A Look Back at 2013

I finally have some time to sit and reflect on 2013, and it seems two main themes followed us closely throughout the year - transitions and God's provision. 2013 was full of both for us!

We started off in January unsure of what our future held. Our church had very generously given Reid a severance package that lasted until December 31st, 2012. So January 1st saw us trusting the Lord for whatever income needs we had. We felt like we had a direction at least. Reid would do consulting and work for ARM Ministries, and whatever other work he could find - adjunct teaching, pulpit supply, and whatever else God provided. Our friend Kim Halstead employed Reid regularly in his plumbing business as an extra hand/ carpenter/ plumber. With several consulting jobs, and the other opportunities, we managed quite well! The Lord took care of us beyond our expectation, and we enjoyed a season where we were well provided for and Reid was home quite a bit.

In June, after months of being asked several times if he would please join their team, Reid took a position as Dean of student development/ Registrar at Western Seminary. He works there 3/4 time and spends the rest of his work week on his ARM Ministries responsibilities. Western is a wonderful place to work! The people there are a blessing for Reid to work with, and he has lots of freedom to use his God given gifts and talents. We are so thankful to God for providing this work for Reid in such an incredible environment.

The commute to Western from here in Dundee is 45-50 minutes, and that has taken some getting used to. It means Reid leaves the house by 6:00 most mornings to avoid the traffic. And that means that for the first time since Cameron started middle school, it is my job to drive the kids to school in the mornings. (Yeah, I know.... they could take the bus. But oh how I love those last few minutes in the car with them before they start their day, and I like knowing that talking with mom or dad and listening to good music is the start of their day instead of sitting squished on a bus full of kids talking about who knows what. :)) Driving them to school sure cuts into my old morning routine. I used to kiss the older ones goodbye and wave them off, then have 1/2 an hour to shower or have a quiet time before the younger ones needed to get up and get ready for school. Now there is no time for that, so any time I have somewhere to be in the mornings, it's a rush to get ready after the last kid is off to school. It has taken me a few months, but I think I'm finally used to it. :) When Reid was local, he was also able to help transport kids in the early evenings after sports practices. I took for granted what a blessing that was! Now that he doesn't usually get into town before 6, I have to figure out how to time dinner prep to fit around pick up schedule. Boy, I can't wait until our 3rd car gets running so Cameron can transport him and Katie! Which brings me to another transition....

Cameron turned 16 in March, and got his license in June, after he attended driver's ed. It has lightened my load considerably to have his help with the taxi-ing! Once we have a 3rd car working (come on Reid and Cam! Almost done rebuilding that engine!), we won't even have driving schedule conflicts and boy will that be amazing! (And I'll get my early mornings back!) Cameron also started working last summer and continues to life guard and teach lessons at our local pool. He enjoys the extra cash, and I enjoy his contribution to our car insurance costs. :)

Cameron is still transitioning/ adjusting to his life with Celiac disease. It's so easy to forget to check something, or for someone to accidentally feed him gluten without meaning to. He has missed 5 weeks of school so far this year due to complications with Celiac. But I think the rest of the year will be better, as Cam (and we who are close to him :) ) is learning to be even more diligent and cautious.

Katie started high school this fall. BIG transition! But she loves it and is thriving. She has changed so much. She is only 1/2 an inch shorter than I am now, and blossoming into a lovely young woman. She was the only freshman on the varsity girls water polo team, is the only oboe player in the freshman band (which makes it fun!), and is now swimming on the HS swim team. Katie had her first surgery in September.  Come to think of it, it was the first surgery any of our family has had other than Reid when he was a kid. She had her appendix taken out. (More on this later.) She was back at school after a week, and back to water polo after two weeks. Kids! Oh to be so resilient! :)

Another BIG transition... Rosalie started middle school! 6th grade is challenging, and involves a lot more homework than elementary school, but Rosie is responsible and a hard worker and is taking it all in stride. She also now plays the clarinet, and (parent opinion of course) is doing quite well with it. Big transition number two for Rosalie is that after 5 years of hard work at the REACH Family Institute, she graduated from their program! She has grown so much, and we credit much of her success to the work Charlie and Conceicao ( and Rosalie, and us at home!) have done with her. Way to go, Rose! :) (The magnitude of what a different child Rosalie is because of this is hard to put into words. Just know. It is HUGE. AMAZING. AWE INSPIRING.)

Transition for Natalie.... well, not much, but she is in her last year of elementary school, which is a pretty big deal. She loves school and loves to volunteer in the Life Skills classroom at her school during lunch recess.

The last big transition for our family is that I started a small part time job - other than cleaning for my parents and my aunt Pam. I now work for ARM Ministries, a small missions organization. I process their donations. It has been a huge learning curve for me! I have had to learn computer programs and lingo that I didn't have a clue about. But I enjoy it a lot! I spend about 3 hours a week at it, with around 6 more hours at the end of each month. I work from home, which is lovely! And I love that I am helping missionaries all around the world! To be honest, this transition has been tough for me in some ways, but good. It has forced me to reevaluate how I spend my time each day, to come up with a new routine for each week, and become more disciplined in order to accomplish all I have on my plate. I also had to quit working at my folks house to allow more time to focus on my family's needs. :( I know.... lots of ladies work full time and have it figured out. Kudos to them! :) Recognizing the challenges working moms face, even just through my adding a few hours of work into my weeks, inspires me to appreciate the blessings of being a "mostly stay at home" mom. :)

As for God's provision, He continues to meet more than our needs. Reid's new salary is significantly lower than what we had become used to, but there again, it causes us to appreciate the resources we do have all the more. (Maybe my theme should included 'appreciating resources - time and money'.) The most AWESOME provision God gave is for Katie's appendectomy bills. We chose an insurance policy that had some fine print we didn't know about or understand properly, resulting in a bill that was basically two months salary. Choke! While we fully take responsibility for that, it was definitely shocking, and we had no idea how we could even make the suggested monthly payments. We prayed. We (or "I") :) worried. We prayed some more. I called to make the first payment. The kind lady on the other end of the line exclaimed surprise at the size of our bill and suggested I apply for a reduction. I was just sure that we wouldn't qualify. After all, we are not destitute. So we went through the process of finding tax records, utility bills, pay stubs, bank statements, etc., filling out paperwork. Guess what. Now that huge nasty giant bill is only about 25% of the original!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Praise Jesus!!!! Way beyond our expectation! Again, God provides more than we need. It causes me to fall on my face in humble gratitude. Seriously.

I've decided that there are few things in this life that are constant. One of them is change. Change causes transitions. Shucks. I'm not so good at those. Boy, does God know how to stretch me. Pull me out of my comfort zones and it sends me into a tizzy. :) And that is how He gets my attention. And without all these transitions, the constant pull of change, and how God provides for us amidst all the changes, I'm sure I would not as easily be able to see His fingerprints on our lives. So... gulp.... I guess I have to say that change and transitions are good, and that I am thankful for them.

I know this is a long post, and I'm sure threads of it will appear in my (hopefully) soon to be written Christmas New Year's letter, so I apologize to those of you who will catch up on our news twice. :) I guess that's what happens when a blogger doesn't blog for over 6 months. You get a big update. :) Oh, and my last post about using Disney World money to pay taxes? We're using those air miles we had saved up for something different. We're taking the whole family on a mission trip to Haiti this next summer, and those air miles are going to go a long way to getting us there. Huh. God knew all along. I love Him. :)