Changes

Well I am back in GA and what a change from the past 5 weeks. Life went from busy to nothing, this is a hard adjustment for me. I much prefer busy, of course not too busy. I spent a week in KY helping Hannah and Luke around the house then Hannah came to GA for three weeks (last post), and then we went back to KY and I kept Mason all week while his babysitter was on vacation and had both Mason and Isaiah on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of that week. Saturday we all met at Mr. Gattis in Lexington and enjoyed pizza and fun in the game room. It was a great 5 weeks and I am just looking forward to the next time we go back to KY....in three weeks to visit again.

Life sure has many changes. Almost 27 years ago, it was only Ed and me. We got married Nov. 10, 1984. Two years later we were blessed with a 6 lb 4 oz baby girl, Hannah Nicole. Life became a new normal with added activities. Fourteen and a half months later we were again blessed with a 8 lb 8 oz baby boy, Matthew Gregory. Once again a new normal with MANY added activities. It was the four of us, Ed, myself, Hannah, and Matthew, for the next four years then God gave us another wonderful blessing, 8 lb. 6 oz baby boy, Luke Thomas. Now it was three to two....kids - three, parents - two. I guess we started a new normal but at the beginning it was anything but normal. God had blessed us with three healthy wonderful children who continue to this day to be a wonderful blessing. But our lives were very busy. Much of our business was just day to day activities and just life in general. At times things were more hectic at other times not as much but still a lot to do with three little ones. But the children all grew and one by one they left home. Matthew went off to college, Hannah got married, and well with Luke, he stayed in KY to go to school and Ed's job, Chaplain in the Army, took us to GA....just the two of us. Wow! What a change. Not only were we by ourselves but we were in a brand new place by ourselves, we knew no one, except each other. I do not really like this change. It has been a little over a year now since our move to GA and I am still not really used to it, oh more now than I was but still would much rather be near our children and now grandchildren. I know God brought us to GA, although I wish he would have just let us go back to Ft. Knox, He has something He wants us to learn through this but not sure what it is. I may one day know but right now I am still trying to figure it out. I believe that everything we go through God wants to teach us something but I am not always a quick learner.

But with all this said, time goes by very quickly. We change, things change, the only thing that stays the same is God. We have a great influence on our children as they grow. They are watching us as they grow. As our children were growing I really didn't think about this too much I guess when the children are growing there really isn't much time to think about a lot but now that I have more time on my hands I think about what a great impact we have on our children. I look at my two oldest children who now have a child of their own and see what wonderful parents they have turned out to be. They have wonderful spouses and they are very much involved in their children's lives. They take them to church and teach them about Jesus, which is the most important thing they will ever learn. I look at our youngest son, Luke, and see him walking with God and doing his best to live for Him. God is very gracious. I give Him all the credit for helping Ed and me raise our children and thank Him very much for saving them.

Change is hard, I look at myself and sometimes don't even see the same person that I was a few years ago. Some ways good and some ways not so good, but by God's grace I will continue to try to serve Him, even if it is only here at home being Ed's helper and being available, especially to our families when they may need some help. I so enjoyed going to help Matthew and Cari and Matt and Hannah with our grandchildren. In about 3 weeks I am going to MD to visit and help my parents. Sometimes while I am at our townhouse with not a lot to do I start thinking a job would be nice to have but then I wouldn't be near as available to help our family and I think Ed kind of likes me home, he says it brings him comfort just knowing that when he comes home I will be here. He is a wonderful man!

Loving our time together, wonderful memories:

Change is hard and there are times that I would love to go back and start over again, I would still marry the same wonderful man and would never change the children God has given us, but there are things I would have changed, you learn has you grow older, but God has blessed us with many good years and hopefully many more good years to come, I pray that we will continue to do our best to live for Him even through all the changes that we will continue to go through throughout our lives.