Where to Start...

Life. It has a funny way of slipping away from you and before you know it a year has passed since the last time you wrote. In many ways I needed a break. A lot has happened in the last two years and I've needed to process and reflect on what has happened around me. In many ways not knowing where to start and the thought of blogging terrified me. However, enough time has passed and I am in a much healthier place these days. I'm ready to blog again and document our life this way because I do so love being able to re-read where we have been and where we are headed. Please, bear with me as I shake off the dust and clear the cobwebs. I've got to find a rhythm for posting again but I promise to get back on the bandwagon. I'm sure I'll post some on what has transpired over the last year but I don't really want to set expectations on that for myself. We'll just see when and where my heart goes with all of this. Without much further ado here's where we are headed...

Home
We are still living in our same house. It's hard to believe that we've been here now for over 7.5 years! Time moves so quickly. This past summer one of our old trees in the backyard split in half and in order to take it out we had to remove four additional trees. Our once super shady backyard is now very bright! The upside to this is that the mosquito problem that we've had for years is now virtually non-existent. It also means that for the first time since we've been here I'll be able to have a vegetable garden this next spring.

Andy
We are elated to announce that Andy will be starting a new job in different industry next week. He has been working in the tax industry since we met. We've prayed for a long time that something would come along that would allow him to switch gears and move out of it. And in the last two months God brought about an unexpected opportunity. It feels odd to be walking in uncharted territory and yet we are at peace with where we are being led. I'll share more about this and how we got to this point in another post because it is most certainly something I want to document.

Me
So many things to say here. :) The biggest change for me in this last year is going back to work. I absolutely love my job, what we do, and the people I work with. Again, I plan to document how I got to where I am because it is worth documenting in another post.

AG
Five and a half and getting closer to six every. single. day. He started Kindergarten in August and is thriving at school! We decided to put him on campus at Berry Elementary and have felt deeply affirmed that he is in the right place over the course of these last two months. He amazes us daily with all the different things that he is learning. He continues to be all boy and a sports fanatic just like his Daddy. Once again, he's playing soccer this fall and Andy is coaching his team. I'm not sure who enjoys it more but I absolutely love watching the two of them on the field together.

Avi-Kate
Our sweet and sassy mess as I affectionately call her. She's got a lot of spunk and reminds me daily of my sister, Caroline, when we were growing up. In August, she started school at Berry at the Child Development Center and she is blossoming right in front of our eyes. She loves being a 'big girl' who has her own friends and gets to do fun things like paint, play, read, and sing. Her only disappointment with school is that she can't ride the bus every day like her older brother. Ha. We remind her daily that her time is coming.

Samson
Middle age in dog years and likes his routine. He's living the dream lounging around the house and in the backyard. And always enjoys a car trip when it takes him to the farm where he can roam to his heart's content.

Running
Many a post on this subject coming up in the next few weeks. I'm still doing it and learning a lot along the way. Andy and I have some pretty ambitious race goals set for this next year and we are currently training for a half and a marathon back to back. We've got our race schedule for 2015 for the most part set and I'm really excited about what we've got on the books. Two of which are really big runDisney accomplishments.

College Family
Lots of transition here! We had a huge wave of our students graduate this spring so we are in the process of regrouping. Our group had become quite large and it should look much smaller this year due to our senior class this spring. With everything in limbo the last two months with Andy's job we haven't done our usual dinners to kick off the year. However, now that we know what the next few weeks look like as Andy transitions to his new gig we are excited about starting things back up with our students.

There you have it. A surface level post but hopefully it sets things up for me to dive back into this in the coming weeks. Back again soon...