Sweet Life in the City

It has been quite the eventful week. Tuesday evening we were invited over for dinner to the house of one of the families that go to the school. I did not know them well, but it was such an encouraging evening. Before we left they prayed over us and spoke Truth into our weary hearts, and declared some blessings in our life. On Monday I applied at a Christian school that is located kind of far away. It is still in Chicago, but it it close to downtown. The principal emailed me right away with an application and I went Wednesday afternoon for an interview. I was there for a really long time. I was there so long because the principal wanted me to know of all the challenges that are involved with this school. The way the school is set up would be physically trying because it is a shared space and the position they are wanting me to take on would be more demanding since I have so much experience.I don't want to give too many details, but it would definitely be a ministry opportunity. The ...

It has been a heavy week. A heaviness that at times would make me believe that my heart and soul would be crushed from the pain. I did not sleep well last Sunday night. The anxiety of what I would face on Monday would not allow sleep to come. I think I finally drifted to a light sleep around 2:30 Monday morning. I woke up around 6 and begged the Lord to please give me courage. He did. I headed  off for the day with my head held high knowing that the Lord would get me through whatever I would be facing. Tuesday we headed to Michigan to say our good-byes to my cousin Mark. We stayed the night with Jeremy's brother on Tuesday night. It was good for our souls to be around family and love on our nieces. Wednesday we drove about 45 minutes farther to attend the service for my cousin. It was a beautiful service honoring an amazing man. I wish the circumstances were different, but it was so good to see family that I have not seen in years. It is in those moments that the sadness how years ...

Thirteen years ago as many were rushing to the post office to get their taxes post marked in time, Jeremy and I were rushing to get our hands on another set of paperwork. We were rushing to our adoption agency to hear all about our son and to see a picture of the blessing we had been waiting for so long. I remember sitting in this little office and our social worker handing us a stack of papers and on top was the picture of the most beautiful baby boy I had ever seen. In one moment, with one glance of boy's face, I became a mom. I became his mom. The several years up to that moment had been filled with so much heartache and disappointment. There were so many moments on our journey that I had felt abandoned and misjudged. So many moments that I just wanted to sit down and not move on with my life, but the Lord was faithful and He brought the healing. He brought the pieces of my broken life together according to His perfect plan. This morning, 13 years later, as I looked at those sam...

IT HAS BEEN A WEEK! My hands are still shaking as I think about the heartache and stress that we have been experienced this week. Tuesday night my cousin messaged me letting me know that my cousin Mark passed away earlier that evening of a heart attack. Shock, sadness, and a million memories flooded my mind. My cousin was an amazing guy! We spent a lot of time with him when we were growing up. He had a heart of gold and a smile and laugh that contagious. He loved his country and fought bravely for it. He would do anything for anyone! I had not seen him in a few years. The last time I saw him was several years ago when we went to Michigan for another cousin's bridal shower. We all met at my aunt's house and his family came over. It was a wonderful evening and I am so thankful that we took pictures to always remember the love that we all have for each other. I will miss his FB messages to me just telling me hello or that he loved me. It is still hard to believe that he is gone. H...

When we lived in the apartment I had many sleepless nights. It was not easy living there. There was a cloud of uneasiness and darkness that seemed to dwell around us. It was also the time that physically was the hardest on me. My lack of sleep at night only added to the stress of my body lugging laundry up and down three flights of stairs to the basement or endless trips to the laundry mat. Simple things like bringing in the groceries were also really hard on me. I would have to climb several flights of stairs to bring in my groceries and if I could not find a parking space near by it would also add to my frustration. I say all of that to say, during that time I started having a really bad pain that circled around my bra line (sorry, I know that's personal but not sure how else to describe it). My top ribs would be really sore and it felt like something was squeezing the life out of me and I was scared that I was actually having heart problems. I was diagnosed with something called...

We waited and waited for Spring Break to get here, and just like that it is back to reality tomorrow. We had a pretty good week. On Wednesday Jeremy and I went up to Lake Geneva, WI for a little get away. Our RC group got together a few weeks ago and surprised us with a monetary gift and a volunteer to stay overnight at our house with our kids and our dogs. We have been under a quite a bit of stress lately and they insisted we get away for a night. We stayed at a really nice bed and breakfast place. We ate at some local restaurants and we went to see "I Can Only Imagine" and I would recommend you going to see it if it is still playing in your area. It was a powerful story of forgiveness and redemption. We had planned to stay in Lake Geneva most of Thursday, but it was so cold and I wasn't feeling very well. I have had some really bad pain days the this week. It sounds weird but sometimes when I have time off it actually makes me feel worse. If I am not as active as I am d...

I so enjoyed reading all the memories that were posted about my parents and their house! I wasn't sure I would fall asleep last night. After I got my kids settled in the living room and I went to bed I  just listened to the many sounds that can be heard at the house. I had a few more memories and maybe some tears, but sleep came. My mom made a yummy breakfast despite the fact that her biscuits for some reason looked like cookies. I think it was just another memory filed away. We left about 10 and I thought I would be able to escape without any more tears. I couldn't hold them. I let some fall. I walked out the front door and I stood there for a moment and one more memory entered my mind. It was the day I left for college. The van was loaded with my belongings and I stood on the porch holding my Mickey Mouse phone and I knew. I knew that from that day forward everything would be changing. I would never fully come back home. Today as I stood there I knew that I would never ever c...

"Don't  forget: somewhere between hello and goodbye, there was love, so much love."  How do you say good-bye to a place you have known all of your life? 40 years, my entire life I have known the house located in St. Anne, Illinois as home. Today I will go back one more time, and my struggle is how do I say good-bye. We will pull off the interstate and I will travel the most familiar roads I know. I will pass landmark after landmark with a thousand stories behind them. I will pass house after house that holds childhood memories of friends who used to live there. I will pass a small dilapidated barn on my left, go over a small hill and a few houses down will be my home. I will pull in the driveway and the memories will flood my mind. So many that I will never be able to write them all down. I will pull in a driveway that is now paved, but growing up it was gravel. I will see myself and my siblings riding our bikes. I will see myself trying to walk on the rocks without hur...