The Acorn....I Had No Idea How True This Would Become!

Photography by ~CC

Around the month of May/June of the year 2000, my husband's job required him to travel extensively. This meant our family would only see him one to two weekends a month, and the extent of this travel was unknown. We imagined a minimum of one year at the time. Needless to say, our family was very emotional and sad about losing the daily Dad and Husband that we were accustomed to having since we were married. Dad felt the same way too, yet it seemed a necessity.

On the way home from the airport I stopped at my favorite restaurant to eat dinner. Shuffling through the gift shop later I found these wood-like acorns. I remember picking one of them up, and holding it at an angle...trying to remember what the acorn symbolized. I asked a lady in the shop, she said it represented strength. I quickly picked up five, one for each of our family members. I wasn't quite sure what for, but I would later return home to write the following verse:

"Our Family Oak Tree"

On the day that Daddy left for Arizona, I found these acorns. As soon as I saw them, I knew they were to symbolize something for our family. There is a saying, "From the strength of a tiny acorn, a mighty Oak tree grows".

I felt like I needed to buy one for each of us. Because from this tiny acorn size experience with Daddy being away for so long...our family will grow stronger like a mighty Oak tree!

I want all of us to carry this acorn in our pockets to remind us when it seems really hard...we can do this! Our strength comes from the Lord. And this little acorn is a reminder of that strength!

Someday soon...God will remind us of how He brought us through this time... It will be a pleasant reminder...not a sad one. We will remember how much love and support that we gave one another... It will prove to each of you children that a family rooted in God will never grow weary! And....with both Dad and Mom trusting firmly in HIM, It will prove to you why you need to believe and trust HIM more in your lives. And...why you want to make the same commitment to marry someone that believes as you do. It will show that suicide is never an option...and why when things seem hopeless, they are not. It will remind you that there is always hope for tomorrow...as long as your strength is rooted in HIM!

With God all things are possible...His word tells us that! This little acorn can mean many things to us. A sign of a stronger tomorrow...and a security knowing that things will get better! But, most importantly, it will remind you that our strength in each day we take in breath...it is a gift from The Lord! I'm excited to see how fast our oak tree of strength will grow...but especially excited to see how fast our tree will grow...and how soon Daddy will come home! We will have many blessings to share.

Always believe...And never let go of the Lord.... Your Momma

I relocated this verse shortly after my husband returned home an exhausted and broken man...full of regret and in a place emotionally that I'd never seen him in. A matter of fact, our entire family was in a place emotionally that none of us had ever been in.
While sitting there alone reading the words of this letter that I'd written to our three children nearly two years earlier, it was as if God was now reminding me of the very same things... "I would have a sign of a stronger tomorrow", "With God "all" things are possible", "Suicide is never an option", and "When things seem hopeless...they are not", and "There is "always" hope for tomorrow". After reading the entire letter again, I sat there barely able to speak. God had known even back then when I wrote this letter to our children that someday in the future he'd use that same letter and the same words he inspired me to write to them...to encourage me. How does one not know that God isn't real when something like that happens? To me, that was my encouragement to know that no matter what we would face as a family, we'd face it together. We were injured deeply, all of us. But, we weren't down for the count, we'd get back up on our feet, in time. And we did!

Today is a Beautiful Day! My husband, myself, our daughter and our sons are ordinary people trying to continue to find and live an extraordinary life. God gave us all a second chance. In many ways, it's like being afforded to live a life after a death occurs. Today I still come across this verse that I wrote. Each time I do, I am amazed at how true every one of those words have become to our lives.

Does this all mean that we have lived happily ever after? No... But, it does mean that we live in reality now. At one time, my entire family thought we had the "perfect" family. I thought I had the "perfect" husband, my children thought they had the "perfect" parents (in some ways) =) ......but, we were not perfect. We were each flawed... enough to make us realize our deep need for Christ in our lives. And it was this same need for Christ that gave us our hope that one day again we would all be OK! We are all OK, some days we are better than OK! And some days we aren't so great, pretty normal. Now, we live to learn more of what God wants of us. Who is it that He wants us to learn from next? Who is it that He wants us to care about and pray for? Life is all about choices. We only live this life once, my heart's desire is to not waste any more time making the wrong choices. Yet, the somber and merciful reality is that if I, or any of my family, do make a wrong choice...Christ will be right there to pick us up, brush us off, and lovingly and with much grace will be there to forgive us. Life isn't always about having second chances, it's sometimes about having a third, and a fourth, and so on...
Job 4:4Your words have comforted those who fell, and you have strengthened those who could not stand.
Staying in this most BEAUTIFUL Sunny Fall Day with you! ~CC