hello there. it sure has been a while. i have been living life these past couple years, good and bad. i thought about blogging. really i have. there is something so releasing when you let words out. i'm back. at least for a season.

i could never have predicted all the crazy changes that would take place over the course of these last two years. i have grown and yet feel like almost nothing has changed. funny how that happens.

i have been through three wonderful (and hard) jobs, finally settling in at a dental lab. it is home...as much as work can be home. i love it and God knew i needed to be there. it has a great insurance plan to boot!

i spent the better part of 2013-2014 caring for my grandfather (Buddy) and then working for a home companion company. both jobs were very rewarding and very emotionally exhausting. after tearing both my rotator cuff and a tendon in my ankle (was in a cast for 8 weeks) from emergency care accidents with Buddy, i made the hard decision to stop caring for him. it was hard work but i was able to love a person who was very hard to love and it changed me. he passed away almost a year ago, and i am so very grateful for the time i spent caring and loving him.
while working for the home care/companion company i made several wonderful, elderly friends. they changed me. i saw 75 years of marriage and the key to lasting so long, i joined a beautiful 96 year old couple in bible study every morning over coffee, i experienced God in meaningful ways - often over ice cream while sitting on a back porch or in the clear moments of a dementia patient. it changed me. i belly laughed at childhood stories and i cried at the heartbreak of bodies growing old. oh the ways it changed me. the six months i worked there were some of the very hardest and most rewarding of my adult life. i am thankful for them.

i got to experience/deal with/learn from my first major service dog access issue. while working it out i learned some really great communication skills, some major access laws and ways to work with them and i learned grace. sadly i ended up not being able to attend the school i was working with due to my rotator cuff injury, but we both got an education worth more than gold.


in the past few years my best friend became my boyfriend. moved across the country from MN to TX. found a job, an apartment, and a new adventure. did hard things, learned new life lessons, grew by leaps and bounds. experienced our Texas culture. bought cowboy boots. changed his license plates. fell in love with me and i with him. made plans. shared joy and trials.  had adventures. lived daily life and continued to become a great man of God. he also became my ex. i always hated that "ex" word. but it is the only one that fits. we parted ways this spring. y'all...that was one of the hardest relational things i have done. Jesus is good and has such a great plan for both of us. we were able to come away from the relationship more in love with Jesus, more appreciative of one another, and so grateful and hopeful for what is in store for both of us. if we had to break up, i couldn't have asked for a better experience. hard though it may be.

once again i am in a season of searching, waiting, and trusting (shouldn't that be every season?). i have many things to look forward to this year. my sweet friend is getting married, several friends are welcoming new lives into their families, siblings graduating and moving and growing, family to visit and who knows what else. i look forward to it all.

thanks for listening, friends. i am back for good and i am glad.