Wholly Crazy Summer!!

That's right...WHOLLY!
Everything.  All of it.  Personal, professional, public & private...all of it has been a full summer of craziness.

To recap the last 4+ months of our families lives here is the bullet point version:

• March 2014 I had personal & professional reasoning to leave a church we were at in Southern California for 6+ years
• April 16th 2014 moved to St. Louis MO to begin a new chapter of life & Cole turned 10
• April 17th began looking for a rental
• April 21st moved into our new rental & started at a new church
• April 23rd moving truck showed up
• May 30th Our sons finished their school year in Missouri after only 5 weeks of going
• June 3 2014 the home we were renting had a faulty electrical outlet that didn't like my surge protector and our garage & laundry room was burned with severe smoke damage to the house as well as our belongings
• June 4th we were homeless
• June 16-20th Student Ministry Summer Camp
• July 14-21 High School Missions Trip to Costa Rica
• July 27-August 1st Middle School Mission Local serving & Missions trip
• August 6th our Boys began their first Day of School
• August 8th we moved back into our rental home ending an 8 week displacement living in hotels, with family (impromptu Virginia Trip for Kim and the boys) & friends.
• August 11th part of our contents were returned from a restoration company & I turned 34
• August 13th all of our fabrics & clothing items were returned from a restoration company
• August 15th....i finally get back to blogging

Needless to say it's been a wholly crazy summer.  All of us have had a ton of emotions and experiences throughout this whole transition.  

Some of those emotions have been pain, anger bitterness, tears, joy, humbling moments, experience love & care by strangers, we all miss So Cal, we are trying to adjust to humidity & we know it's a process. 

We knew the reason we had to move as well as this move was bringing challenges but we never thought any of these challenges would be magnified by so many other issues and scenarios.  

And through it all I have felt like a broken record saying "day at a time, step at a time".  

Because that is all we really are able to navigate.  We couldn't control anything that pushed us out of Southern California, we couldn't control the fire, we couldn't control issues trying to get back into our rental home & so much more.  All we can do is "day at a time, step at a time".

As a Dad i've tried to care for my boys with as much conversation, fun moments & giving them space to process freely without begin forced to "deal with it".  As a husband I've tried to listen closely to Kim, care for your emotions as well as taking whatever I can off her plate in those moments she just needs a break.  

As a follower of Jesus I've prayed, and prayed....and prayed for wisdom & also the ability to take it "day at a time, step at a time".

To be honest there is still so much we are having to manage in our lives.  Insurance claims & paperwork, a new school system with an entirely new school calendar, our boys trying to develop new friendships, Kim and I trying to create a new rhythm for our family, learning the ins & outs of working in a new church, trying to learn how to balance being outdoor people when humidity makes you wanna stay inside and that list keeps going.

So today I leave with you with this; this summer we've really had a chance in life to practice what we preach.

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Matthew 6:25-34 ESV)