Hello again Fall

These last couple weeks the weather has shifted. The mornings and afternoons are a little cooler. I'm not drenched in sweat from humidity the moment I step outside. Cool breezes and leaves beginning to change color have begun. Oh how I love fall. For our family this is the first fall of the new city we will call home for the next couple years.

As you may have noticed (or not ) the blog has not been updated in a few months. There have been a lot of transitions lately. When we arrived the kids were in a summer program and Ross and I were able to get the house in order. Then for July and August the kids and I spent almost every day together. Ross was back at work for a regular schedule and that was probably the biggest adjustment for everyone. Now the kids are in preschool programs and I am getting some time during the day to just exist.

Alone. Quiet. Processing. Hopeful. Curious. Adventurous. Listening.

For many of us these past couple of years, more for others, have been drastically different. It has been strange, new, and overall life changing and mentally challenging. Some of the lessons we have learned have been difficult. Through out all of it I have been thinking back to when Lucas was born. How in the days afterwards I felt this word: Grateful.

The whispers then to live a life full of gratefulness have become a thunderous sound. Because I have learned yet AGAIN how blessed my life is. It's crazy but when I became a Christ follower I felt this same feeling of gratefulness and over and over in my life this has been the the lesson I have had to relearn. Grateful for my mental strength, my personal quirks, my body, my family, and so much more. All of it doesn't belong to me. It is a gift, a blessing, and my responsibility to use all of it for the benefit of others.

Figuring out how, where, with who, for what purpose has been slow going. And that's okay. Because my main responsibility right now are my two littles. So as we all adjust to life here and all the transitions we will continue to grow through I just wanted to say, as much to myself as all of you, Keep Going. Get rest, do the self care, be with loved ones, make new memories, mourn, eat delicious food, go outside.

Take care of yourself so you can pour out into the world and change it for the better. Find your people, the ones who are cheering you on authentically. Stay away from those who try to bring you down to their level. Create boundaries, this does not make you a mean person it is protecting yourself. But also show everyone you can kindness and love. Use your resources whatever they may be to help others. Just do good and be a kind person.

Okay that's the end of my TED Talk hope you all enjoyed.