One year ago from today...
My mind seams to go in so many directions with that statement.
The depth to that simple statement has never been so great in all our lives.
What a year it has truly been.
A year we never saw coming.
The tribulations and triumphs we never could have prepared ourselves for.
The great blessings and sacrifices we would face.
All that we lost and yet so much was gained.
How do you even begin to put into words all that we walked through in this past year?
One thing is for sure, I am so grateful to be where we are now, in a lot of ways we're on the other side, in some ways we're still swimming.
But overall we are blessed beyond words and measure by the Lord.
April 21, 2011.
Happy 5 year anniversary to us (one day early) we headed to the escrow company to sell our first home, our beautiful, unique, quaint and perfect first home. We had no idea what lay ahead just two months from then. We had no idea that the Lord was orchestrating a miracle on our behalf.
One year ago we moved into a camper where we would live for over half a year. The 'home' we brought our third child home to.
And one year ago we began the process of building our own home.
Last night Nathan and I went out to dinner to celebrate 6 years of marriage. As we sat down for dinner we began to reminisce about all that we've been through in our six wonderful and blessed years of marriage. In some ways it seems as if we have yet to slow down. And in some ways I doubt that that will ever happen, it seems to me that life just keeps going by faster and faster, each moment passes through my fingers like quicksand and I wonder where the time has gone. We began our married life together serving at a youth camp in Virginia. Almost one year after we got married we packed up a moving van and headed to a town no one knew existed, not knowing that just 5 years down the road it would be a boom town that the rest of our country would be flocking to for work. And just a few short months after arriving, finding a place to live and a job to pay the bills, we welcomed our first born, our precious boy Ezekiel into our lives. In 2008 we bought our first home, a historic home near downtown Minot next to a park and the zoo. A home that was unique and looked like a barn to my mothers great delight. We had a great yard and a family friendly neighborhood, the perfect spot to raise our family. And then in 2009 our family grew and everything we knew changed. We welcomed our second child, McKenzie, into our family, just 16 months after our first child was born. And at that point in our lives we weren't sure where or what we were supposed to do as the main reason (or so we thought at the time) for us to be in Minot had taken a major change. We had made the extremely tough decision to leave the church that we had come to Minot to be apart of and we sought God for what was next. That year the Lord opened the door for us and through a co-worker, at the time who only worked with Nathan for a little over a month, we were introduced to many families in the homeschool community here in Minot and through that the Lord began to direct our steps in a whole new direction. And Easter Sunday 2 years ago we began our home fellowship church. The things we have learned over the last few years are too great in number to name them all, but one great thing we learned during that time was the importance of the family and the father being the true leader of the home, not looking for the church to fill all those rolls. We are so grateful for all we have learned. And then there was pregnancy number three. And that's when everything began to change. I could not figure out how I was going to put 3 kids in one room in our house. The way it was layed out was odd and we could not come up with a solution. After a trip home for Christmas that year we began to consider the option of selling and moving to find something that would fit our growing family better, a home that we could grow into. At first we had considered building but quickly set that thought aside not wanting to pay the high price of sacrifice. And so we began to look for homes on the market. Few were available at the time and we had no idea just how hard it would be to find a house to live in just a few months down the road in Minot. The Lord began to direct our steps and through a falling through of an offer we had made on a house, we decided that building was our only option. And thus began the road that took us through the journey of a lifetime: this past year.
Check out some of our highlights:
How the journey to building our own home began.
Our new 'home'.
We began digging for our house.
The first walls were put up.
Main floor walls.
Looking like a true house.
Minot, ND historic flood of 2011 here and
here.
We became a family of 5!
Sheetrock.
We finally moved into our new home!
Kitchen and
Flooring.
Family Time!
Mid-Way House Tour:
Living Room,
Dining Room,
Sun Room,
Kitchen
We have been truly blessed beyond what we could ever deserve or imagine! The Lord has blessed us with 3 beautiful and wonderful children, Nathan has a great job and he built our family a beautiful home, we have amazing friends and family who helped us through this past year, had it not been for them this all would not have been possible. And our marriage is strong and beautiful. Above all we know the one true Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. He has guided us and helped us and provided for us through it all. And He always will. We have life because of Him. A purpose and a hope amidst this world because of Him.
This past year was not easy. I won't lie. As we sat and remembered it all last night there was laughter and there were tears shed by us both. We lost a lot. A lot of time as a family that we will never get back. But in the end we gained much more. We have grown much and hope that the Lord will continue to mold and shape us and use what we went through for good. We gained great friendships and deeper relationships through the process. And we have learned to appreciate everything is such great ways. Our relationship with the Lord and how we need Him so desperately, our marriage and how we each have our own strengths and weaknesses and how we can complement each other and help each other together, through all life brings us. Our family and children and how precious the time is that we spend together. They are not young for long, we blink and will miss it. So a major priority is just that, investing time in our family, raising our children for the Lord. And we appreciate all that we have been blessed with in our home. So very few live with the amenities that we take for granted every day and we have way beyond just our needs. However long we have it, we are grateful and thankful and hope to use it to the glory of God.
The greatest hole in our lives and hearts is the distance from family. Our love for you is so great, and the tears that have been shed over the years because of missing you and wishing we could all be closer have been many. There is a price to pay in following the Lord and going wherever He may call you. But when you chose to follow Him, no matter where He leads you, the blessings He showers upon you snd the joy that comes, sometimes eventually, from obedience is far greater!
Thanks for going through this journey with us whether from near of far. Your help and prayers and words of encouragement have meant the world to us.
As spring begins to shine through the darkness and new growth is all around us it seems so fitting that that is just what we are going through in our own lives. Spring has come to us after this season of building. We look forward to the new growth the Lord is working in our lives and whatever else He has in store for our family.
Trust in the Lord with all your hear, lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.
Proverbs 3: 5-6
