A Father to the Fatherless

I heard this song for the second time yesterday on my way to class and on this particular day it hit me in a different way.  The song talks about a girl who never had her earthly father apart of her life.  With Brian and I working with students, we have come to know many young girls without active fathers in their lives.  And as I listened to this song, all of their faces came to my mind.  They didn't deserve to have their fathers run off and leave them and their entire families behind and it is unfair.  But if you notice at the end of the song, there is hope.  I feel so blessed to have the earthly father that I do, but I want to be thankful every day for the Heavenly Father who never runs or leaves us.  It's so hard for me to tell these girls they need to forgive what these men (if you can even call them that) have done, but I want to give them the message of hope that they have in Christ and their Heavenly Father.  I feel so honored to have been  placed in Gretna with Brian.  I feel part of our mission  here is to show kids from broken homes that marriages can last, they aren't perfect, but with commitment and perseverance and God's strength, they can be wonderful.  And I want these girls to know they can find God-fearing men who will cherish and love them.  

"Father of the fatherless and protector of widows 
   is God in his holy habitation." Psalm 68:5

OVERWHELMED!

Dear Trip
Right now. I. AM. OVERWHELMED.  I am trying to pack for Colorado. Brian took the big suit case, i have like 5 duffle bags to choose from. My room is in shambles...It is too quiet here and I am realizing how much Brian evens me out and keeps me organized. I don't like this whole him not being here to help me.  I can't imagine if we had children and me trying to do this. I know I am just complaining, so now I am done:)

Sincerely,
Unhappy Packer

Oh How the Years Go By!

Today is January 9, 2012.  I can't believe it but it has been 6 months since my amazing husband and I joined in the adventure of marriage.  Even more unbelievable is that we have been together for 4 years already!  I feel so blessed to have this man in my life.  God knew many years ago the things I would need in a life-long teammate and I am thankful to be realizing those things thus far in our marriage.  Unfortunately, Brian is out of town so we don't get to celebrate together, but him being away has actually helped me to realize the things I love most about him.

Brian,

I hope you know how much I love you and how thankful I am for you.  God has truly blessed me by putting you in my life.  Thank you for showing me Christ's love and encouraging me throughout the years.  This new part of our journey of marriage has definitely been fun but also not without challenges :)  I am thankful for both because they have allowed us to grow together and individually.  It has been amazing to see how God has worked in your life the past four years and I feel so special to be a part of it! I am excited for what God will bring our way in the many years to come. Thanks for sticking with me!

Love,
Me

Year One

Year Two

Year Three

Year Four

Long Time No Blog

Well, it has been a while since I posted and shared whats been goin on! And let me tell you A LOT has been goin on!  December started with a trip to the ER after fainting from a bad nose bleed. It was lovely :) But this was also a great time because God once again reminded me of the amazing man he has put in my life.  Brian was so great through this experience and taking care of the me the days following the big ordeal.  Did I mention this happened the week of finals?? God obviously thought I needed a lesson in perseverance.  Brian went to campus with me and was near by while I took my tests and by God's grace I finished my finals and passed! This is very exciting because it means I now only have one more semester of college left! Though I don't know what God has planned after... I cannot wait to be done!

Christmas was a great time as well. We definitely had our fair share of Christmas as we attended six different ones between our extended and immediate families!  We also welcomed my brother Jason home for the holidays.  He was able to pull off surprising my mom, which added to the fun of the season!  Unfortunately, we were missing some key family members: My brother Ryan and his family and Brian's sister Amy and her husband Ben.  We definitely missed having all them here!

Mid-December, we had a fun visit from our friends Will and Kayla.  They were here for a job prospect which kept them busy, but we were also able to spend some quality time together!  Brian and Will met at Crown in Minnesota where Brian went to college.  The past couple years, they really grew to become best friends and ever since, our dating/engaged/married relationships have been very similar.  I really believe God had this friendship planned for a long time.  Just to give an example:  Brian and Will both bought engagement rings from Kay Jewelers about a week apart from each other and Will and Kayla also got engaged on July 4th like us just 15 minutes before us!  Though they live far away Kayla and I have been able to build a friendship as well and I am so thankful to have them in our life!

O and we also celebrated my birthday with my family on the 26th.  I turned the big 2-2! Ya, it's really nothing special :) But it was such a fun night, especially seeing my mom and dad play Guesstures for the first time!! Quite a hoot!
I know this was a very mumbo jumbo post but sometimes it's good for me to just get everything out :)

My Brother

So I hope the rest of my family doesn't feel left out but I now need to write about my older brother Jason.  He is the second of the four of us so the order is Ryan, Jason, Kelly and Me.  I feel this need because Jason is also facing a huge change in his life.  He is moving to Tampa, FL...

I will start by telling a little bit about my and my brothers relationship because it has been an interesting one :)  When we were younger, we pretty much despised each other.  I know I was the annoying little sister that always had a crush on his friends and he would put bubble gum on my blankie!!!!! Yes Jason, I am still upset haha!  Anyways, so this lasted for a while but then one day it all changed.  I remember the day perfectly.  I was in fifth grade and had just called my select league soccer coach to let him know that I would not be playing anymore.  I was kinda down... Jason may not have realized it but he made my day.  He asked me if I wanted to play a snowboarding video game.  I was so excited that he wanted to spend time with me (this was the time I should've known my love language was quality time).  So we sat there playing the snowboard game on Playstation!  This was a pivotal point because we realized we could actually hang out together.  Yes over the years we still got on each others nerves but we also grew a lot closer.

When Jason went to college, he faced some struggles that affected his life.  I am going to be completely honest here:  his struggles did affect the rest of our family and for a long time I held his struggles against him, because I was angry that they were affecting our family, but now I know that he needed to go through those struggles in order for God to bring him to where he is.  God brought him through and showed us all His grace.

Over the years, I have come to realize just how similar Jas and I are.  Which may be why we didn't get along sometimes.  He has been such an amazing brother and has allowed God to use him.  Especially in my life, Jason has really helped me through times of struggle.  He is like my dad in this sense. We can just sit down and have a deep, meaningful conversation and still end on a light hearted joke.  I am so grateful for the bond God has made between he and I.

So, this move is hard for me and I know I will cry and be sad, but I know that God is going to use him immensely.  Jason has a gift from God to tell his story and love on people like no one else I know.

Jason,

Thank you for allowing God to completely guide this decision and take a leap of faith towards His will.  He is going to use you in amazing ways!  Love you!!!

My Sister

I cannot begin to express just how thankful I am for my amazing sister.  God truly blessed me when He planned for us to be in the same family.  She has always been my sister and has become my best friend over the years.  The way our relationship has grown and evolved is only by God's grace.  I think it was destined from the beginning that we would be close.  We were born just 18 months apart, became followers of Christ not too far apart, and even got married within a year of each other!  I was so relieved to have her close through that whole process.  She was encouraging through the hard times and always there to giggle at the fun times.

We are approaching a new chapter as sisters though.  This one may be quite different than all of the others.  Yes we made a smooth transition into marriage.  We were able to split our clothes evenly and understand that we would need to make dates with each other since we now had husbands.  This next part of life, mainly for her, will be so different and I can't help but think it will be different for me too.  She will now be a mother and I will be an aunt again!  This means she will have another priority in her life and it may be harder for us to get together.  I know that our friendship will continue to grow, but sometimes its just scary to face new seasons.  This sounds selfish of me and maybe a little weird but we have gone through things together most of our lives and I guess it's just a little weird knowing we aren't going through this one together.  I love her so much and can not wait to meet this new creation.  My hope is that our friendship will grow even stronger through this process.. and that Brian and I will get to babysit lots (of course after gma and gpa have been asked already:)).  And I look forward to the day that we will maybe be pregnant at the same time!

Me and Kel at my wedding

Me,  Kel and our dad at Kelly's Wedding

I love you Kiki!!

You can see Kelly's baby bump here: http://davidandkellybebee.blogspot.com/

Maybe a glimpse of Heaven?? Chris Tomlin - How Great Is Our God (World Edition)