Life is full of new beginnings….
I walked into a new job in the summer of 2002, excited to be working at a new place, yet not sure how well I would do. My new boss led me into a small room with no windows in the middle of this giant building… a place where I would be training for the day. When I walked in, I noticed a young man in the far reaches of the room. When he looked up at me, I could tell…he noticed a “girl” had arrived, and I thought to myself, “Your dreamin’!” Little did I know that day, the young man who I just met for the first time, would become my husband and the second part to my very self, and the father of our many vibrant children.
A new beginning.
In the emergency room, the ultrasound technician looked at the screen, in silence. All I could think was “This can’t be happening. I can’t be loosing my baby…”. When she finally spoke she said, “This is your baby”. Earth-shattering relief!... and then came, “This is your other baby!” I could feel my body go numb…starting from my toes and rolling like a wave up my entire body. She asked, “Do you want your husband?” “Yes.” “Do you want to tell him?” “No” is all I could manage to say. After a long, frightful walk to the room, the technician showed James in the same way she showed me. I saw two emotions arise in my husband of less than a year. The first, after “Here’s your baby”, was pure relief. Second, after “and here’s your other baby”, was plain old bewilderment! We drove home in astound silence.
A new beginning.
Nineteen hours flew by like the years since have. Every contraction from the start was intense and ever present. Afterwards, lying in my own warm bed, holding my newest baby girl, the feeling of a gentle and calm power, “I did it!” There had to be a God, and he made me AWESOME in his image. I knew it when I heard my first babies cry in that operating room nearly 3 1/2 years earlier but I felt it when I gave birth to my third child. It was just me, her and the Lord in those fragile moments of deliverance.
A new beginning.
Months later, driving through Waynesboro
A new beginning.
In the time since, there have been many new beginnings. I found a church to call home. James has become brand new as well. We have a fresh start with a church family who has blessed us in too many ways to count. We have had hard times, but more good times. We have seen God work and we have grown. We were surprised with another baby girl to cherish and admire. And, have been blessed to watch her brother and sisters stepping up in their sibling roles. Last year, my step dad was diagnosed with cancer and died a few months later. My mom has moved just minutes down the road and it has changed the entire dynamic of our immediate family for the better. It was a bitter sweet year to say the very least. The beginning of an entire phase of life, home schooling has begun. We are trying every day, to do better, to meld together, and to come closer to the family that God wants us to be. We struggle, we fail, and some times we are downright rebellious and just plain wrong! But, Jesus is ever present and we always come back around…eventually. The best we can do is ask for forgiveness with the understanding of His boundless, loving grace, and then do our best to follow Him with our eyes fixed forward. 
We thank our Lord that daily there is….a new beginning!
Lamentations 3: 22-23 “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness"
