As the New Year rolled around, Jon and I began talking about things we wanted to do more intentionally. One of them is read / Bible Study. To that end, we just purchased a book by Donald Miller called "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: How I Learned to Live a Better Story." He wrote the book, "Blue Like Jazz," which Jon really enjoyed and which I intend to read. As we read the book and discuss it together, I hope that we can uncover ways that we can "live a better story" as a individuals, a couple, and as a family.

For Christmas, I received a book from my sister-in-law. One afternoon the kids were out front swinging, so I brought my book out to read it on the front steps. Amara came up to me and said, "Mom, I didn't know that you liked to read books." She adores reading; a passion I want to encourage. Similar to my purpose in running -- to set a good example for the kids -- I need to follow that mantra with books as well. I do love to read -- I just haven't taken the time to do it in over a decade.

Boy... write it like that and it seems like an eternity!

In my journey to live a better story, there are a few things I hope to do...

1) Journal it. I've never been much of a journaler or a writer -- however, I do believe that there's power in the written word. If you write it, you do it. I hope/plan to write and/or blog as I do each of the items below.

2) Bible Study and Christian Reading - I want to read more books, but I want them to be books with a purpose. I want them to be encouraging, inspirational, and challenging of my status quo. I want to become a better person because of the books that I read. That said, I need to also focus on personal Bible Study, not using books, no matter how Christian, to take the place of the Bible.

3) Date Nights - I want to be more intentional about Date Nights both with Jon as well as with each child. I have some willing participants at church who would be willing to do a "child swap." I need to pursue that more intentionally so that we each can benefit from date nights at least once a month. For each child, we've begun a list of things we'd like to do together - some free, some cheap, some a bit more of a splurge. I did a couple "date days" with my daughter over Christmas, which were really more like errands, but they meant the world to her. I need to be intentional about spending one-on-one time with each of them.

4) Eating and Exercise - During October and November last year, I was very intentional about eating and exercising as I prepared to run a Half Marathon. I felt great about my finish, my performance, and the impact it had on how my clothes fit. :) However, like in the past, once I was done, I stopped being intentional. I've signed up for another race in March, and I've got to recapture the efforts both in my eating and my exercising. This is not only a great example for the kids, but I know it pleases Jon, and I feel so much better about myself and life in general when I'm taking good care of myself! Not to mention, my vitals are improved -- when I took our company's health assessment, my bad cholesterol was so low it didn't register (I have had high cholesterol in the past), and the assessor said he'd never seen such strong numbers! (Of course... he may have just been telling me that to make me feel good!)

5) Relationships - At our New Year's Day church service, we were challenged to pray over one area of our life where we could stand some work, and ask God to help us improve. I wrote down the broad category of relationships. Starting with God; my relationship with Jesus Christ is sometimes pretty one-sided.... and I'm not talking about me putting forth the effort. I know He's always there, but I'm often lax and don't show up. This also will include my relationship with Jon. We did a small group called "Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage" last semester and really were surprised by some of the thing we learned about each other, and also were shown ways to be more intentional about the "little things" so that we could live life more smoothly. My relationship with my kids is probably the most "solid" on a day to day basis because they're still young - while I anticipate those relationships to become rocky through the teen years, I also know that the best way to minimize that is to invest the time now -- hence the date nights. And finally, relationships with friends -- I've always had a lot of acquaintences, but not a lot of friends. I'm good at keeping people at a distance, because I've convinced myself that if they knew the "true me" they wouldn't like me. Get behind me satan - that's not a lie worth believing. It's a lie that leads to loneliness. In our new home, new church, I've met some wonderful people who I believe will become great friends. I need to be intentional in those relationships to nurture the friendships.

So how does this all look on the blog?

Honestly... I have no idea.

I'm really not feeling the pull to blog right now, and in my mind, I kind of prefer the crude paper / pen approach. I'm not sure though, because typing is so much easier and faster. So it may be a bit of both.

At this point, I'm leaning on "If you write it, you do it" -- so here it is.

That... and my friend Reese told me to blog again. :)

We'll see where it goes from here!

Wow.

What an insane past 5-6 months. In February I received a promotion. In March the kids and I moved. In April, May, and June, Jon commuted. In July, we finally closed on both houses - one to sell, the other to buy.

I will say with complete honesty, it has been some of the most excruciating 5 months of our lives. Neither of us have faced a string of challenges such as we faced during the relocation. Truth be told, everything is not yet resolved, but it's getting there. I won't detail everything that went wrong... but suffice it to say that literally everything went wrong.

Yet.... without question, without hesitation... God absolutely showed up.

And that gave me peace.

And that's what I *will* share.

I hear so many people tell me that God had a hand in their move -- He answered prayers to sell their house, find a house, find a job -- just smoothed the way for everything. I don't doubt that -- not one bit.

But.... what about when the way isn't smooth? What about when every little thing goes wrong. What if there's a battle waiting to be fought at every corner? Does that mean God's NOT in the move? Does it mean we're not acting in accordance with His will? I will say it's easy to let your mind wander down that path. And it's probably a good thing to ask Him -- to be sure that you really are on the path He intends.

My short answer: Just because you're in God's will doesn't mean He promises a smooth path.

Look at Job. I'm quite sure that book of the Bible was written to remind me during the past few months that God's there even in challenging times.

But here's the beautiful thing: despite the ridiculous challenges, God showed up in ways that were unquestionably Him, and undeniably assuring us we're going the right way; doing the right thing.

With every single move we've made -- and that includes 7 states now -- it has taken us a minimum of 6 months to find a church. Our last place we never did find one. Here... the first week.

When we lived in NY, we had a pastor who I just loved. I didn't even know the guy; it was a huge church. But for the first time, I couldn't wait to go to church on Sundays. He was a teaching pastor, and He made the word absolutely come alive, gave it context, helped me see it in ways and more deeply than I ever had. As we scoured websites looking for churches in our new city (I literally googled "church city" with our city inserted), I randomly came upon a site for a church who interviewed its staff and asked them various questions. One of the questions was "Who is your mentor."

I about fell off my chair when the lead pastor listed as his mentor... our pastor from NY. No way... half a country away.

We woke up that next morning and visited the church, shared with the pastor how we found it.... and we've been back every Sunday since. That was in March.

Not 2 weeks later... they changed their website. That survey and the reference to our pastor in NY is gone. If that's not God saying, "Hey guys, I know you need a place to plug in. I know you want desperately to find a good church, and that's what I want for you, too -- come over here."

In late May or early June, we finally found a house that we felt we could call home in a neighborhood we felt would be a wonderful place to raise our kids. A couple weeks later, Jon's sister called sharing that her husband has an overseas opportunity -- and can they come for Thanksgiving so that during the 6 months he's gone, they can all get together once to see each other.

The house we chose has a guest suite and living room over the garage. The house was never on the market -- our realtor just knew about it. We suggested that his sister and her 3 kids just live there for 6 months -- it's closer and hopefully they can see their daddy at least once a month.

God is a God of relationships. I very much believe that He worked out those details so that we can nurture our relationship with our extended family, and so that their precious family can maintain their relationship during a long 6 months.

Life isn't promised to be easy or without hurdles. The saying "God doesn't give you more than you can handle" I believe to be a bunch of bunk. During the past 6 months, I have been given more than I can handle more than I'd like to admit. But it's when I'm weak that His strength is shown -- not just to me but to those who see me. At least I hope it is. His grace covers me, covers my family.

God showed up bit in the "Faith" and "Family" category, which gave me peace through the turmoil. I'll admit to losing it a few times at the end. I did hit my breaking point. But God didn't. God is always faithful. We made it through to the end.

As I said, there are still a few loose ends that are frustratingly not yet tied up. There are several hundred boxes yet to be unpacked.

But...

Church friends from our new church have volunteered to help out with the kids.
We've got 5 happy and healthy kiddos giggling together, excited to have cousins to play with, love, and get to know in a way most cousins never do.
More people have stopped to say "welcome to the neighborhood" than the number of neighbors we had in our last place.
And last night when the kids wanted to swing out in the front yard... it took only a few minutes before 10 kids were out there playing.

Thank you, God.

That's right... moved again.

Our last stop had us parked for 3 years, which is the longest we've lived anywhere in our nearly 13 year marriage. However, we've been called to state number 7 -- we've moved from Arkansas to Florida!

Or at least we're in the process of it.

The kids and I are here -- we're settled in a little apartment near my office. They're in school (and excelling and loving it!). Jon's still in Arkansas finishing things up at our house so we can get it on the market. There's a lot of loose ends that still need to be tied up. In the meantime, we're doing a lot of back and forth.

Last week I trained my backfill, so I'm officially wiping my hands clean of my last position and I'm on to my new one! YAY!

While I completely believe that God puts us in each place for a purpose and I believe we've followed His leading to each of those places, there are already things going on here that just make me say, "Thank you God!"

Specifically...
Church hunting is always a real challenge for us. In some cases, it has been more challenging than others. We were nervous and even a bit hesitant to begin. It seemed our options may be a bit challenging here. And then I accidentally stumbled upon a church website. I had surfed many different church searches and it hadn't come up -- but there it was. On the "Staff" link, it listed the staff (duh!). Each staff was asked a series of questions, one of which was "Who is your inspiration."

Each staff listed people who have inspired them. However... among those listed by the lead pastor.... was the pastor of the church we attended 10 years ago in Buffalo! This man was (is) an incredible teaching pastor, and he's the pastor who first made the history of scripture come alive. I couldn't wait to go to church each Sunday, I took copious notes, I learned, I grew.

We were SO pumped!

We visited there this Sunday. Turns out the pastor there was a youth pastor under his "inspiration" pastor... We will be returning, and hopefully have found our Florida church home in our first visit! If not, that's fine, too. But we sat in thankful awe at how the Lord speaks to us.

Thanks be to God!

When I look at a patch of dandelions, I see a bunch of weeds that are going to take over my yard.
My kids see flowers for Mom and blowing white fluff you can wish on.

When I look at an old drunk and he smiles at me, I see a smelly, dirty person who probably wants money and I look away.
My kids see someone smiling at them and they smile back.

When I hear music I love, I know I can't carry a tune and don't have much rhythm so I sit self-consciously and listen.
My kids feel the beat and move to it. They sing out the words. If they don't know them, they make up their own.

When I feel wind on my face, I brace myself against it. I feel it messing up my hair and pulling me back when I walk.
My kids close their eyes, spread their arms and fly with it, until they fall to the ground laughing.

When I pray, I say thee and thou and grant me this, give me that.
My kids say, "Hi God! Thanks for my toys and my friends. Please keep the bad dreams away tonight. Sorry, I don't want to go to Heaven yet. I would miss my Mommy and Daddy."

When I see a mud puddle I step around it. I see muddy shoes and dirty carpets.
My kids sit in it. They see dams to build, rivers to cross and worms to play with.

I wonder if we are given kids to teach or to learn from? No wonder God loves the little children!! Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.

I wish you mud puddles and dandelions!
Author Unknown

Thank you Lord for the perspective you give me through my children. Help me to see the world more often through their eyes. And help me to keep their eyes open to the possibility and wonder that they are currently experiencing. Help me to nurture their childhood and maintain their perspective. Amen.