I have made it abundantly clear, I’m certain, that we don’t love living in D.C. I’m sure that if you or I perused the blog/Facebook entries since we moved here almost four years ago, we would find a plethora of griping and complaining and wishing we were elsewhere. D.C. just isn’t our speed, our cup of tea so to speak. Too fast, too much. too…..everything
Yesterday, in church, PW said something that caught my attention. Well, to be honest, he said a LOT that caught my attention. Any sermon entitled “Having a Right Mind in a Crazy World” gets my attention. If you get a chance you should listen to the podcast . Anywho, PW said something about being happy where you are. Choosing to be thankful in your circumstance despite how you feel. For instance, instead of complaining about why you don’t like your job find a reason you are thankful for it. You’ll never be good at something when all you do is complain about it. Right?
With that in mind, I decided to put together a list of the things I’m thankful for about our lives here in D.C.
- How much we have grown since moving here. We have grown so much in our walks with God, as people in general. God had a plan and a purpose for our being here. What I keep reminding myself is that while all I can see is this tiny patch of light on my path into the darkness of the unknown, God sees the whole path from start to finish. I may not understand why I am where I am, but He does and that is all that should matter.
- How close Steven and I have become since moving here. This is our first base where we aren’t close enough to justify a trip home very often. This has given us ample opportunity to build our relationship. Now our relationship, for the most part, has been always been strong. Someone recently called us “two sides of the same coin”. But amazingly, God has shown us what the meaning of one flesh truly is. Steven travels a bit at this new job, as you are aware. Recently he’s traveled more than normal, a week gone, roughly a week home, three weeks gone again. We were discussing via email/chat how we described missing one another and I told him that more than anything else I miss his physically being here. It feels like a part of me is missing.
- How close I’ve gotten to some of the friends I’ve made here. I always miss our friends when we move, that’s natural. But I’ve made some friends here I never expected to become this close to. There are several ladies that make up what we affectionately refer to as the COT.
- Connie – We met right after we moved here. When I first heard her talking and joking and being so (my version of) normal I knew I could like this gal. We spent a while just casually hanging out with other people and getting to know each other. I’m not sure when it happened but at some point she just became part of my life. Part of my normal. We’re very different and very similar all at the same time. We talk almost every day. Some days about 50 million times via email. We never run out of things to talk about or laugh about and she’s always ready to listen and help if needed. She and I have discussed many times how hard it is, as women, to be real with one another and truly open up our lives and hearts to show someone else the real us warts and all. I can say most anything, do most anything and be my true geeky, dorky, mixed up self.
- Faith-We met October will be three years ago I believe. She came to me for homeschooling information back when I was the welcome gal for our homeschool group. I enjoyed chatting with her that day and thought to myself that we could easily get along. Then, about a week later, who should I see picking up her kids from children’s church while I was working? FAITH! We chatted some more and over the next little while just hit it off and wham! there ya have it. Faith and I can talk nonstop about most anything all the time. Regularly on Wednesday nights I keep her from getting her work done in the Mpact office because I’m talking her ear off. We share the ups and downs of having husbands who work in a stressful, tiring, very important but thankless job that requires them to travel. Granted, Faith’s husband is gone WAAAAAY more than Steven but watching her as she endures it with grace and determination has been inspirational to me. I don’t do half of what she does on a daily basis and I feel overwhelmed a lot of the time. She manages to homeschool the kids, keep her house clean, goes to school full time herself and show up with a smile on her face. She amazes me on a daily basis.
- Shelly-We met via Mpact. Shelly was the Missionettes coordinator and I had offered to help in the office on Wednesday nights. We got to know each other a bit more every Wednesday and I realized somewhere along the way that she and Connie were friends. We used to joke about which BFF of Connie’s we were. From day to day the status would change. BFF #2 or BFF #1 or whatever. Silly but we got a kick out of it. One day one of us had the idea to get all four of us (Connie, Shelly, Faith and myself) together for a night of dinner, chatting and just general hilarity. That first night we got together and ate and laughed and cried and shared until something like 3am. The COT was born. Shelly is always there to make me laugh and share my tears. She is an amazing mom and is dedicated to the Mpact program and seeing those girls grow in their relationship with Christ.
I think that’s a good start for my thankful list. The growth we’ve experienced won’t change with a move. But my COT gals, well, they will be sorely missed. I honestly can’t imagine a week without being able to chat with my gals. We’ll still have email and phones and FB but nothing beats getting together and talking, laughing, crying until 3am.