to my blogging friends

Just want to give a big shout out to all of my blogging friends out there! I absolutely love to catch up on you & your world when I have a late-night-laptop moment or two!!! I love to read about your lives and see where God has you. I have known many of you for several years and love to see the changes we have all been through - from new haircuts to new babies to new adventures!

I had a wonderful week last week. I spent Tuesday night in Dallas catching up with a wonderful group of women who were my Bible study partners when I first moved to Dallas from College Station. Definitely lots of changes in the past 10 years! I'll probably get this wrong, but we have collectively had 16 babies (2 Barretts, 2 Colbys, 3 Woodards, 3 Lesserts, 3 Woods, 2 Rapps, and 1 Williams) - two of which are still on the way!! We've probably moved at least that many times - we all started fairly central and are now all over the place! We don't get to meet very often, but when we do, we take turns giving the updates and asking the questions that only your close girlfriends can ask! It was so encouraging to hear the changes from the last time we met back in October. It was a great challenge for me to attempt to sum up my life in 3 minutes or less - and hear it viewed from the eyes of Godly women who are not quite so emotionally tied to every detail. They were so excited for our move to Austin (see previous entry if this is news to you) and very encouraging about everything. The entire evening just reinforced the fact that God is always working and has great plans for us. And even though we may sometimes struggle, we can always look back to see His faithfulness.

Dave & I had dinner on Wednesday with our dear friends, Michael and Kelly, just before they moved with their 2 boys to Colorado Springs! We have loved keeping up with them after we left Dallas 2 years ago, and look forward to continuing our relationship!! We had a wonderful dinner and got to talk lots about the many emotions that come with moving. It's never easy to give up what you know and love, everything that is familiar, for things that are different, weird, and crazy! Of course, the alternative (ie telling God "no thanks") seems much more depressing and scary. The transition also shines a light on everything - including things we may be holding onto too tightly. Hmmmm....

So the two evenings, combined with my willingness to face my fears and talk with Dave about everything and then pray over the situation, seemed to be wonderful therapy for me. Don't get me wrong - my eyes still well up with tears when I talk with friends about leaving, when I worship at my wonderful church, when I realize that I will no longer be down the street from world-class (and free) babysitters, and when I sit in my Birthday swing (read that carefully - not my birthday suit!) in my backyard. But the deep-down part of me is now preparing and anticipating the things that are to come.

I can't NOT mention my weekend. My brave friend Jen spoke to our youth girls Friday night about s-e-x and I got to tag along for prayer and moral support. I was so proud of my sweet friend for being real, encouraging, and keeping it holy with the girls there! We had a great Q&A time with the girls and then Jen & I left and celebrated with a quick late-night trip to Sonic. :) I also got to serve my feet off at our Mother Daughter Tea on Sunday afternoon - after hearing my awesome husband deliver an equally awesome message at church on Sunday. This same, remarkable husband also helped load and unload tables and chairs for the tea party after his marathon morning - a true servant. It felt so good to be involved in ministry - talking and sharing with God's beautiful women was a great blessing to me!!

So, to sum up, I'm excited about where I've been, excited about what's going on now, and excited about what's ahead. It's a weird kind of emotional-yet-peaceful excited; it seems to come packed with unexpected and uncontrolled tears and then eventually laughter. But it's undeniably excitement...