Today was a first for our family-we attended an annual event in our city for the second year in a row! It seems crazy to me that we are starting to do things a second time around. Last year everything was new and still a lot of things are new to us even this year. But it feels nice to begin to have some "familiars" in our life. When I told Emma Grace and Jack that we were going to the Fall Festa, as Jack calls it, at Daddy's work, they immediately remembered last year's event. Their mental wheels starting turning and they were full of excitement thinking of the bounce house and the maze and the free pumpkin. (I was excited about the amazing dessert table!) It's nice to start a sentence with something like, "remember last year when we...." instead of everything being new and unfamiliar.
I hung some more pictures on my wall today-these really groovy hand stitched minority patches??? not sure how to describe them, that I bought before we left China. I framed them today and hung them in our entry way. I had the thought, "wow, those will be there for a while." who knows the next time we will pick up and move again. There is part of me that misses the adventure of moving apartments every few years, getting a chance to pick new paint colors, and discover life in a new place. But quite honestly, it feels really good to be staying for a while. I am sure I'll get restless a some point, but for now, staying put is really nice.
Today I talked with the kids about why Andy is going back to school. He and I have dreams about what the Lord would call us to do one day and it was fun to share them with our kids. We talk about them a lot but I have neglected to ever tell our kids. Emma Grace really tracks with most of our adult conversations so it was fun to share with her a little more about our hopes and dreams.
By the time those dreams are realized though, I am worried I will have a full head of gray hair. Perhaps we will be old by the time we get to do our dream job. Andy and I often talk about being 65 years old bopping around a certain city in China doing certain things that make us want to dance with excitement. I seriously can spend hours daydreaming about this one particular dream I have for my job after my kids are on their own. And we might be old and gray before it happens. Or we might not be old, but just gray. At the rate Andy and I are graying, we might be totally gray before he even finishes his masters degree, much less have our kids grown and out on their own. Today I pulled about ten gray hairs from the front of my head and then just gave up because there were too many. DRATTS. I definitely think gray is hip so I'm looking forward to rocking a full head of it when the time comes. Plus gray goes great with blue and black, some of my favorite colors to wear. (As did my college days platinum blond color!)
The reality is this-the last few years of my life have been the most stressful of my 30 years and my body is really starting to show it. "Outwardly we are wasting away, but inwardly we are being renewed day by day." This sums up the last year of my life for sure. Every strand of gray hair and every wrinkle on my face has been hard earned. But I wouldn't trade them for a dip in the fountain of youth for one second, though I may be tempted to buy a bottle of platinum blond once they really start to take over. Just kidding.) Every gray hair and every wrinkle on this pilgrim's body represents a thousand opportunities I've had to see the Lord come through for me, to know his love for me in a deep and real way, and to have my heart be made more and more ready for the resurrection that is to come!
Someone recently defined joy to me like this-You have joy when you know someone is delighted to be with you. I like that definition. Jack loves his momma. And he loves spending time with her. And holding her hand. And telling her he loves her. And his momma feels the same way. Our joy cup was overflowing this morning.
On a cool fall morning.
