This week has been a rough one. We're moving to Chattanooga - so exciting! We have truly loved our time here in Georgia and will leave with beautiful memories of our time here with our two beautiful girls since their birth. I love our churches. I love the people at our churches...and I am going to miss those people greatly. But to be moving back to Tennessee, home, is beyond exciting for me for so many reasons. No matter where we have moved - Michigan, Georgia - God has always remained faithful to keeping me busy professionally with clients in Tennessee. I have yet to have had gotten a gig working with a community outside of Tennessee. It is where He calls me, and it is where I passionately work to help communities pull together their resources and begin rebuilding the heart of their communities - their historic downtowns. And now, we are moving because my husband has been called back to youth ministry, his deepest passion. He'll be the Chaplain of the Academy I went to many, many years ago....how crazy is that! However, there are many, many things that have yet to be worked out with that move. I am working on my faith. I am working on my patience. It is trying at times, very, very trying, but I'm working on it.
My girls are 2. I recently told a friend that there was no "terrible 2's"; I told her that the 2's were actually much easier than the infant and 1 year old days!
Literally a day or less after the words came out of my mouth, the Terrible Two's hit the fan. These two have been busier than I ever thought two little toddlers could possibly be. When one is chill, the other is wild. When the other finally chills, the other turns wild. Go, go, go! And then go! I told my mom the other day that I counted up the hours I actually sit down during the hours of 7 am - 7 pm and it was exactly 1 hour. That was a compilation of the 3 times we try to get them to eat during the day, the quick runs to the bathroom "Mommy! Potty! Quick!" as we're in the middle of potty training and I get to sit on the edge of the bathtub while they try to go potty, and that's about it. The rest of the day is go, go, go. There's just no other way to put it. Having 2 little ones that are both hitting this independent age of 2, both wanting to do their own thing, but wanting the other to do what they tell them to do....wowsers....Age 2 is exhausting! Pure exhausting! The plus in all of this is that I've dropped a few pounds out of the blue for no other reason than this! I'm exhausted.
But, then there's this thing called perspective. Perspective. Two weeks ago my dad had an unexpected double bypass surgery. I hurried myself and the girls up to northeast Tennessee the minute we found out he was headed into surgery, and ended up spending quite a bit of time up there making sure he was ok before heading back home. There is not much of anything more scary than seeing your daddy come out of heart surgery. The girls were worried sick. Before every mealtime, they would pray "Deaw Je-sus, Papaw's heart....papaw's heart....ah-meyn!" Forget the food, they were only concerned with Papaw and his heart. The day he was coming home from the hospital, they sat down for breakfast, folded their hands and said "Dew Je-sus, Dank you Papaw's heart...better!" and then clapped!! Yes, they clapped. We had not even talked about Papaw that morning.....somehow they knew...they just knew.
From the moment he came home from the hospital, they cautiously watched him, waiting a few days until he was better to finally hold his hand, each taking a hand and helping him walk outside. Savannah would hand him his special pillow for his heart and his spirometer for his breathing and tell him to "blow". I may have 2 nurses or doctors on my hands. They were really good with him....it was beyond precious. We are just thankful to God that we have Papaw here with us for many, many more years. Talk about perspective.
Finally, earlier this week I drove up to Chattanooga and spent the day with my sweet Jennifer, my niece Caitlin's mom (or as the girls call her, "Cay Cay's Mommy"). She has been dealt the breast cancer card and has accepted it with resilient strength that I would only hope to have should I ever be dealt a card like that. She doesn't complain, doesn't slow down, doesn't even look sick. She's lost her hair, but other than that, you would have no idea the woman has cancer. She is more beautiful than ever! I took her to her round 4 of 6 chemo treatment. I watched my beautiful bald Jennifer get loaded with the necessary poison to kill that cancer, and then knew that after I took her home, she was about to face several days of sickness from that necessary poison. It is surreal and unreal.... But what an inspiration....what an inspiration. Her faith and resilience is STRONG. Her spirit is STRONG. You just wouldn't even know if you didn't already know she had cancer. She has the attitude it takes to fight this thing and WIN!! She is the epitome of strong. Talk about perspective...Talk about perspective.
