Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes

You know, like the David Bowie song, just in case you were wondering why I was stuttering...

*I actually wrote almost all of this post last week and something terrible happened and I lost all of it except the first few sentences.  So it's taken me this long to sit down and recreate it and it's not nearly as articulate as I was feeling in the moment when I wrote it. Plus, the heat is rearing its ugly head at us again this week, so the remarks about the weather make no sense in the context of the current temperature.  But it was nice while it lasted :) Hopefully summer will get just a few final jabs at us and then be gone!*

I think if you listened hard enough you would hear all of Houston (and probably all of Texas for that matter) letting out a big collective sigh of relief today. The oppressive, relentless heat of the hottest summer on record has felt like everything's been on hold, just surviving, waiting for it to be over.  You can almost feel the dry, cracked ground and withered trees with their backs bent over in oppression breathing in this cooler air.  Like coming up for a breath of air after being trapped in sinking sand.  Life. Hopefully this is a sign that we're entering into a new (cooler) season.

We are entering into a new season.  As cliche as it sounds and all, since this time of year is associated with change and transition with a new school year beginning and the changing seasons.  There is always a natural momentum that comes with this time.  But our feeling of change transcends backpacks, colored leaves, and pumpkins.  Our transition has more to do with the lack of transitioning, actually.  For the past year and a half we have been adjusting and transitioning- pretty much every life category there is had some changes.  New city, new job, new house, new church, new friends, new puppy...then when the dust was settling from all of that came the news of a new baby followed by another move, dealing with our first broken bone, adjusting to a growing belly, and surviving the epic, one-for-the-books heat to end all heat. While all of that has been wonderful and exciting (okay maybe except the broken bone and epic heat part), it's been a lot of new. So now it feels like we're settling in, sinking our roots in deeper, building on the foundation of everything that's been laid.  Growing into our skin, if you will. Although I'm sure we will continue to have constant movement and will have to adjust and make changes along the way, we're not having any major life transition while we're doing life.

I'm really excited for the days to come.  This is going to be one of the most challenging seasons I've had personally as well as us with the church, but I think it's going to be one of the best too.  Homeschooling two kids with a new baby and keeping up with the activity of a growing, thriving church and all that entails is a lot to say the least. As overwhelmed as I feel about it, I'm also excited because I know that God's grace will equip us to do everything He's called us to in order to go to the next level.  It's His power, not my own, working through me to accomplish it all anyway.  It's definitely time to step it up around here in many areas.  When you're dealing with a lot of transition and constant adjustment, unfortunately what happens sometimes is going into survival mode, simply maintaining what you have, and keeping your head above water so to speak. Inevitably you become a little too comfortable with some things that might not be ideal but don't have time to work on because it's working good enough at the moment. This became especially true towards the end of the summer when I was so very pregnant and we were basically prisoners to the indoors because of the heat. But now that we're getting the feeling of settling a little we have the opportunity to go a little deeper and fine tune some things. It's time to shorten the gap between the potential of what we can be and what sometimes ends up playing out. That is going to require two things: Number one making sure I don't have unrealistic expectations for me and my family and number two making some realistic changes in order to carry out the vision we have for our home.  Both are definitely needed. It's going pretty good so far- I just have to go with the flow a little more because some days the best laid plans fall to the wayside, driven by a tiny little human that doesn't always feel like fitting perfectly into the plan I have made :) And that's okay.  We're at least moving in the right direction with vision and direction.

And in keeping with making some changes, I am also planning on changing things up a bit on the blog- as in, actually try to write more.  I am thinking about compartmentalizing it a little more in order to be able to post more often and cover more topics.  More on that to come.  But for now, I leave you with a quote that describes pretty well the lens in which I'm attempting to view our days:

This is the beginning of a new day. You have been given this day to use as you will. You can waste it or use it for good. What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever; in its place is something that you have left behind…let it be something good. Author Unknown.

Peace out from the Pate house.