I love...

I really enjoyed my blog when I wrote in it often. Perhaps this will be the last post for another 2 years, but I hope not. There are many things on my heart I want to share whether they are ever read by another or not. 

Today I went back and looked at all of the posts I've made over the last several years. I started this thing when we got married and moved to Wapella almost 7 years ago. Wapella, Illinois holds a place near and dear to my heart. It's where we learned to be married. It's a place we learned to be married AND in ministry. It's where we made friends young and old. It's where James learned how to write a sermon. It's where we grew up. It's where we became parents. It's where we learned how to serve. It's where we learned how to be served. It's a place for many firsts for us. It's a place we made many mistakes. It's a place we cried. It's a place we laughed. It's a place we miss for many reasons. It's a place where some of our very favorite people live. It's a place where God and His people were so very good to us. I love Wapella. 

Now we have been in Petersburg, Illinois for almost 2 years. A painful 10 months separated these 2 ministries. We moved 3 times within 10 months. It was crazy. We are crazy, but I think a good crazy. I love what we learned in those 10 months of wandering. Among many things we learned that we love the midwest (cold as it is) and we learned that we love being in ministry (hard as it is).

We love Petersburg. Abby is 3. J is 18 months old. J is new to our family since I last wrote. The summer after we moved here year we became foster parents. J was placed with us on April 19, 2013 when he was 9 months old. When he came we had no idea that 9 months later his goal would be changed to adoption and we would be working toward adding him to our family permanently. We love that little boy so much. I look forward to the day we can share his name and his pictures publicly. He's so cute and getting so big. Right now Halayna (Abby's friend) and Abby are in the basement running in circles and screaming about who knows what. I'm so happy my little girl has friends. They drive me a little batty, but they make my heart smile. .

One of my very favorite things about Petersburg is that we have a lot of young families in our church and I have many friends my age. I love my Bible Study groups. I love my friends. I love playdates. I love the ministry. I love the anticipation of what's to come. I love what God is doing. I love the people in our church. I love our VBS theme this year (sometimes it's the small things).

When life gets crazy it's good to remind myself of all the things God is doing that I love. Especially when a little boy wakes from his nap in a rather unhappy frame of mind... :)