Healer to the hopeless. and He is always these things, even when life breaks our hearts wide open.

so while in the national park our family built an Ebenezer in honor of Ella Kate and Bennett … to commemorate all that God has already done on their behalf.

almost daily, Davis and Berkley express concern and offer prayer for their youngest friends… so this was a special way for them to participate in loving and giving thanks to God for them.     

Come Thou Fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it,
Mount of God's unchanging love.
Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Hither by Thy help I'm come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Celebrating His ceaseless streams of mercy today.

Happy ONE MONTH Birthday Ella Kate & Bennett!

we rejoice over your little lives, dear ones. you are loved.