2016: A Year In Review

Another year about to end.  Another year about to begin.  The continuous push forward.

     Indeed, I definitely get the sense of moving forward this year.  Perhaps it is due to being a mother, who is constantly chasing after a lively li'l one.  Perhaps it is due to that extra strand of gray hair I see.  Or, simply, the need to purchase a new calendar.  Whichever it may be, forward it is!

     Forward, but, still desiring purpose.  More specifically, "What are we doing all the way away from any of our family?"  Trust me, Dear and I consistently discuss this very thing.

     To be honest with you, if you have not yet noticed, we simply do not have a concrete answer to that question.  Yet, as of now, we know that we are meant to be here:  not simply because we are here, but we have seen God show us so.

     What we do know, is that we want to be in God's perfect will for our lives.  What that looks like, is a good guess.  It seems that God has us in a "waiting mode."

     This year has seen us coming along in other areas of our lives, as we wait upon the Lord.  Waiting has not been the most pleasant for us.  Just like any child awaiting a treat, we are jumping up and down in our seats!  So, to either prime us, or hold us off for a bit (or, both), He has been giving us many opportunities to do other things.

     This year has seen us get to start our first real garden!  A friend from church came over to help us get it going, and it has been such a gift!  We still have so much to learn:  in the tending to plants, as well as proper preservation; yet, it is all a lesson we are thoroughly grateful to have!

     We have also been blessed with getting to see a few loved ones this year.  Since we live away from all our longtime friends and our family members, it can get a bit lonely at times.  However, having my sister come to meet her li'l nephew; a friend drive over from nearly 2,000 miles away; taking our first major road trip to visit a dear adopted mama; a dear couple stopping by for a few hours while on their vacation, has made the year that much brighter for us.

     Along the way, we have been blessed to have made some new friends.  Some of which, we found we had some uncanny connections.  We have experienced a great deal of kindnesses with our new relationships.  Always a delight to make good, godly, strengthening friendships! 

     Most of all, we are simply being a family.  We are very much enjoying this gift God has given us:  family.  It is a lot of work.  Oh, but the precious value of it far outweighs any burden it brings!

     It has been so delightful, to be able to be parents.  To have waited so long for this time of which we now enjoy...Oh, makes it all the more sweeter.  To walk, hand in hand with my beloved, as we seek to please our Father in Heaven in the rearing of this precious child...How does one describe such delight?

     Forward.  God definitely has us moving forward.  It is much better than stagnating, that is for sure.

     So, if I had to summarize all that I have noticed in this year for us, I would say:

1.  "And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not."  Galatians 6:9
2. "But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing."  2 Thessalonians 3:13
3. "And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."  2 Peter 1:5-8 

     I pray that we do a far cry better this coming year, than we have this past year.  Oh, it will be a lot of work.  The precious value of it far outweighs any of the burden involved, though!

      "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:"  Philippians 1:6