A New Year!

In one hour a new year begins. That is so refreshing for me. I went to Walmart tonight, alone=beautiful/wonderful, and as I was shopping and thinking, I just realized that although we have been incredibly blessed in unfathomable ways this year, I am so glad there is a new one beginning. This year has been hard for me in so many ways. Right now things are so good. Life is really just good.

But that hasn't been the case throughout most of 2007. It seemed that hindsight it ALL ended really well, but with each blessing came a lot of pain/difficulty:

*We had a sweet baby girl (blessed beyond measure in having a healthy baby) but within the month of her birth I was suffering with severe postpartum depression. This illness lingered within me (and my everything) for so long--making for a long and hard road--which is probably why there is even a list below...everything is completely life altering and hard when you are struggling with PPD

*Jeff finished his Master's (yeah !!!) but the getting through it and finishing it was so hard on all of us.

*Adjusting to 2 kids was incredibly difficult for me. Adding a second was so much harder than I ever thought possible. But now that they are both older (Creighton is not a baby and Jackson is talking) things are getting much much better.

*My walk with the Lord is flourishing now (Praise the Lord!), however, to get to this point, lets just say I was definitely at the depths of the pits below rock bottom! I am not proud of where I was, the state I was in, the way I acted/talked/thought, but I am VERY excited about where I am now.

*Things are really good at Grace (awesome!) but we have been through much to get to this point! (enough said on a public blog)

*Having nearly all of my friends leave Bartlesville (or talk of it) was incredibly difficult for me, but now I have double the love, as I keep in touch with them, and have added new ones and am cultivating and cherishing these!

*Some really difficult conversations and situations that have ultimately led to lots of soul searching and refining me---this is so good although pruning is incredibly difficult and hard on the pride :)

I am sure the list could go on...but it is just good to look back and be able to see that although things were really difficult, I can now see the "why" or the "reason" or at least the silver lining in them. I am just glad to be able to look forward to new....a new year, a new outlook. I am not as naive as I sound in thinking that 2008 will be "hunky-dory" and easy for me at all, but I am just in a good place right now. I am excited to see where the Lord leads and what He has in store for us. God is so good. So GOOD.

Happy New Year Y'all!