One Year in Memphis

May 28th marked the completion of our first year in Memphis, Tennessee.

One year ago, I would have been amazed at the way life looks now. We live in a house, we have two children, we drive a van, I enjoy cooking and baking (say wha?), Ryan has a wonderful new job that looks quite different than we imagined it would, the Lord dramatically changed my heart, and we are surrounded by what feels like an entire city of fabulous new friends who have quickly become our Memphis family. Blessings have dripped down in a steady downpour, and we have been soaked through in the gracious goodness of the Lord.

Last year was hard. Some of those days felt like months, but looking back, those months feel like just days. Much of 2012 was a hard, hard fight that felt much like swimming upstream of some choppy, uncomfortable rapids. But standing soaked on the other side of those waters, with the hot summer sun beating down on us, we can see the washing of Grace, and the showers of blessing.

We walked into new spaces last summer, and the Lord said "you are home." They felt empty, unknown, hot and intimidating. Summer, fall, winter and spring came and went, and we walked out of those spaces, but we left them echoing with prayer, happy laughter, and the sounds of new life. I found that I would miss those little rooms, and that the people who had first walked through our doors as strangers had become dear to my heart. The community that we shared with that crowd of now familiar friends, was something terrifically tremendous that can't really ever be replicated in the same way. I am so deeply thankful for the mothers that raised their children with me, the wives that cried and prayed with me, the friends that sat on our chairs and filled our table and our hearts.

You all brought and bring us such joy. Thank you for making a new life with us, and for making it so full. Memphis is home now, really truly, and it is home because of yall!

Thank You, Lord, for Memphis and for our first year in our new home.