My text to my husband this morning read.....5 years ago today you spent your day at church surrendering. His quick response of "Time flies," sums it up. These past 5 years are a testament to God's faithfulness. They have been the hardest 5 years of my life but I wouldn't have changed any of it except for maybe this blasted pandemic and probably the Ausili's move. But as a family we are so much sweeter and better. And as far as Mike goes God provided abundantly for Cornerstone and at this 5 year mark Mike is stepping into a new endeavor that undoubtedly God opened the door for which still allows him to keep Cornerstone but he will be scaling it way back.
In these 5 years we were able to keep our house which trust me 5 years ago tonight I was uncertain if this would happen. Anything the boys have needed we have been able to get for them. Financially we've been able to visit the Ausili's at least twice a year. God brought Mary back to town and her and John have been a huge blessing to my entire family. In this 5 year span my grandparents died, my dad died, I had my own health crises, Mike started his own business and will be starting a new adventure soon, Jay graduated high school, Ausili's moved, my mom had 2 strokes and we've just gone through the most historical election of my lifetime (thus far) and we've been in the depths of Covid since March. I'm still standing and everyday I'm so thankful for my God. He is faithful, merciful and gives me more grace that I deserve.
On a positive note I got together with my girls on Saturday night. A much needed distraction. We went shopping and then ended the night at Kim's bar. We laughed, ate and drank! A perfect night in my book! Kim even made us special apple cider vodka drinks. They were delish!
On a positive note Nick and I volunteered on election day and we loved it (the picture above is us at the polling place we were assigned to). We we're poll watchers. Nick has a big heart for politics. It will be interesting to see how the Lord uses that fire within Nick.
May God have mercy on America.
This weekend we set our clocks back one hour. That time change always messes with my head for a few days and last night it was cold so I crawled into bed early. I am sick of all the election news but because of everything going on right now with the pandemic and the election I've had a hard time settling my mind enough to concentrate on a good book so I grabbed my 2009 blog book. 2009 was the first year I started blogging. Nick just happened to settle in with me and I ended up reading him several blog entries. He was 3 when I started and Jay was 7. How time changes. We laughed together over several stories. Those boys were always up to something. Back then my blog was filled with their shenanigans. I was a typical boy mom who was trying to juggle it all; trying to be a good mom, a decent wife (ha) and a full time worker with a commute. None of it was easy but I remember being told many times from older parents who were no longer in the trenches that I would survive and I have. Nick asked me last night how my blog today differs from my blog 11 years ago. I thought that question was really intuitive. I believe my blog today is more reflective of who Amy is. Not Amy as a mom, not Amy as a wife, just me. It's probably because I have time to be more reflective of who I am and where I've been and how those experiences have shaped me. What hasn't changed is the love I have for my boys. I certainly have made mistakes along the way but I have always been pretty enamored with them. I have enjoyed every stage of parenting - even the teenage years. In fact the teenage years are when I've really got to see them develop into the men that with God's help we've built them into. We had a saying in our house: You raise girls, you build boys. Back in 2009 and beyond when I was ready to lose my mind over their behavior my mom would remind me the boys were under construction! My stories have morphed from the trenches of parenting into the mess of menopause. I like to think that even in all the mess, it's a testament to a life lived well.
