2 Year Sabbatical???

Is it bad when you try to get back into blogging and it takes two days to figure out your login information? I have been missing my blog off and on for the past several months and have finally decided to put forth the effort necessary to be back up and running again. And guess what? I already had a cute Christmas background up! Yay me! It's a good thing too because with the blog layout changes I have no idea how to change my blog background! It may be Christmas all year long from now on! :) So much can change in two years. I look at my life now compared to then and I don't hardly recognize it.

Kayla is in the eighth grade! Wow! That is hard for me to believe. This time next year she will be in high school. She is growing into an amazing young lady. She is a typical teenager and we have our typical teenager battles, but she is a great kid. She is still playing softball. This year marked her last year of being able to play for the county. Insert tears here. She is too old! :( She tried out for school basketball this year and made the team. We were thrilled. She is second string and doesn't get to play much, but we are having fun anyway. She is in her second year of Social. For my out of town friends and relatives, that is a dance club of sorts that the kids do here. It starts with a manners class in 6th grade and then the dancing begins in 7th grade. Her partner is her best friend since Kindergarten. They are getting ready for their Christmas dance which is coming up in a couple of weeks.

Tyler is in the third grade. He moved to a new school this year because we have moved. (more on that later) This has been our toughest year of school with him yet. He has never had a problem with grades, but this year we are struggling a bit. Some say it's the grade, some say its the teacher that he has. Whichever it is, I'll be glad when we move on from this. He just finished his first season of tackle football and he loved it! He is still our little family comedian and loves to laugh and make jokes. He still says stuff all the time that cracks me up, but mixed in with that he is also adding in plenty of sass and plenty of potty talk!

Last October I lost both of my parents in a car accident. That has, obviously, made this past year very difficult. They were on their way to church and their vehicle actually ended up in the front yard of the church they attended. Some of their best friends were the first ones on the scene. They both died instantly. I'm sure I will share more about this over time because, even after a year, it is so fresh on my mind and still very painful. My mom was my best friend; I talked to her every day. My dad had plans to retire in April of this year and they were already making plans to move to Georgia after his retirement. As a matter of fact, the last time we saw them was when they were down to our house and we took them house hunting to kind of get a feel for the area of town that they wanted to be in. The hurt is still right under the surface and I am battling tears even as I type this. It is actually surreal to be typing those words. I think in many ways I tend to think that the one year anniversary of the accident somehow marks the end of the grieving period. I've gotten through all of the hard "firsts". BUT, I still grieve. I still hurt. I still miss them.

About two months after losing mom and dad, my boss retired and I found myself out of a job. It was actually a welcome blessing. I wanted time to just be. Well, God had other plans. I was off for just a few weeks when a friend of ours let us know that the attorney's office that he worked at was looking for a paralegal. I sent my resume in and within just a couple of days I had the job. Can I tell you that I LOVE my job? Don't ever doubt that God knows what He is doing. He knew that I needed this job. Even after almost a year of working there I still love going in to work and I love the people that I work with (most days...hehehe).

And then there is the house. After two to three years of talking about moving, we finally did it. We are still getting settled, but we are loving our new home and the extra space that it has provided. More on that to come. I feel overwhelmed at the strength that God has given me and our whole family as I look back over the last year. I lost both of my parents, lost my job, started a new job, and moved. And, by the grace of God, I am still standing.

Whew, I think I am exhausted from all of that. Two years changes many things...