A Time to Reflect

This time last year we closed a chapter in our lives as we pulled out of our driveway on Peyton Drive on a crisp Sunday morning leaving behind a completely empty house that we had made our home. As difficult as it was for me to be so far from my family during our years in Colorado, I would never in a million years change it for anything. Tears welled in my eyes as the garage door slowly shut knowing that the life we knew and had become familiar and comfortable with would never be the same. Change was on the horizon, lots of change.

We knew our new life in Indiana would begin with adjustments. Ryan had a brand new job that he started Monday morning at 8am, just 4 hours after arriving in Indiana. Can't say we didn't hit the ground running! We had a baby arriving in 8 weeks for whom we were barely prepared materialistically, let alone mentally. All of our possessions arrived at my parents house via the ABF moving truck only to find out while unloading that most of our (very new) furniture had severe gashes and scrapes in the woodwork. We discovered this just hours after receiving the news that our house in Colorado wasn't sold after all because the buyers lied about their income. The stress continues. A semi truck ran into the side of Ryan's new to us car a couple weeks later. Thank God he was o.k. My sister moved in with my parents and us, which made for a tension filled atmosphere at times. During these times I could feel the stress piling higher and higher in my chest. I missed my husband. He had some very long 12-15 hour work days as he was getting himself accustomed to his new job. And to top it off we had to put the family dog to sleep, and I was dealing with a bang cut from hell. Depsite some amazing blessings (like our son!)our life hit a rough patch, and I think it has taken about a year to adjust!

We are happy and thankful to be near family once again, but man we had to jump over some major hurdles during the transition. I knew the moves (CO to my parents, my parents to our house), Ryan's new job, our new baby would be stressful but I really had no idea just the toll it would take. Whew!

To everything there is a season....I am really thankful that season is O.V.E.R. I am thankful for our new home, great neighbors, my part time job that I just love, living in the same city as my parents, getting to see family more than just every few months, autumn in Indiana, Daren and Angela and Zach and Beth moving back to the midwest from CO as well, the lush green grass, the colors of all the different flowers and plants, the familiarity of Indiana, our new church, a happy and healthy baby boy, a too good to be true husband who I don't deserve (I married way out of my league!), and a God who proves over and over he hasn't forgotten about me when I thought he did.