Dive

I was a bit afraid to open the blog tonight and see when I last posted.  It's been over four months - yikes.  I didn't mean to neglect sharing, lots of reasons have kept me silent in this space.  It feels like the most compelling is how non-stop busy our life has been the last few months.  But now we're at a turning point, what feels to me like a huge turning point.  And I am feeling the need to reflect, at least in the short term, on what got us here.

I graduated.  Five years of steady work and I earned my Masters in Christian Education.  This event was supposed to be a whole blog post all by itself, gushing on what a gift my education was and how excited I am to move forward in my calling from here.  But I never got to it because - 

The first broken bone happened -

(A major savings goal was reached and much Lego rejoicing and building ensued -)
 

And my then my baby "graduated".  From preschool.  I know, it's not really a thing.  Except it was for us, as it also marked my last year working at the preschool that has been our home for the last three years.  The community that helped us build our home here.  I am so proud of my little Turtle/Ladybug/Froglet/rising Panda and so grateful for our season there.

And as if he wasn't growing up enough - then he turned 5 -

And this one got his cast off and totally rocked the end of 1st grade -

All in time for - wait for it - DisneyWorld!

We have many, many more exciting pictures than this, but they're all on the other computer, so this is all I have for tonight.  (Doesn't do a wonderful trip with wonderful people justice.)

Coming home from Disney was a whirlwind for two weeks while I prepared for Vacation Bible School!  I would insert another picture here except I was too busy and forgot to take any.  So written highlights include me helping to lead worship for the first time, Hubby T volunteering for the first time, and the boys eating it all up. 

I spent the last week kind of recovering and now we're here - the Sunday night before the start of my new job.  It's the kind of job that I hoped for once my degree was done.  It will allow me to work while the boys are at school and be home when they get home.  It's at a church that we've slowly been stepping into and we're all excited to grow with.  I expect that this job will challenge me and thrill me and everything in between.  The future is looking bright...

But in anticipation of this turning point, I've been quietly (and sometimes not so quietly) coming to terms with the fact that the stay-at-home-with-my-babies phase of life is over.  It's an identity that I fiercely took on shortly after Little B was born and it's been a wonderful 7 years.  These years were filled with so much growing for all of us and I'm so grateful that I was home to experience it all with my boys.  The family that Hubby T and I have built over these years is what gives me confidence to step from what was and into whatever comes next.  In the words of a college song* that was once close to my heart and rose to the surface of my mind a couple days ago -

"I'm diving in, I'm going deep, in over my head I want to be,
Caught in the rush, lost in the flow, in over my head I want to go.
The river's deep, the river's wide, the river's water is alive,
So sink or swim, I'm diving in."

 

* College credit for this song goes to the fun and talented gentlemen of One Accord.  Original credit goes to Steven Curtis Chapman.