Journal

I should be making my grocery list and heading to the store, but laziness is calling my name, and I already answered. Grocery shopping will have to wait a little bit today, as will the vacuuming, meal prep and phone calls.

Today I took some time to go through my journal. If you have a journal that you write in, do you look back on past entries and remember where you were emotionally, or character-wise in those times? I've journaled since my freshman year of college and it is such a blessing and also a hilarious experience to revisit past entries.

I'm on my second journal, with book #2 starting the summer after I graduated from the University of Northern Iowa (2004). Things were a-changin! I had started to journal about Paul and how I wasn't sure if I liked him "like that" or just as a friend. Of course, the rest of the story we know, and I'm glad I decided I did like him "like that" since we're now married. Almost two years before we moved, I journaled about feeling restless and ready for a change in life. Having no clue and no plans to move out of state at that time, now I'm amazed at what all has taken place since then. Within a year or less of my feeling restless and like change was on the horizon, we started discussing moving and took some trips to explore future homes - North Carolina, Tennessee, Florida...and finally Texas.

The rest, of course, you already know. Crazy though, to look back and see where we are today. Another few entries concerning starting a family were composed clear back in late 2005, shortly after Paul and I married. I mentioned how we of course were not ready, but how I had started to pray for God to prepare us to be Godly parents to our some-day children. Another couple years down the road (2007) we were thinking more about a family and praying for direction on when to start a family and asking for God to continue to prepare us.

Fast forward to today and what's encouraging is seeing how God has prepared us over the years for raising a family. It didnt start back when Paul and I were married, but clear back when our parents were raising us and setting a biblical example of marriage. What a blessing and a heritage to pass on to me, paul and our siblings. That is the kind of example I want to be for our children someday!

And, while I'm often impatient in waiting for a family, I know God has his reasons for delaying it. This morning as I had my quiet time with reading the Bible and praying a bit, I felt peace about waiting this family thing out. I know God delays certain things from happening for a reason. In our case, I think he knows we need a little more time to work on some things, just me and paul. And, He knows that we also need to continue to build our base of friends and "extended" family here in Texas, so our "village" is ready to help raise our children. Raising a family with our immediate families in Iowa will be no small challenge.

Speaking of kids, I got an early appointment with the ob-gyn last week, so our "medical journey" has begun. I'll write more later as we get test results in the next couple weeks. Thanks everyone for your prayer and kind words, we've been very encouraged by you all!