A Change of Heart (yet to come....)

I have slowly been reading Max Lucado's new book "Out Live Your Life". While I was home from church with a sick Davin, I read a chapter. Conviction... Really? Yup. It talked about not giving up on anyone. No one is too far from God. No one is a lost cause. Really Lord? I have very rarely given up on anyone. However, there is someone in my life that I have decided that I am done with. Lost cause. Too much wrong has been done. God says differently. I need to adjust my heart. Is it there yet? Not yet. It started, though. I prayed this morning for this person. That always helps. It is hard to pray for a person and not love them. I got a little more than I had bargained for this morning.

A Change of Scenery

In August of 1995, a mom of four children moved to the Rochester, NY area with her husband and family. She was 28 years old. Her children were 2, 4, 8 and 9. Life was good. Her husband had been traveling four days a week for the last 2 years and her little boys did not remember their Daddy ever living with them full-time.



In January of 2011, that same mom of those same four children moved back to Rochester, NY after being gone for 7 years. Things are a bit different now. Those little girls that giggled and played pretend in her house are now 23 and 25. They didn't come. One of her little boys is now a sophomore in college and will only be here sporatically. Thankfully, that former 2 year-old is still with his Mama:-) This time, they are coming off of 14 months of their Dad traveling during the week. Thankfully, they all have plenty of memories of Dad being home every night and playing a huge part in their growing up.

It is both so familiar and so strange all at the same time. To be here, the place we really call home, feels comfortable and homey. To move for the first time, with only part of my family is more than strange. I know that my place is to be here with Alan and yet my Mom's heart has a really hard time being away from my girls.

Being the optimist that I am, I am looking forward to some new things while I am here. My girls will come and visit me!!! Bethany is coming this weekend and I cannot wait!!! Visiting and staying with people is very different than just visiting for a few hours. It is more intimate, you make an effort to do things together, you savor the time spent with each other. I am really looking forward to that.

I have amazing friends that are here. I am so looking forward to reconnecting and getting to spend time with them and in many cases, getting to know the children that were just little children when I left. I will make time to read, time to scrapbook, and time to work on cooking new and different meals. Alan and I both plan to work on living a more healthy lifestyle and including regular exercise in our routine. I will spend time with my man. We will not have the distractions (oh, did I just call my children distractions?? ;-) (Just kidding, girls!) and we will spend time together just the two of us. Hmmm, what is that like??