Today I’m linking up with the Gypsy Mama for

Five Minute Friday. Join me!

Oh, and the guidelines: Write for five minutes. No editing, revising, or worrying. Just write. There is no right or wrong.

Today’s Topic: Home

To be h ones

t, I wasn’t planning on writing Five Minute Friday today. And then I saw the topic.

Well, God, You know what You’re doing far more than I do.

Home is a word that brings pain right now.

Growing up in instability created a longing for it.

Being married and living in transition for years gave me an even deeper desire to be there.

We have really tried to make home wherever we are…because it’s true that this world is NOT my home. But sometimes it’s just nice to be settled, ya know

? To hang those pictures up and paint the walls and fence in the yard and put in that pool…the one I’ve been begging for.

(But only a little…haha!)

And last July God gave us a gift that seemed too good to be true. A house we love in a neighborhood we love even more.

We are surrounded by people who love us…and we love them, too!

We desire more than (almost) anything to stay and raise our family here, close to friends who have become family.

The one hang-up

? We’re renting this place and the attempt to purchase it has sent us through the wringer more times than we can count.

Things are still sitting at the bank…and we are (still) waiting.

Waiting…for what, we’re not sure. For the bank to say, Yeah, we’ll accept your offer! That’s best case scenario.

Worst case? Get out. In six weeks. I don’t think about that one.

And there are a million other scenarios possible, ones that I try to not dwell on.

Home is a painful word when you’re waiting for one.

So if you read this, will you pray?

Pray that this will be it…that God will give us home.

Thanks.

Today I’ m linking up with the Gypsy Ma

ma for Five Minute Friday. Join me!

Just write. There is no right or wrong.

Today’s Topic: When Seasons Change

When I saw today’s topic, my heart sank.

It isn’t that I don’t like seasons…it’s just that the word brings back painful memories.

Is it wrong to revisit the past and reflect on difficult times of change

?

Today I’m going to say no and let myself remember…but only for five minutes.

Two years ago, Tobin and I were in the midst of heartbreak.

An adoption that fell through just weeks before the baby was due.

Wondering what our future looked like and if it even included children.

It was a time that made us question things and wonder what was wrong with us.

We tried so hard to trust through that season…to make sense of the deep, suffocating winter from which we could not escape.

God was near…and I knew it, but that didn’t make it easy. For weeks I cried myself to sleep…but I was never alone. Yes, Tobin was there. But there were also nights when I felt God’s presence in a powerful way and could hear His voice. I’ve got you, Mel.

It’s going to be okay.

And He has made that presence known through so many other seasons of change. Some have been wonderful, some have been difficult, but He’s always been there.

And everything that’s new has bravely surfaced,
Teaching us to breathe.

(from “Every Season” by Nichole Nordeman)

Today I’m linking up with the Gypsy Mama for Five Minute Friday. Join me!

And for more great Five Minute Friday stories, click here!

Oh, and the guidelines: Write for five minutes.

No editing, revising, or worrying. Just write. There is no right or wrong.

Today’s Topic: Deep. Breath.

Tonight I take a Deep. Breath.

And reflect.

It’ s been a year.

A year of being a family of three. ( Plus two doggies.

:)) A year (almost!) of my wonderful daughter.

A year of readjusting to being American. Almost a year of living in a new place…a place I have grown to love SO, SO much more than I ever thought possible.

A year of change as we’ve examined our fa ith and what

it truly means.

A year of amazing blessings in the form of new friends (and old ones, too!) who have had a profound impact on me.

And so this Deep. Breath. makes me smile.

And then I pause and take another Deep. Breath. This one causes a familiar ache in my heart.

That ache remembers friends left behind, many whom I will never see again.

Tears fill my eyes as I remember last hugs, promises, and the words, “I’ll never forget you.” And I haven’t. But I am scared that I will forget faces and that memories will fade. I don’t want them to.

This Deep. Breath. makes me hurt.

But then I take one more Deep. Breath. This one makes my heart sing because I’m reminded of the things God has been teaching me this year. The lessons have not been easy, nor are they over. He is shaping me, molding me, slowly making me into the woman He wants me to be. I hope my heart is tender enough for all of that.

This final Deep. Breath. gives me hope.