Five Minute Friday: Open

Open hands. Open heart. Open mind.

If we want to be used, we must remain open.  Open to new adventures, new possibilities, to things unseen & unknown, to wherever HE may want to lead us.  It’s scary to truly be open to letting God take your life in whatever direction HE sees fit.  It means unclenching fists closed tightly, letting go of our own hopes, dreams and plans and letting go of ourselves to be able to truly lift up hands that are open in surrender.  Surrender of our own will and our own way, surrender of what is supposed to be or of how we thought things should have gone.

When we open our hands and say “use me”, open our hearts and say “lead me” and open our minds and say “teach me”, we are able to do things we never dreamed possible. When we are open to HIS plan for us we are able to endure what seemed too hard and too painful, and to conquer what once seemed so far out of reach. If we remain open to HIM, we allow HIM to mold us and shape us into something better than we ever could have dreamed.

What is God asking you to let go of or to loosen your grasp on in order to be able to hold up open hands of surrender?

A New Chapter

Monday begins a new chapter for our family. Monday is the first day of my husband’s new job. Monday is the first day of a new routine and rhythm to our days & weeks & months. Monday will be the 1^st day in almost a year that I won’t wake up to my husband by my side and spend the morning doing life together. He will be at work and I will be at home. I will be the one to get the kids up, get breakfast made, and get our oldest to school. Once we do drop off, it’ll just be my youngest and I at swimming lessons. It’ll just be the two of us on a morning walk. It’ll just be the two of us all morning until it’s time for pick up. After pick up it’ll then be the 3 of us. Let’s see how I do at getting homework done, lunch made for the kids, dinner packed for myself, getting ready for work and getting the little one down for nap. And then it’s off to work for me while Grandma hangs out with the kids. It’ll be back to coming home to a quiet house where everyone’s asleep as work and school will begin again in the morning.

I am going to miss him fiercely. I am going to miss being able to tag-team the mornings with him, getting everyone ready as a team. I am going to miss sipping coffee together and planning our days together.  When it comes time to run or walk each day, there will most definitely be a void. Running together has become my favorite thing and favorite part of my day and I am going to miss his company and companionship. It is an incredible thing to run in-sync with someone else…to match your steps and your pace and to just go. No worrying about being too fast or too slow, no worry about impressing the other or having to keep up, but just running and seeing where you end up.

I am going to miss coming home after a night at work and finding him awake and working on projects. I am going to miss talking about the day before we crawl into bed. I am going to miss hearing about his day, what the kids were up to, and how they spent their afternoons. I am going to miss coming home to someone waiting up for me.

I am going to miss the convenience of being able to run errands kid-free or of being able to just take one of the kids with me when we had something to go to. Having us both home gave us so much freedom to volunteer in our daughter’s class, attend meetings, appointments, etc.

I am so grateful beyond what I can express for the past year we have had together. I have fallen more in love with my husband as I have been able to spend time with him and watch him love our family so well. I have gotten to watch him create and design and even involve our kids in the process. I have seen his character and integrity shine and his servant’s heart grow as he has cared for us so deeply. I am so excited for my husband and the amazing opportunity that God has placed before him! I cannot wait to see how God will use him and grow him as he begins his new job . . . but man am I going to miss him!!! 

297 Days

As my husband recently calculated, it's been 297 since he was last employed. Who would've thought that it would be this long and that we'd wait for so many months. We certainly didn't. We knew God would provide a new job but we definitely expected it to happen a L O N G time ago!! But to be honest, I would't trade the past 297 days for anything.

Over the past 10 months I have fallen more in love with my husband than I knew was possible. Watching him love our kids so well and pour into their lives has been such a blessing to watch! Because of this time off, our kids now adore their Daddy and have such an amazing relationship with him! As a wife and a Mom, there is nothing more attractive than seeing the man you love, love your kids! How does that saying go? "I never knew how much I loved your Daddy until I saw how much he loved you." SO TRUE!

I'll admit, at first it was really hard having him around and home every day. It's not that I didn't enjoy his company, we just didn't know how to continue on with life with everyone home everyday. When he was working, I had my own routine/rhythm to each day and my own way of doing things. When we were all home together, we tended to just sit around with each other. Over time we found a new rhythm/routine and we figured out how to work together as a team, share responsibility, and really move in sync with each other.

One of my favorite things lately has been running together. We tried running together a year or so ago and it didn't go well. We didn't communicate about our expectations and ended up frustrated that the other was too fast or too slow, etc. But lately, we've figured it out and we've been able to run almost daily together. I'm sure I'm actually too slow for his liking but he has so graciously slowed to my speed and hasn't said a word. We've run short runs and long runs, straight out and back runs, and park runs, and even got in a race together. I am so going to miss his company when he is at work!

My hubby getting a new job is so bittersweet. I am so overjoyed for him and this new position where I know he will succeed and be such a valuable asset to his team. He is so full of talent and wisdom and I am sure they will love him from the start! As excited as I am, I'm also a little bit sad. I have come to appreciate my husband so much over the past 297 days and have come to love every second we get to do life together...there will definitely be a void when he returns to work. I know we will find a new normal and we will figure out a new routine again and I know that this is exactly where God wants us to be.

Life in this family is about to look very different and I find myself so thankful and grateful for this journey that we have been on. There have been some scary and emotional days over the past 10 months but God has shown Himself to be faithful each day and in every circumstance and the peace He has given us has been so wonderful! I am so grateful to have faith in Someone bigger and much much smarter than myself. We were able to rest in HIS promises and see Him fulfill so many of them in our lives as we've waited.

Thank you Lord for the waiting. For the lessons learned of walking with You and taking things one day at a time. You are so good to us and so faithful to Your children. Please don't ever let us forget the way you have carried us and blessed us over the past 10 months! We trust You and we are so excited to see what you have in store for us as this new chapter unfolds in our lives!  

#streakingwiththeCOOLKIDS

During the month of February my husband and I are going to attempt to run at least 1 mile EVERY day! It seems a bit daunting but I am so excited to conquer the miles together! Each day we we will run and each day we will pick someone to pray for and run our mile/miles for! Today is day 3 of 28 and we are dressed and ready to GO!!!

Five Minute Friday (on Monday): WAIT

Wait. I hate waiting! I hate waiting for Christmas, for birthdays, for payday, for rides . . . I just don't like to wait. And yet, waiting is exactly what we've been doing since May of last year. My hubby was let go from his job 9 months ago and we are still waiting for a new one. Some days I am able to trust and have faith that it'll all work out but other days I get so sick of the waiting that I just want to scream!

But during the waiting, that's when God seems to speak the loudest! It's during the waiting that I have felt His hand upon us, His love surrounding us, His peace reaching deep within my heart and soul. It is during this time of waiting that I have been so abundantly blessed with quality time with my husband. It has been during this season of waiting that we've been able to run together, to play together, to just sit and relax together. It's been while we wait that my kids have gotten amazing time with their Daddy, day after day.

As much as I've enjoyed having my husband home and with us everyday, we are hopeful that maybe this season of waiting will come to an end soon. God has so faithfully provided for us and cared for us and met our every need as we've waited but we are definitely curious and anxious to see what comes next for our family. As we've waited, God has been so good to us (as He always is). I am actually very thankful that we've had to WAIT for all these months. I wouldn't trade this season for anything and I will forever be thankful for what it's meant for our family and especially for the relationship my kids have built with my husband.

Thank you Lord for this season of WAITING. We eagerly anticipate what YOU have in store for us and trust that your timing is so perfect and so good!