Waiting Patiently

We all have these moments in life where if you are not purposeful in your thinking, you just go with the flow and life speeds up with you just hanging on for dear life. Basically this is life. My lesson learned and learning right now is to hold each thought captive and try to be purposeful in my thinking, reasoning and living. Now it's a great idea this purposeful thinking but to actually accomplish such said way of life is not easy. It takes intentional living. I am not naturally inclined to live that way, I am more a fly by the seat of my pants kind of person which usually leads to sporadic messes of life situations. 1PE 1:13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.
5:8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. SSSSSOOOOOOO! The plan is to slow down and live intentionally. Enjoy each and every moment of this life and regardless of what the situation looks like realize that there is a purpose and learn from it. Blessings to each of you and your family and friends.
Donovan

PAYSON

We haven't been out of town at all this summer so we decided to go on a mini vacation up to the mountains to a little town called Payson. Here are a few pictures.

Miranda feeding ducks at a local park.

Daddy and the girls laying under a tree.

"Christopher Creek" My favorite camping site as a little girl.

Swimming at the Hotel.

Taking a walk to Walmart.

Hotter than Hades...and MINI-VANS!

Ok...maybe not really but it sure puts me in a bad mood! Anyone who has not experienced 115 degree weather is welcome to come and partake...you seriously will notice your personality change and it's usually not for the better! Ha! I made a little joke the other day..."you know you are in Arizona when you don't want to get out of your car to get in the pool!" Ok, enough complaining...I love the state of AZ!



I never thought I would say this but I want a mini van! In the west, SUV's are the big thing, however, they tend to be gas hogs and just not very practical. My parents have a mini van that we have used here and there...wow...I love it! It is so easy to put the girls in, gas mileage is not bad, and it gets the girls cooled down quickly! So Donnie and I have been a little obsessed with buying a mini van. We have one vehicle (a truck) right now and if we are going to stay down to 1 vehicle, we need something more little kid friendly. :) However, God keeps shutting the doors! Every vehicle we approach, we have prayed before hand for wisdom and God's perfect will...and the door gets slammed shut !!! So today, we decided to stop looking until we get further word from God. So patience it must be.....HELP!!!

Discussions with my 4 year old!

Here are some discussions I have had with my beautiful 4 year old this week.

While in the bathtub, Miranda and I were discussing "Tess" our chocolate lab that we are keeping for a year. I was telling her that right now Tess's last name is Gaydosz b/c that is her owners last name but once her owner marries my brother, Tess (the dog) will then become a Yoder.

This lead into a deeper discussion of who Miranda will marry and what her last name will become. She will either be Miranda Pond b/c she just may marry Skylar Pond ( a little boy her age) or it will be Sanich b/c she just may marry Austin Sanich who is 12 years old. She is leaving her options open. ;)

I also had the opportunity of trying to convince Miranda people do NOT kiss until they are married! HAHA! We'll see how long she suckers that belief! But then (as if mommy n daddy would detest this) she informed me she will not be getting married. WHEW! Daddy can breath again...whenever Miranda starts dating, Daddy says he will have his shotgun close by because "he isn't afraid to go back to jail!" Hahahah! He sounds so tough!

She also has been intrigued with Michael Jackson's death. No, she really has no idea who he is ...but ok, yes, I am intrigued with he life story so we had the t.v on about him all day wednesday. It gave me a great opportunity to discuss eternity with her and the importance of loving Jesus and living for Him!

Anyways, just wanted to share some of my cool conversations from the week!

Love ya guys!

What have I been up to???

"What have you been up to lately?" I was asked this question the other day. I responded that I have just been home with the girls. We all know what a full time job this is but it got me thinking, SO much is going on right now, but I couldn't exactly tell you what!





All I know is, GOD is up to something GREAT!





Our church has just received a HUGE miracle! Another big church called Valley Cathedral has just handed us their property, DEBT FREE!!! It is at least 3X bigger than ours. The story of how our church began 5 1/2 years ago and has gone from 150 people to approx. 2,000-2,500 people in such a short amount of time is really unheard of and is miraculous. Within the last 3 years approx 40 outreaches have started and every day many people are coming to know Jesus through these outreaches! We have busted at the seams in our already huge building that we are in so this building that was handed to us is a HUGE ANSWER TO PRAYER! Our congregations are joining together in unity. They needed LIFE in their church and we needed the SPACE they owned!



GOD IS SO FAITHFUL!!!




God is also doing something inside of me! I have been going through something very personal the past 2 1/2 years and it is something that only Jesus could help me through. I have spent many minutes during my day and night praying and reading His Word and crying out to HIM...and the Lord has taught me through this to stand on His Word no matter what my emotions are saying.My joy has increased IMMENSELY! He also has taught me a better way to deal with anxiety-Pray about EVERYTHING, Worry about NOTHING and then after that, TRUST HIM AT ALL TIMES!



I know there are many negative things going on in the world right now and the world CHOOSES to focus on the negative. But in all reality, there is MORE positive happening than negative...but it is our choice what we focus on.




This is a NEW season! If you are going through something very personal or just plain going through something difficult, I am telling you, NOTHING is too big for our GOD! But we must have an attitude of expectancy and perseverance! We have to be determined to stick with God NO MATTER what! He longs to bless His children in very personal ways and show us how He cares for us! He truly is our DELIVERER, our SHELTER, our FAITHFUL FRIEND that will NEVER FORSAKE US!

GREAT THINGS ARE HAPPENING AND GOD WANTS YOU TO BE APART OF IT!

Sharing...or Just Taking Over...Not Sure!

OK...I have been wanting to blog for a long time and even set up my own site around 1 year ago but it looked a little overwhelming for me. My husband has been encouraging me to blog and I want to , but for some reason, keep putting it off. So he just made his own blog site. He did a great job! I'm very proud of him! But, he told me the other night, to take over! Great! He does all the hard work and I do the fun stuff! Sounds good!



So, I guess I will just introduce myself as Donnie's wife, Charlotte. I love being a stay-at-home mom...it's not easy, but I am so blessed to be home with them! My interests are reading, writing, eating out, just eating, massages, pedicures, shopping by myself (that's when I do the best shopping) church, husband, and my girls.



Thank you to everyone who inspired me to have a blog (some include Sarah, Amber, Kim, Heather, Jenni, etc..) Everyone has a different style of writing and it showcases their personality.

I wish I could have just one of you to show me the ins and outs of this thing!



Thank you all for your time! Tata for now!

Mommy and Miranda. We were at a friends birthday party.


Uncle Karsten with his BOY ZADEN!

My sweet baby girl RAEGAN. I have never seen her eat like she did here. I believe she likes the chicken quesedilla.

Lake Mary, Flagstaff, AZ (BEAUTIFUL!!!!!)

Raegan enjoys her baths in the sink in the kitchen. Makes a mess but she has fun.

Cousin Zaden and Raegan were havin a blast at Raegan's 1st birthday party. Zaden alway wearing a cap.

1 year/ 4 year checkup.

Well yesterday we had Raegan's 1 year check up and Miranda's 4 year checkup. Well yeah we had to get shots! Oh baby 4 for Miranda and a finger stick. 3 for Raegan. I'll tell you right now that is the most awful feeling is holding your children so someone can stick em in the leg with injections that I am still not totally convinced we should be giving. Well we survived and moved on. Now on to the bigger project at hand, we now need to stop the bottles and formula for Raegan. Doc says by the next checkup in 3 months we should have Raegan off the bottle. Last night we decided to let her cry and start her sleeping through so we do not have to get up and rock her or get a bottle ready. Anyway come 2 AM an all out crying fit and Charlotte went to check on her, thrashing all around the bed and got up standing at the side rail where her blanket went over the side and you guessed it the little buger leaned over so upset that her blanket fell that she flipped right over the side and down to the floor. All I heard was Charlotte yelling "OH SH__!!!!! Everything turned out ok and she did not hit her head but was not ready to sleep for a little while. Well today is day 1 for no more formula and starting on Whole Milk. We'll see how everything goes.

It's raining outside right now. I have to work the next 3 days straight. Waiting to hear back from work, I have applied for a position on a telemetry floor on the night shift for a start till there is an opening on days, or I can be preceptor which is a trainer for new graduates of nursing school. Kinda exciting but nerv-wrecking trying to learn new things and adventure out of what you have been doing for 4+ years. Oh well here we go.

So here is post # 1 for me Donovan Shetler probably the only one in the world who does not know how to actually keep a blogspot up to date. My wife Charlotte is the blogger follower and loves to follow anyone and everyones' site. I must say everyone I've seen are very impressive but how do you find the time to update all the time. This will be a new adventure and am looking forward to the challenge. I think this is an awesome way to follow people's families and journeys and see how people change and grow.