7 Days and Counting!

Yep.. just seven short days until our little one, Stone turns the big 1! Talk about time flying.. everyone who has kids has told me to enjoy and cherish every moment of Stone and being a mom because it flies by so fast. They weren't lying. Or exaggerating. This past year has been somewhat of an adventure for my little family. Actually, the past 2 years have been quite an adventure. Kevin and I married on 9/25/04. Four short months later, we discovered that we were going to have a baby.. not something we had planned for right after marriage. Our big plan was to be married at least a year before we "tried" to get pregnant. We were also going to try and pay off as much debt as possible too. Neither of those plans worked! Which is why it is much better to let God be in control of your plans, rather than make a complete mess of your life on your own.

So, here we are, almost a year after Stone's birth. I still remember that day and all that led up to it. I think I'll save that story for when I blog on his actual birthday. He was born on October 7. Kevin's birthday is on October 8 and mine is October 18. We now have what you call our own personal "Oktoberfest" celebrating all month long. And why not? Anyway, I quit my job as a children's minister to be home with Stone and also because we had planned to go to seminary for Kevin to pursue a degree. Our originial plan was to go to New Orleans Seminary; Kevin's dad was a professor there and his sister Gini and her husband and newborn Mercy were there as well. Besides the advantage of being with family, Kevin had always kind of had an interest in going to New Orleans Seminary anyway. So, it just made sense to go there. Then hurricane Katrina came and not only did that uproot Kevin's family, but it also drastically changed our plans as well. In thinking and praying about what to do (in the midst of wondering how we could help Kevin's family, even though I was only one month from being due) he thought that going to Beeson Divinity in Birmingham would be the next step. He went to the undergrad there, Samford, and thought that Beeson would be a unique place to study and learn. He was right; we moved to Birmingham at the end of December and Kevin enrolled and attended Beeson for the spring semester. It was indeed a very unique school--he especially enjoyed his professors and the experiences and wisdom they had to offer.

In the midst of this journey though, we both struggled if this was where we needed to be. Kevin struggled with ministry and was still figuring out what exactly God wanted him to do. I struggled with the fact that neither one of us had a full time job and financially, we were barely making it. We both worked part time and had the help of family, but it was still a huge strain. So, Kevin started looking for a full time job in mid-April. He specifically looked in Birmingham and also in Greenville, where his parents had moved at the first of the year. Even though he still didn't have a full time job, we moved to Greenville at the end of July and moved into his parent's new home (I must say that I feel quite spoiled living with them). (And for anyone out there who would cringe at the idea of living with their mother-in-law, all I have to say is that my MIL rocks!!) Kevin's parents have truly been a blessing in our journey to discover God's plan for us. Kevin is still interviewing for jobs and we pray that something will open up soon. In the meantime, he has temp. work and I will start a part-time job this week.

So, in the past year, we celebrated our first anniversary, 2 weeks later had a baby, 2 months later moved to Birmingham where Kevin went to school, 7 months later moved to Greenville, just celebrated our 2nd anniversary and will celebrate our son's 1st birthday soon. Yes, we live a crazy life! But our God is good. Praise be to His name forever and ever.