First Season in California

Today marks 5 months that we've lived in California.

I cannot believe the opportunities we've had to grow in these last months.
We immediately got involved with South Bay Church. I have been given several projects to work on and have interned here since September. After this internship is over, I plan to start volunteering with another non-profit to continue to gain more experience in my field. John Mark and I also joined the student ministry leadership team.  Before we came, there were weekly Bible studies and a few student ministry events, but our awesome team has played a major role in making Ignite Student Ministry into a program! It has truly been a growing experience and we are thrilled to be a part of this from it's beginning stages.
After months of applying to what seemed like everywhere and job hunting, I was finally able to start my job with REI in October. I am so grateful to finally be working after over a year of unemployment. I am really enjoying it. Even though it's retail and my hours are always different, I feel so blessed to be working and feel like there is a lot of opportunity to grow in the company! I hope to stay with REI for a while!
JM's job has thrown us a few unanticipated curveballs, but for the most part it is a good job and has given him some time to still be active at South Bay. Unfortunately he has worked most weekends and has been given some weird hours, but we are happy that he so far has not been deployed away from home.
It definitely was a culture shock when we moved here and life is not quite what we were expecting, but we are in a good place in our lives right now and we are just trying to take everything in while learning as much as possible. The Bay area pace of life and traffic is a lot to get used to, but we've been able to take some incredible hikes and day trips and there is still so much more to explore!
We miss our families like crazy!! I believe this is the longest I have ever gone without seeing my family, but we know this is just another piece of our life journey! I really struggle with looking forward to the next step in life rather than living in the now, so I am really trying to acknowledge this incredible opportunity we have in this season of life. But to be honest, it's really hard to not look forward to moving closer to family. Thankfully, the Redwines will be here for Christmas and we are so excited!
Thanksgiving was my first holiday away from family - JM had to be away a few times when he was underway. We planned on just staying home, the two of us and having our first holiday alone. But some of the staff at South Bay invited us to join them for Thanksgiving. We decided to go and it was an awesome day with our church family! All together there were 5 families - 10 adults and 9 kids! We are all transplants to California and thousands of miles away from our families. It's incredible to do life with these people!
God is doing big things in our hearts and lives and this new season is seriously just insane!

Nostalgia

I got back earlier this week from St. Louis. I spent the last week helping my sister and brother-n-law with baby Violet, my beautiful niece. And, in March we will get to meet #3 of babies born in the last 6 months to our family. We love being Aunt Rae Rae and Uncle JM!
I find it so interesting to look at these beautiful babies and see similarities in our genes. I stopped by my parents on the way home from MO and looked through some old photo albums... I don't have any childhood pictures! I borrowed some out of the album but haven't copied them yet, so here are some low res pictures I took with my phone from my own childhood! Beware, I do look like a cute little boy in a dress. I am the youngest, so you should be able to spot me.

A few things to note: I have the cheeks of a mammoth, I look like my mother, I love being the youngest, I love my childhood!

Josiah's Tribute Video

This video may be hard to watch for some of you that don't know the incredible story of my nephew Josiah Nathaniel. He spent is whole life (except for a few days) in the hospital as he was born with HLHS as well as some other rare heart defects. Although he never said a word, Josiah has left a huge impact in our lives and has left an amazing story that many other parents and families can relate with. I am still amazed at what his mommy and daddy did to take care of his fragile life along with our two awesome nieces. JM and I spent a lot of 2009 watching our nieces and spending our dates with Josiah in his hospital room. We happened to be in Charleston the day he went to be with Jesus on January 24th, 2010. It has been two years. I can't believe he would be a toddler right now. But the beauty in all of this is that Josiah's parents have amazing faith in God and that faith has carried our family through this extremely difficult, yet beautiful journey. Although we had Josiah for 8 months, his story will always be told.

Yesterday I was reading out of 1 Samuel 1 and the incredible mother that Hannah was. "I asked the Lord to give me this boy, and he has granted my request. Now I am giving him to the Lord, and he will belong to the Lord his whole life." - (1 Sam 1:27-28) Hannah was barren for a long time and in "deep anguish" and "crying bitterly," she made a vow with God - Lord, if you look upon my sorrow and answer my prayer and give me a son, then I will give him back to you. He will be yours his entire lifetime (1:10,11). After he was weaned, Hannah took Samuel to the Tabernacle to become a priest.

Now I am sure, by choice we would never want to give Josiah up, but we have to be faithful and trust that God still uses Josiah for His good will. Although his time here was short, we can tell the story of Josiah and the amazing work God is still doing because of his little life. We love him and miss him so much, but we have the incredible opportunity to continue to tell his story. There are so many parents and families out there questioning God through extremely difficult situations. But we know through Josiah that our HOPE is in Christ Jesus and that as children of God, we belong to an amazing Creator that promises His never failing love. That no matter how much pain and anguish we may feel, God can restore our hearts with joy that goes beyond just a feeling. It is a confident joy that only comes from knowing Jesus personally. Yes, there will always be hard days and times we question God, but only He can give us joy so that we can tell Josiah's story happily. Because if we speak out, we can reach out to others that face similar grief. So please, watch this video with joy in your heart, because we are confident that Josiah's heart is whole as he rests in the arms of Jesus!






For more about his story, please visit: www.thewilsonheart.com

We love you and miss you little buddy!

A Year Ago Today

A year ago, my life was rapidly changing. I was finishing my last semester of college, making last minute wedding plans, packing my life away and experiencing a lot of transitions! Here are some photos from a year ago today! I am so grateful for my education at Lee University and proud to call it my Alma Mater. I had amazing teachers, classmates, friends and an all-together unforgettable experience. After 3 semesters of nearly failing, I took 1.5 years off before transferring to Lee to start fresh. Going from nearly failing to a desire to learn, grow and succeed helped me push for my almost 4.0 average while at Lee. Too bad my grades transferred over from where I began, but I worked so hard to receive an overall college GPA of 3.2! I celebrated with my soon-to-be husband, family, teachers and friends!

President Paul Conn and his wife!

December 1st

We decided to try and make December 1st a special one for now and years to come.
We want to make it the day we get our tree as we grow into a family!
This year was our first tree-picking event as a married couple and I think we found the best one!
We spent the night fluffing, decorating, listening to hours of Christmas music, and celebrating what Christmas is all about!

Remember When

Remember when I liked to blog?

Remember when I shared my life?

Well, I hope to get back into this. 

I just haven't been in the mood to write or say or post much lately.

I've had some ideas, but just haven't gotten to them.

So, I'd like to catch up on the last month or so. 

Do you mind?

Remember when we went to Edisto for the Smith family reunion and watched the sunrise?

Remember when I made from scratch biscuits and we had breakfast for dinner?

Remember when we started our fireplace for the first time this fall? Java got scared!

Remember when I made yummy snicker doodles for the first time ever?

Remember when Java realized she liked snuggles by the fire?

Remember when we had trick-or-treaters?

And I added lights to the window.

Remember when Java's face was so smooshed?

Remember when he bought me flowers?

Remember when we bought our space heater because our fireplace is too expensive! And now it's Java's favorite spot!

Remember when I cut bangs for the first time in 5 years? If Zoey can...