Here and There

So, I need to give the disclaimer that I am no "pro blogger" and I am the farthest thing from a writer. If I could have allowed you be a fly on the wall as I was trying to put this post together, you would have laughed at me. Trying to put pictures on and place them make me want to scream....so forgive the format issues! Hope you enjoy a window into our last month. Love you all and miss you!!!!!

The last month has been like this slow and steady climb for me, and for poor Justin....probably more like a relay sprint. We have been able to steal tiny moments away here and there to soak up life-but much of life has been a balancing act for us to work as a team. My struggles are complete opposite of Justin's and yet because we are married, and we are a team...we bare each others burdens.

Many long hours on Justin's end juggling new roles, settling into them, launching a church campus, building teams, being a husband, a daddy, and finding time to simply have "his"time...have been challenging.

With many long hours and having a husband pulled in a million directions, being new to this area, not knowing many people at all, especially any stay at home moms here further south....have made for long lonely days with a toddler.

And before you go and start feeling sorry for us, or I start to paint this sob story, let me say that there is more to say here...Im not done; yet, I think if I am going to share with you whats going on with us, really, then I need to share the hard parts too. Facebook posts of pretty beach days happen...but there is a reality of life for us here that goes beyond all that.

This new season of challenges was to be expected; but there is the anticipating of the trial...and then the reality of living it... the latter, requiring the rubber to hit the road. But the very cool thing is that we know God called us to this- we stepped out in faith, and it requires trusting that he will meet all of our needs according to HIS riches and GLORY......and sometimes...until you step beyond yourself you are never really able to experience THAT kind of provision. And friends...THAT place of provision is something to savor; its not something we have created- because we have stepped beyond ourselves into something a bit bigger than "us".... a LOT bigger actually.

So, in the loneliness...Ive stepped out. I have had to force myself to speak up to the mom in the parking lot to ask about the MOPS T-shirt she was wearing and how I could get involved. Ive had to call the random lady that I don't know, but found her number on the church website and ask if she knew of moms groups. Ive had to be intentional. Ive had to step beyond my comfort zone, and it hasn't come easy, and its been a SLOW and steady climb-but its been really cool to look back as each week goes by, each week there is one new person I meet, or one challenge that I have overcome that I thought I couldn't ...and there has been great reward in that.

Just beyond the path is the water : Deering Estate

Our Miami Springs campus soft launched this past weekend! basically that means we have 3 more weeks to work out all the kinks before we have our Grand opening. People, launching a church is not for the faint of heart. Whatever idea you have in your head of what it looks like....just stop. really, you just have no clue. Ha- we didn't either...ALL so new and challenging and oh so rewarding for us too:) But the hours and details and planning and set up and tear down issues the whole production and pulling it all off...its nuts! Justin has ate, breathed, slept it now for weeks, and therefore I have too in a way. Its been amazing to see it all coming together, its been even more amazing to feel knit together and like family with this big group of people all working toward something. Its been a gift in many ways.

our first painting experience 

Several weeks ago we were downtown at the Miami Children's Museum and decided to make a quick impromptu trip to South Beach. It was rainy and cloudy and what a better day to go for us pale white folk?!:) Here is a window into what turned out to be one of my favorite Miami memories made thus far....

she was tuckered out!!!! 

On another note, Justin is involved with an event CF is calling CF United. All campuses are coming together at the University of Miami's Bank United Center for a day of worship and vision casting. Its pretty cool the plans this church has to reach the hurt and lost. We feel so excited to be a part of this. This is a picture Justin took at the last meeting they held on site in preparation for the event. Justin will be involved with the worship portion of this event. 

oh and Justin got a hardcore inflatable kayak for 40$...yeah leave it to Justin, as you all know, to get a $400 dollar kayak for 40$...thats not an exaggeration either!!

Slow and Steady…...

We were SO blessed on Justin's birthday by a group of young adults who are going to be a part of the Springs Campus. We had no real plans on Justin's big day, and suddenly we have this group of people willing to drive all the way to Cutler Bay and bring Justin birthday cake or meet us out for a birthday dinner. These are people we barely know, all willing to come support, love on us, and welcome us with open arms….We were really blown away and beyond blessed. Lola had a ball being passed around, and I think has become the Springs campus mascot :)

I met our realtor turned friend at Starbucks not too long ago with Lola. It was a rare cool(ish) kind of day with a nice breeze, and we had the nicest time sitting outside chatting. As I left I reflected on that little trip to Starbucks, and I realized something….we were really starting to stumble into some kind of community….

When I had walked in, we were greeted by the most amazing kid whose name is Saul. He will be the Springs student director; we got to know him better the Friday prior at Justin's birthday--he instantly became Lola's new BFF. Honest, he's like the Lola whisperer…who else could keep this child happy at 8:00 at night (way past her bedtime) at a restaurant full of adults??…Tio Saul…that’s who. (Tio means uncle in Spanish)…anyway, I regress-

Saul works at Starbucks. He hooked us up with a free beverage too, which if you know us Tunmore and our Starbucks coffee addiction and connections, you would know back home we were often privy to treats by our favorite Starbucks employees…they were like family to us. This simple, kind gesture did so much for my soul that morning, it made me feel at home. But there was more….

As we sat out and talked, a group of interns from the church, who Justin helps manage, came out the door. Kelly, one of the interns we took with us to the fireworks, came running up to hug us…and Lola got this huge grin on her face. She knew Kelly as her other new BFF who rode in the backseat with her to the fireworks on the 4th, and who also rode with us to Justin's birthday dinner Friday.  In that same group, a great big teddy bear of a guy named "Ralphie" comes out and sees Lola and says..."Lola Jae!! I met with your daddy yesterday and I've heard all about you!!"

As we sat, Lola refused to sit on my lap…she wanted Jen, our realtor/new friend to hold her…..The. whole. time. She loves her! As we sat, Lola threw her ball at a group of students who were sitting at the table next to us. As the girl, Rachel, handed it back to Lola, I recognized her from last Saturday at the Church. Justin had introduced me to her and the group of kids she was sitting with here at Starbucks…we exchanged hellos and a few more ball throws on Lola's part. :)

As I drove home from that coffee date I realized I had so many encounters, all different, all separate, and all surrounding a community of people we are becoming a part of……it was a moment for me. I think this new road we are traveling, might just start to feel more and more familiar....slow and steady, we are getting there. 

Here are a few pictures of the last 3 weeks.......

Fridays are family days around here....we ease into our mornings with some light reading:)

a little sun tea in the sunshine state

one of a few storms that have rolled through...that sky

Happy 4th!!

Every.Single.Time. Every single time we do something with the community of people in this Springs Campus Launch….Justin and I leave SO SO full. This community of people is so very warm, and loving, and really…just beautiful. We feel like a part of a family, even though this is still new. There is something really special about this area and these people.

We are trying to get the word out to the surrounding  communities that the Campus is launching in September. So today, everyone involved with the campus gathered and walked in the parade. We met new faces, passed out candy, had water gun and water bucket fights with the crowds and just had an all around great time. Lola was in heaven. 

We hope you enjoyed your holiday!! Love and miss you all!! 

Welcome to Miami

We made it!!!

We are here, moved in and trying to establish a new normal. 

Moving is a hard thing….it takes a while to re-center from the jolt of your world being turned upside down. Living out of boxes and suitcases for weeks makes for an unsettled feeling….its been nice to get put back together again; and yet it's just such a huge shift- that it really does take some time. 

Here is an update of our lives in the last two weeks through a few photos.........

Home Sweet Home

We found a place! Something with enough space that we can afford and were able to get into fast.

 Yet we have this tension…..we are further from Miami Springs where the church plant will be happening. Not hours-realistically minutes and 10 miles further than the most ideal location, however this is a major part of Justin's role. We have felt torn about this for so long as we were looking for a place. Justin's other main role is at the main Campus working on leadership development….which we are only about 7 minutes away from; and so a tension lies of wanting to be so much closer to the community we are about to serve, and not being able to afford to live there and having all the doors shut. The catch 22 is if we move closer, it's a flip flop on being further from Justin's other location and more traffic, more time in the car sitting. To say the least-there is not a perfect scenario here.

So here we are, living in the tension…but at peace knowing God has us here and waiting to see His handiwork. 

Where is here?….Well, for those who want to look at a map and check out our proximity….we are in Cutler Bay. We are south.....way south. Palmetto Bay is where the main Campus is and Miami Springs is where the church plant will be…if you have just looked this up, you'll understand my previous statement…yeah, its far. But not too far, just far enough to be annoying because Miami traffic makes everything that much farther!!!

Justin has jumped in full throttle since he arrived and its exciting to think about his new role and the ministry opportunities this new season is going to afford us. But at the same time, its an adjustment. Its a step outside of our comfort zones, and its a stretch on many fronts.

People….let me be real here….Miami doesn't really have beaches like the beaches you keep asking me about. YES- South Beach, we do have that…..we are about 40 minutes in traffic away from that, and ill be honest……thats a train wreck of congestion and crazy that I doubt I will deal with very often. We are on the coast, but so far south that there are not many beaches, there is water to be seen….just not too many long wide deep stretches of beach that you tend to think of if you think of Florida. BUMMER, yes…I know.

We did go to Key Biscayne this past week. It is a stretch of beach about 45 minutes ( with traffic ) away from us. It has a beautiful view of the city and it was really nice to just unplug for the morning. Lola was in heaven, she loved it! 

Enjoy the few Pictures below, and we will be in touch soon! Love and miss you all.

I learned not to feed the ducks around us. Here I thought it would be this great wildlife experience for Lola to feed the ducks by our pond each day....yeah not so much. They are not so nice- and we fed one, and 13 showed up in the yard here...I didn't get a shot but SOOO wished I had!  (they look like demons, you cant tell in this pic, but their heads are red and creepy looking)... These things will come knocking on your window for bread days later, somehow they know where you live.

Breaking in the kitchen

 

Lola's first fresh squeezed Florida orange juice:)

Happy Fathers Day!! 

This Fathers day Lola will finally be reunited with daddy after 15 days of being apart! 

Im not sure who missed who more!! 

 the In Between.....

I was able to shoot this just before Lola got her hands on it:)

As these past couple of weeks come to a close, I am taking a moment to soak it all in one last time and reflect.

This in-between place has had its moments. The thing about being in between is you’re stuck in the middle, smack in the “not yet” and “what once was.” Looking forward and behind you see both….sandwiched right in the nook.

I'm working on that life lesson of things being a process, of life being a process, and that all the little steps and bumps and hicups along the way ARE REAL LIFE…and if I spend my whole life looking back and forward, forward and back, I’m gonna miss what’s smack in the nook. I’m gonna miss REAL LIFE. Needless to say, this too has been a process for me; so this in between of being in Ohio as Justin has been in Miami has had its ups and downs. Ive loved spending time with all my friends and family one last time before the move, and yet I was ready to move beyond and into what Justin was already in.

Two weeks out where I grew up…across from a field, and 24 minutes away from the closest Starbucks, people. Five acres, a pond, two apple trees, a garden, a homemade swing set, a sandbox made from real wood by Jerry─not that plastic kind─and a partridge and a pear tree…well, no partridge; I don't even know what that is…..but there is a pear tree. You get the idea……peaceful, country heaven.

  

Don't get me wrong, I love my roots…..but the first few days were kind of tough to adjust to the pace, or lack thereof. You think twice about that errand you have to run, you ask yourself… “do I really need it?” I knew I wanted this time to be a quiet time for Lola and me. Not full of a zillion last minute things….but more of a calm before the storm, a more centering, happy time. But it took me a good while to settle into that pace…to stretch out into it a bit….it can be unnerving when you have been going 100 miles an hour for months.

Then, my trip out to Miami, the 24-hour madness hunt for a home to rent. It’s renting, you know…no big deal. Find an ad on craigslist, find an apartment guide, and call it a day, folks. Yeah, not. so. much. I’ll spare the complicated details and just say that I left Miami at the end of 24 hours, and we were more confused than ever with no potential home in sight. Great.

I've struggled to try and understand how to really "wait on God" in the midst of something that seems so impending, something that seems to need an action taken. This season of finding a home…..well, it wasn't quite what we had envisioned. (Is it ever what we envision??) “You'll find something in just the right time," "you'll just have a peace and KNOW when you see it"…all comforting words…maybe a few months ago. NOT so much when you are up against a wall and keep hitting every roadblock imaginable. What then….when all your options bring you ZERO peace, and you want to throw up your hands and be like “UMMM, God, eh, so…I know you’re there, but what the HECK are you doing, and why are we chasing our tails?”

I left Miami confused….I had a deep abiding peace that didn't really come from me…..but my flesh, my "logical" part of me wanted to be stressed and kept thinking…"what else can we do but wait?" and then his word kind of rang in my mind……Isaiah 64:4: “No eye has seen any God besides you who ACTS on behalf of those who WAIT for him.” It wasn't all I could do...it was THE thing we HAD to do.

“But I mean…practically, what does this look like, Lord? We are in a place where we HAVE to make decisions, and you’re telling us to wait? How do I just look to you and say, ‘Oh, God will sort it out?’” This is maybe easy to say in the seasons of life when it’s easy…but when you’re really backed against a wall and called to stand and wait and trust….man, that requires a bit more.

 A bit more letting go of you and giving over to God, a bit more faith. I sense there are some deeper roots being grown in Justin and me during these few tough weeks. It’s in our flesh to say “DO, DO, DO; go get; you’re in control of your life,”…but in reality, there is limited life to live in that approach. Jesus said that he came so that we may live life to the fullest….I want HIS fullest, NOT mine….and I think in all these tiny tough moments of life…where things eventually get sorted out, but in the thick of it you’re against a wall…well, those are the moments where, if we can quiet the heck down, stop in the chaos long enough to hear…there are his whispers. He tends to whisper most in my life…not often has God ever really shouted. I usually have to get out of my own way in order to hear him.

So we shift our focus from what the practical would seem and focus on HIM. Each time we want to pick it up…we go to our Father and lay it down…and shift our focus in the midst of the chaos. In the midst of my sometimes bad attitude (just being real). In the midst of my fear.

On the eve marking the end of this in between, I am pondering what life is about to look like for us. I have a LOT of unknowns, and when exactly we will have a place to call our own is one of them, BUT…there are a few key things I DO know. I know Justin is waiting, and our little family unit is about to be put back together. I know we have this generous, amazing church family waiting to welcome us into their lives and help us along the way, and I know that all of this uncomfortable unknown is SMACK DAB where God wants us. So where I am kind of walking out of that nook of in between and moving forward…..I’m also walking into another middle of sorts. It’s a new place where I can look behind and see where we have come, and there is this HUGE space that is open and unwritten; and so in a way…I’m right back in a new middle. And I think I'm going to be just fine right there for a bit.

***** So after typing all of this up this morning, I got a call from Justin and we got into a place, what a crazy bunch of hoops we had to jump through, but we have a place! Ill see ya next in Florida! More to come soon:)*****

And Here We GO!!!

When you both come from a broken home it makes for very large family units; and from the brokenness comes something beautiful…..more people to love, more people that care, more family. 

I'm no writer. I really have no business even writing a blog. Oh, I read blogs…..but never thought to write one……but that was before I knew we would be moving across the country with our one-year-old leaving our immediate families behind. I needed a way to keep Nana in California, and Aunt Brenda in Ohio, and Aunt Jan in Nevada, and the 8 grandparents in Ohio…yeah 8, that’s not a typo…and all the friends...and well, the list goes on and on. I needed a way to share photos and keep everyone updated on our new journey. When your child is the first grandchild on both sides, it leaves you with picture hungry Grammy’s and Mimi’s!  Fortunately, when you have your first child- there is no shortage of pictures snapped ….so rather than bombarding Facebook with more pics of my child and boring those that don't care…. my husband came home one day and announced we should start a blog for those that care, to follow.

OOOHHH, this could be fun….but um…..HTML??? HUH? Thank God for my BFF Jenna -- Major shout out here! She made this page come to life, and now we are here, up and running, posting our first entry into this little corner of the blogosphere. 

Hardscrabble roads?…..well, it has sentimental meaning; Aunt Brenda and Momma Julie will appreciate the name-……but really, that's not how the name came about.  This name came from a verse I read in the Bible earlier this past year. 

Didn’t he set us on the road to life?
    Didn’t he keep us out of the ditch?
He trained us first,
    passed us like silver through refining fires,
Brought us into hardscrabble country,
    pushed us to our very limit,
Road-tested us inside and out,
    took us to hell and back;
Finally he brought us
    to this well-watered place.

 I think when I look back over my life in the past 10 years, some of my most precious moments were born out of those bumpy roads I've had to travel. I have endured loss, pain, and hurt….and instead of it all seeming meaningless….I’ve been able to really find joy, peace, healing, and hope. My sweetest moments of joy have come out of hard times. I think when you walk IN Christ -- when he is more than just a religion in your life -- great things can happen. On those back country roads of life are where I have really met him the most. 

This new season of life is definitely going to be hardscrabble country in many ways for us. It's not wrapped in the perfect box we would have envisioned…..BUT, oh, and this is a HUGE but…..it IS wrapped with HIS fingerprints ALL over it. We see people excited about ministry, excited about their city, the people in it, and a heart to GO AND DO AND BE among the hurting. Justin and I are SO drawn to the ministry of the church he will be working for. This vision of living out and beyond ourselves has been birthing for a few years now…. and Christ Fellowship Miami really fits that God-carved-out hole that he created in us these last few years. 

So, we choose the road that will probably push us to many of our limits, that will road test us inside and out; but I am learning that I most often find the well watered place that I am really seeking….is usually found on those back roads that I wouldn't really ever choose for myself.