karaspeak

To the new year...to say the least. At our house, we have seen our fair share of interesting events over the past few weeks and I can't say they have all been "good," so I'm not sure if it indicates bad things are in store for 2009, or if it's just a way to test our capacity for "stuff." Regardless, it got me thinking about the past few years and all we've gone through and realized that we are indeed still here. I pinched myself just to be sure. Though we didn't experience a lot of peril, danger, or death in previous years, we have had our fair share of experience, and "process" as we like to call it in our house. And though most people shy away from the tough stuff of life that brings you from one side to the other, we seem to find ourselves embracing it ever more gratefully each time we find ourselves there. The theme we embraced for 2008 was EMBRACE THE CHAOS. With a move, a pregnancy, the birth of our son, our parent's move, job changes, and seeming loss, there were not many other ways to see it than utter chaos.

And while at first, the thought of chaos to a TYPE A, Monica-esque freak of perfection nature strikes utter fear and panic into my very being, I learned (with lots of help, I might add) that if I embrace it and welcome it into my world, God would have so much more to teach me in the chaos...and ultimately on the other side. So as it appears from the first few weeks of 2009 that this year will hold only more chaos than the year we just left, I feel so much more equipped to handle the unknown. Not only for myself, but for Nathan, for Aiden, our friends, our family...hopefully I can provide insight to their chaos, meaning to their struggles, support in their times of trial.

I am holding on for dear life to this ride of a lifetime. We only get one shot at it, so I might as well make the best of the shot I've been given, even if it means facing sadness, pain, fear, or hard times. Thankfully we made it through the adventures of the past few years and hopefully they'll pale in comparison to what we face in the coming years, not because they are any less choatic and insane, but because we are better equipped with the vision to bear in the process of getting to the other side.