Looking Back and Looking Forward

Let me start this post with my morning.....I woke up this morning very sick. I had a realllllly bad headache and the more I moved around getting the girls breakfast and dressed the sicker and more nauseated I got (don't start with the pregnant comments.....not pregnant). :) Anyway, it got so bad that I could barely move without feeling like I was going to throw up. I am never sick like that. I didn't know what I was going to do. I very slowly got dressed and had to take Charli to preschool with Chloe. It was torture getting them in the car and driving there and back. Here's a tip....I don't recommend putting two kids in the car and driving while having to take a precautionary bucket just in case you throw up. It was bad. I never threw up and thankfully when I got home I was able to eat a little and I am slowly feeling better. Funny story....I was praying OUT LOUD in the car because I truly didn't know if I would make it without throwing up while driving and at the end of the prayer, Chloe giggles and says, "Amen Jesus!"

I am telling you all this to say that since I was feeling so bad and since it is so nice I took Chloe outside (which she loves) and just sat on the porch and watched her play. It is lunch time and all i have done today is sit outside and look. We looked at the sky at birds and airplanes. We looked at the grass, bugs, dirt. I just watched her play. It was so very, very nice. It made me think of one of my previous posts of how I want to feel less frantic and enjoy my kids more. Even tho I felt bad, I also felt very peaceful and happy just to be sitting with her. I would have NEVER done that if I wasn't feeling bad. By lunch time usually I have already done SOOO much and feel so exhausted after lunch. I am always rushing around getting all this stuff done by now. Its been a nice morning not doing that. Too bad I had to get sick to make it happen. Hopefully I can force myself to do this again and pretty regularly no matter how much I think I need to do.

On another note...I have been wanting to post about our year milestone, but haven't really had the time. I have been very aware this month that this past weekend was our one year anniversary of moving here. We moved March 8 last year to begin the church planting journey. This past year has been the biggest roller coaster in every way possible. I definitely know that I can't do the year justice with words, so I really won't try. But we have swung from one end of the spectrum to the other in just one year. God has done EVERYTHING we needed and more in this year. So many blessings and miracles. I was so scared and lonely last March 8th and now I am so the opposite. Last March 8th it was just me and Justin...we felt like that's all we had. (I know we had family and friends that loved us and supported us, but we felt alone.....that terrible isolated feeling). I am so thankful now.....thankful for my friends, my church, my family, my home. I really do know now that everything is possible for him who believes. And one very cool blessing that recently happened was that we finally closed on our house this past Thursday. Justin sent me some flowers (they were delivered, which is really fun) the morning after we closed. It was so sweet and such a surprise. He is so sweet...he knows what a struggle this year has been for me and what a big deal it is for us to move so much and finally settle in a home that's ours and that we love. I am proud of him for following the dreams God gave him. And I can't tell you how patient he's been with me and how much he's done everything in his power to make everything as easy as possible on me and the girls. Now I can say its been a great year and I am looking forward to what's coming!!