The story of 2014...He makes all things NEW!

Before we get too far into 2015, I really need to recap 2014...

What a year!  In my 34 years of life, I believe in 30 years or so, this one will still stand out for me.  So many amazing happenings, I'm not sure where to start, so I think  chronological order will work best...  Oh, and my one word for the year was "New," so that will be spread through the year, also.

January started with a wait.  The kind of waiting that makes even phone-a-phobes like me keep their phone with them at all times, fully charged.  The kind of waiting that makes you wake up several times a night and check your phone, just in case.  The kind of unpredictable waiting that involves the unpredictable nature of childbirth.  January 6th, right as the buttcrack of dawn appeared, I got a text saying it seemed this would be the day we had been waiting for!  I arrived at my sister's house to find her vacuuming and cleaning with fast purpose.  By late afternoon, I was so privileged to be present for the birth of my niece, Marlee Medora.  This is the only birth I have been present for from "this end."  Marlee was born at home, in a warm pool of water, AND with the amniotic sac intact until the very last moment.  Truly amazing...and my sister rocks labor and delivery!  NEW life!

February brought the usual in our family...lots of birthdays.  Levi turned 7 and took a bunch of friends to The Lego Movie and for pizza afterward.  Noah turned 14 and had a couple of friends over for movies and junk food.  Hannah turned 9 and had a sledding party that ended up being attended by only homeschooled friends, though others were invited.  Nick...he turned 13.  If you know anything about our past with him, you know that we haven't seen him in person in over 2 years.  On a whim, we brought his birthday presents to him (without warning, so his mother couldn't make sure he wasn't there).  I was actually opposed to even trying, out of fear of disappointment for myself and the other kids.  However, Nick was home and his mother did allow him to come out and see us for 10 minutes.  It was only 10 minutes, but it was 10 minutes...and we were so thankful!  We have been communicating with him almost weekly via Oovoo.  Things will never be the same as they were before "that day," but at this point, we are thankful for having contact at all.  NEW hope!

March had us finishing up trip planning for an RV trip to Texas and back!  We left March 25th and were gone for 51 nights.  We stayed in campgrounds or in the driveway of friends or family members.  We had several day stops in Viriginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio.  We were in Texas for about 2 weeks. all the way from the Gulf Coast (High Island, TX) to DFW and Texarkana, where my husband has family.  It was the first trip to any ocean for the three little kids and me (Brian and Noah saw the ocean in Florida and Haiti when they went to Haiti in 2013).  One of the main purposes for our trip was to visit Brian's Granny in a Dallas suburb.  Unfortunately, there was some family drama when Brian's dad died.  We don't really understand why, but Brian's uncle hated Brian's dad and because this uncle is now taking care of Granny, he would not allow us to see her.  That was heartbreaking and there were many tears shed.  I will never understand...

All of April was spent on the road.  Amazing...  Part of why we took this trip was to see if we might want to be fulltime RVers once the 6 year legal thing got done.  We did, indeed, have this as one of our main plans, until something so clearly more awesome came up.  We did love our time in the camper together, and learned some things about what we wanted our next camper to have and ideas for longer trips in the future, even if the fulltime RV thing didn't pan out.  NEW dreams!

May brought us back home, the week after Mother's Day.  We were all exhausted, but proud of ourselves for doing something so big and kind of terrifying.  We did have some scary incidents, with tornadoes closeby, mountain travels, and a reoccurring fuel problem that we didn't figure out until months later.  NEW adventures!

When we came home, we realized that the house right next to my sister's new house was for sale.  But the whole house thing needs its very own post...so stay tuned for that!

June was not too exciting (sometimes, that's a good thing!).  We did loan our camper to my parents for an anniversary weekend getaway, and then got stuck at the campground for a few extra days when we went up.  The truck's fuel issues decided to flare up big-time and we ended up having parts overnighted to us from Buffalo and then my boys fixed it under the camper awning in the pouring rain.  Good times...

July...summer!  We had our usual week of VBS at church, where I was a crew leader for the first time ever.  The day that ended, we headed out to NW Pennsylvania, so Hannah could go to a new horse camp...Miracle Mountain Ranch.  She had a great time there and will definitely return!  We celebrated Brian's 6th tractorversary, the first one to fall on a Sunday, away from home.  Very nice...and we knew the end of the legal mess was coming soon!

August...my sweet Essie-Mae turned 6 and celebrated with a bowling party, which she won at the bowling league awards ceremony.  I started working for our church and Christian school, as treasurer's assistant.  My first paid position in my field!  Excellent learning opportunites for me in a wonderful environment, and I am thankful for that!  At the end of August, I graduated from Empire State College, with a Bachelor's of Science in Business, Management, and Economics, Concentration in Accounting!  This has been a very long journey and I am so glad to be done!  Who knows where God will lead me...  NEW horizons!

September started a new homeschool year.  The kids at home are in 9th, 4th, 2nd, and 1st grades.  What an adventure!  Soccer and Awana started back up, along with FLL (First Lego League...lego robotics), so our calendar was very full.  Hannah tried out the goalie position, which was terrifying to me, but she stuck it out all season and improved quite a bit!  Brave, strong girl...  Along with the business of fall, we spent all month going back and forth with offers to settle the 6 year thing.  Exciting and mentally/emotionally draining, all at once!  September 24th was the day we settled.  We got the call while we were on a homeschool field trip at Fort Stanwix...and I will never forget it, as long as I live.  Finished.  Done.  Finally!   NEW beginnings!

October...we bought a house!  More on that in the house post. ;)

November...we moved into that house!  More on that...

December...we have worked on making the house our own.  More on that, also!


It was a stressful year, with a lot of good mixed in.  When I think of the year as a whole, overwhelming gratitude is all that I come up with.  God has been good to us, so very good.  We don't deserve any of it, not really, and we are thankful.  Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!

Happy New Year...and may the peace of God fill your heart and life with overwhelming joy and gratitude, also!

What's in your heart to do?

 For those not in the know...here's a severely shortened and condensed list of what has happened in our lives over the past three months:

• A 6 year long legal process was finally completed.  It ended well.  God is faithful...and we are thankful!
• We bought a house!  Twenty-two days from first offer to closing...yes, whirlwind is an appropriate term.  This house also happens to be right across a driveway from my sister's house. <3 li="">
• We're moving!  Exciting and terrifying...both of my houses are currently in a state of chaos.  We are blessed and even looking forward to the many hours of working hard to make the house our own.  We plan to be sleeping there by the end of next week (eek! and squee!), amid the construction mess.

Update out of the way, I wanted to share a conversation Esther and I had...and the subsequent conversation God and I had.

We have known for a while that this time of great change was coming, but we didn't know then what direction we would be going.  We had a lot of good options in front of us and no clue which way to go.  One evening, as I washed dishes, my sweet girl approached me, wanting to know what she should write about in her notebook.  I told her she should write about anything that makes her happy, and that was a little scary for her, as she wanted me to tell her what to write about and not have to come up with it on her own.  I told her that writing was always a good thing, and whatever she wrote would be wonderful, if she did it from a pure, loving heart.  She eventually chose to write about the puppies (11!!) we were raising at that time.  As she walked away, God began to speak to my own heart...

We all have a lot of options in life, every single day.  Sometimes the sheer number of options is overwhelming, and we don't know which way to go.  I have often wished God would just get out His heavenly megaphone and tell me which direction to go!  Which car should we buy?  Which job should we take?  Where should we live?  What should we do?!  We want to please God, just as my little girl wanted to please me, and we think we need more specific direction in order to do that.  Wouldn't it make life simpler if every time we asked God a question, He just gave us a straight, clear answer?

But what if...what if God knows our hearts long to follow Him?  What if, though He surely knows the ultimate outcome, He wants us to take a leap of faith without having those straight, clear directions?  What if He just wants us to write the story?  What if He knows it will be great, no matter which choice we make from a pure, loving heart?  What if we let go of the fear and just did what He put in our hearts to do?

One Word...New

I've been thinking for a couple of weeks about my "one word" for the year.  This is the word I feel that God has given me, a word to inspire my life for the next year.  A word that will affect the decisions I make, the way I parent, the kind of wife I am, the plans we make for the future.  I've learned from the past couple of years that this word is one I will return to throughout the year, in the good times and the bad.

My word this year is...new.

This is what the LORD says-- he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters,  who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:  "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.  See, I am doing a NEW thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.  The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen,  the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.
~Isaiah 43:16-21

For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.  And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.  So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a NEW creation; the old has gone, the NEW has come!  All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:  that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
~2 Corinthians 5:14-19

God, I ask you to do NEW things in me and through me this year.   Help me to see the world through new eyes and with a new heart...Your eyes and heart.  Be glorified in all that I say and do, Father...