This Everchanging Life of Ours

Life is so full of changes! Some of them fun and exciting, some of them hard, all of them good. Yes, all of them are good. The fun and exciting ones for obvious reasons. The hard ones because they cause growth and draw us to Jesus. Sometimes, though, I wish the changes could be a little more spread out. Recently I was talking to my wonderful aunt Pam (Mom's sister) and relating all the things going on in my life, our family life, and I realized that there is a lot going on right now in my life and in the life of the Kisling family! I'm not the greatest fan of change. God uses that in my life a lot. I'm not sure what He's doing this time around, but I'm trying to be patient and wait on Him.

Two months ago, we left our delightful oldest daughter hundreds of miles away at her new college; fresh faced, full of anticipation and excitement and nervousness. Oh what a good, hard day that was! Even harder is the lasting emptiness here at home without her cheerful, loving, goofy ways in and out the door all the time. Oh, but it's so good, too. She is thriving. Loves her school. Loves her water polo team. I am so thankful for where she is. She is loved there, having fun, and doing so well!

This year, Natalie entered high school. So exciting and she has adjusted as if it was no big deal. :) For me, that means no after school buddy, as she is playing water polo along with Rosalie. They leave the house in the morning (Rosalie driving!) at 7:15 a.m. and I don't see them most days until 5:30 or so.  The house is oh so quiet. But they are learning good things. They are learning the benefits of exercise, teamwork, having fun playing a sport, dealing with difficult people at times, and so many other good things by playing water polo (including self defense! Lol! Ever watched water polo? :) )

For twenty years, I have first and foremost been a stay at home mom. I have almost always had some sort of little part time job, but have always made it so that I'm available when the kids are home. Currently, the only little part time job I have is cleaning my aunt's house once a week. Well, other than my ARM Ministries job that I do from home. I had anticipated having more work outside my home this Fall, but things didn't work out that way. With two of the kids out of the house at college, the other two busy all day long, and with Reid being gone most weekdays from 5:30 a.m. until 6-6:30 p.m., I have A LOT of time by myself. Too much time by myself. Between you and me, I think it's causing me to go insane. ;)

Two of our kiddos have been through some hard things in the last couple of months. It's hard being the mama when our kids are hurting. I know - it's not about me, but every mama out there knows what I'm talking about. Hard change. But good, drawing to Jesus change. I pray I am pointing the way to Him, showing them how to turn to Him for comfort, strength and growth.

During the summer, we made a big church transition. We are part of a church re-start, kind of a church plant. That means we left behind our church family of 12 years. It is another of those good changes, and though as I get to know our new church family they are becoming new friends, I miss our family and friends at the other church.

See? So many transitions and changes! Some of them, well most of them pretty significant. And in all this change, I feel a little tossed and turned in the storm, a little lost, a little overwhelmed, a little empty. Oof dah! I don't want to be a whiner! I share these things mostly for myself. Because I know that I am going to look back at this post and see how God was working in each situation, how He was walking me through all these things with grace and love, how perhaps He was using this time to prepare me for something greater. I know He has a purpose for me in this time. Now if He would just show me what it is. :)