In a Year

It's December 12th and this time last year my hubby and I were stacking boxes as high as we could go into a moving truck.  It was the day before we closed on our new house in a new town to start a new life!

 

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Here we are, one long year later.  So much has happened.  Some of it exciting and a little of it, painful.  I can't complain and I won't because God had a plan and all the things that were challenging……played an important role in blessing our new lives.

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To be honest, my hubby and I have never lived our lives tucked safely behind our fears.  From day one of our lives together…..we've stepped out of all that was comfy and "tried" whatever it was that God dangled.  He has blessed us at every stop!

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During this past year we have watched our girls grow and soar into amazing young women.  Both of them taking on new and difficult jobs while working hard in college and living all alone in a different city than us.  Try that on, helicopter moms (like me) for size.  It was a struggle…..being far away and trusting God.  (Look, I'm not perfect y'all)

We welcomed in a squatter back into our home.  If you think letting them go is hard try taking them back in after they've lived outside of your home.  New challenges that someone needs to write a book about ensue.  It's hard to live with 20-somethings!  They have their own hours and while it's nice to have them under your roof….it's also a little invasive.  Sharing our home is a gift that we are grateful to be able to give. 

We've remodeled, put down floors, torn up floors, redesigned our yard, bought endless tools, gifted ourselves with awesome bikes, shopped on Craigslist & Amazon for everything, found new fave restaurants, joined Costco (buhbye Sams), worshipped in a great church, taken our first beach vacay alone, TRAVELED all over the USA, stayed in endless hotels, reconnected with high school friends, camped on a beach in INDIANA, celebrated 25 years of marriage, cried for hurting family, made new friends, bought a new (to her) car for a birthday girl, supported a young ministry family financially, fished like anglers in Texas, visited the GW Bush Presidential Library as a family, gifted ourselves with killer boots, shopped at Goodwill and other second-hand stores, hog hunted, lived apart for weeks at a time, partied it up with good friends, got richer but spent more, grew older and learned that life is very short in spite of how slowly time drags on.

We're blessed.  We're grateful.  We're so glad that we stepped out and took on a new job in a new city with great people.  Our lives have been truly enriched by our willingness to step out in faith and try something new.  A year has come and gone and we feel like we're just getting started.

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While this has been the year my hubby has worked the hardest it has also been one of our most blessed.  I look forward to what the next year holds.  If it's any better….I might explode with gratitude!

Lord,

A lot can happen in one year.  Thank you for every lesson, every moment of joy and sorrow and every day that you orchestrated for my family.  We are blessed and you are the reason.  Give us courage to try something new everyday.

Amen

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