IN A BLINK . . .
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It has been 17 months since my last post. At times it feels like I did indeed fall off the face of the earth. Or at least the blogging earth. So much life passes in 17 months. Babies become toddlers, boys become teenagers, girls get more dramatic; and somehow in the blink of 17 months, everything is different. I feel the need to update you on why our life is so different. How things change even when you're not ready. How in one blink . . .
From my last post I can assure you that Jett is now happy. He is still a handful, but he is a joy, too. He has big personality in a tiny body. He is exhausting. And he looks just like his older brother, Nate. I'm so glad he does.
Ross is my teenager that is a rock. I can count on him to be the reason, the tears, the emotion that we need to feel at that moment. He's become quieter. He has suffered so much this year, and yet he chooses joy. He is an awesome brother.
Kenzie is our girl. She is quiet and reserved. She likes to observe. She loves to do art. She wanted Nate to teach her all he knew about drawing hands.
And Nate, how could we not talk about Nate. He is me. He is my creative one. He was our inspiration to do hard things. Like triathlons. He left us, along with his great friend, Noah, on his favorite holiday to spend eternity with our Lord. And we miss him.
It has been a hard four months, but we know that Nate is in a better place. We know he expects us to live with joy, to create, to run, to serve, to love. We know he wants us to Live Like That. We have a song by Sidewalk Prophets that we've adopted as our life song.
We are trying to Live Like That. We are continually being told, "We want to live like Nate and Noah," because their testimonies have reached so many. As we thought about what that meant, we realized that Nate and Noah, with their child-like faith, gave us all something to think about--something to reach for. They have challenged us to not be wimpy Christians, but to be bold, even when it is hard--to give it ALL we have.
Our lives were forever changed on that July day, and God has laid it on our hearts to be intentional about adopting Nate's and Noah's vision and to live as an example. We are longing for the world to know the glory of OUR King--the King who claimed our boy as His own. This decision came from time on our knees, worshiping our Savior when we had nothing left to give--when we had no hope. We couldn't even comprehend what we were hearing or reading because our minds were so muddled.
But now we get up every day saying we want to Live Like That. We want to do the wise thing. We want to forgive. We want to love. We want to show the world the glory of our King.
I'm back. I'm still grieving. I am changed. I have a new perspective. I notice more. I hug more. I love more. And it's all because everything changed in a blink . . .
