Simply Renovated

 

 

We're in the middle of Holy Week and I feel paralyzed.  I feel like I cannot move.  The only thing moving are the tears streaming from a broken heart and what seems to be near hell around me.  As much as some people almost seem to be happy that it may seem like my "world is crashing in around" me...it's not.  Don't rejoice too fast. 

 

 

I worship a God of hope.  I worship a God who speaks truth.  I worship a God of love and of forgiveness.  I worship a God of kindness and patience.  People who do not know me ... or my heart...or my character can tear me down all they want.  Because I only care about those people who do know me...who know my heart and my character and God uses them to speak truth into my life.

 

 

It doesn't make it easy but there are many things that make it possible to get up in the morning of feeling like every limb is dead...there's the Godly man who leads me daily lying next to me who needs coffee.  There's the active and living Word of God that needs to be opened and soaked in like it is my life line.  The only thing keeping me breathing.  Then there are four incredible miniature men running wild at the break of dawn who need a mom filled with joy.  Especially today....

 

 

 

 

This little man turns 8 today! EIGHT! I cannot believe I have an eight year old.  It's incredible and sometimes I am amazed that I keep four crazy boys alive daily.  William came very quick in our marriage but we wouldn't change it for anything.  We were so young and so unprepared but our lives changed the minute the lines on that test showed up positive.  We had been married four months? We were living in my grandparents basement as we were building our home.  Talk about a crazy first year of marriage.  We were pregnant, working full time and building a house.  We moved in two weeks before we brought William home from the hospital.  Our new life began. 

 

William Scott Berenbrock...

 

photo credit Amy Oonk with Everyday Joy Photography

 

William comes from my dads name - Mark William.  Although there are a lot of William's on the Berenbrock side we did name him after my dad.

Scott comes from Brian's brother who was killed when we were Juniors in High School - Scott Berenbrock

 

I remember when we had him and we stood in the hospital my dad was holding William and he said, "how can anyone hold a baby and not believe there is a God".  Those were exactly my thoughts as we brought him home from a hospital.  I was just part of one of the coolest miracles I believe in our time.

 

William has been a WONDERFUL kid growing up.  I cannot even begin to describe his heart.  It is so tender and he wants nothing more than to please those he loves.  He loves serving...he loves learning...he loves to love.  He holds his friends dear to his heart and is heart broken when they don't feel the same way.  He is just now growing into his own individual...he wants his hair long, he has his own "style" (that makes me say, "really haven't I already raised you better?"), He loves to hunt and learn about different animals.  He is curious about the world and different countries and He loves discovering that he is growing up.  He reads his bible and loves to share those stories with us.  He loves family time and he loves to smile.

 

 

He loves to goof off and he loves coffee.  Yes he loves coffee...

 

 

He loves to sing.  At a very young age he learned the lyrics to Behold Our God and would sing them daily.  He sings hymns with me and worship songs.  He has a crazy good memory.  He can watch a movie twice and quote it for the rest of his life (he gets that from his dad).

 

He loves to still be my baby and I'll take that for as long as I live. 

I'll love you forever ... I'll like you for always ... as long as I'm living ... my baby you'll be.

 

I will cherish these forever!

 

 

 

Happy Birthday William.  I pray that you know the love of God...how long, high, deep and wide it is.  I pray that you know how to turn to Him when life gets tough and it will.  I pray that you learn to love like Christ and strive to live your life whether you become great in life or not, but that you live it to model after Christ.  I pray that you know how to get back up when you fall down.  I pray that you learn forgiveness and how to be humble and say you are sorry. I pray that you learn the art of thanksgiving and to be thankful in the hard and the easy.

I pray that you go slow in life and cherish the Glory of God which is spread throughout the whole earth. I pray that you learn to be bold and courageous and to be strong in your faith. 

 

I love you my firstborn!