Changes: #1 Location.

Over 3 months ago I lived in Bloomington Indiana as a renter. I now live 4 hours north as a homeowner. Definitely a BIG change for our family. I miss Bloomington and all the amazing people living there. Even though we lived there for one short year, I'd like to think we made some lifelong friends and forever memories. In my mind, Bloomington feels like a summer home from the movies, where the people in the movie all live in summer cottages. They live a different life with new friends all up at the lake and they all have a blast, but at the end of the summer they all go back to other lives. It was a short visit in Bloomington in the whole scheme of the timeline of life. I may not own a summer home, but don't worry B-town, I'll be back for a visit.

I feel like ever place we live as a family, turns out to be the perfect place for us at that exact stage we are at in life. It doesn't mean everything is ideal about the place or the circumstances, but it meets our needs as a family. In each of these places, I always meet a few forever friends, and a whole bunch of friends for that stage in life. These are people that influence my life for the better, and make me happy. Amazing people, you know who you are. Thanks for rocking my life.

Right now we are on to the next place, actually an old place at a new phase in life. I never dreamed I'd be back in my old college stomping grounds. But here we are. Its strange to have so many memories as a 19, 20, 21 year old, and now be making memories here as a wife and mother. Its familiar and unfamiliar all at once.

In processing living in my familiar and unfamiliar surroundings, I find myself thankful. "The college years" stir up so many memories good and bad. Its great to remember all the hilarious things from college and even to reconnect with old friends from back then now as couples and families and moms. I am loving this! I am thankful for the college years that introduced me to my future husband. We never dated in college, but that's where it all began-the friendship, meeting, the groundwork. But not all the memories are good ones. Being in a familiar place makes you remember all kinds of things, and some things aren't so great. I have a pile of those kind of memories as well: Broken relationships, bad choices, hard times, growing points.

But, I am thankful.

I am so thankful to see the bigger picture. Now 9 years later I see that the broken relationships ended, and opened up space for new exciting life long ones. I see that bad choices don't always control your life and can teach you important lessons about who you are as a person. I see that hard times and growing points are a part of life. I understand what healing, forgiveness, and living a life of integrity mean. I see that when it felt like things were uncertain, confusing, and stressful for a 20 year old girl, they ended up certain, clear, and pretty great with a husband and children I love more than anything I loved as a 20 year old girl.

3 months ago I never dreamed I would have a beautiful home with a fenced in backyard surrounded by friends and family. And I definitely never dreamed my best friend and some other pretty amazing friends would be our 60 sec away and 45 sec away neighbors within weeks of our move. Life feels crazy, unpredictable, and awesome sometimes. A year and a half ago we were in quite a different place. Unemployment, uncertainty, and unknown described our situation. I don't think we dreamed a year and a half down the road we would be here. But if I look back, I can see things a bit more clearly. Life doesn't always make sense, even in retrospect when you have more answers, but sometimes things seem a whole lot more clear. I'm glad our journey brought us here.

Its amazing what happens in 3 months. And that's just the beginning.