One Year....

Today it has been one year since the kids and I boarded a plane to move out here. One year since I said good-bye to my house, to my family, my friends and all that I loved back in MI.


It's been quite the year. I've grown as a person, I've learned to love mountains and desert landscape. I've learned to love warm weather and have realized that as a family, we can survive without parents, grandparents, siblings and aunts and uncles.


In all honesty, it's been a good year.


That doesn't mean I haven't had bad days....days when all I want to do is go back home, where I fight the urge to cry all day long, where I would give just about anything to see my parents, where I watch one of my children and ache at knowing family doesn't get to watch my children grow. Days that I long for a cold night in front of my old fireplace watching the deer in the backyard. Trust me, there are those days. But, there are many good days too....


Days when I know without a shadow of a doubt that we are where God wants us to be. Days when I watch my children swim, play and have fun with friends and realize that because of our move, we are stronger. We are a stronger family, I have a stronger marriage and we are blessed with wonderful friends and a wonderful church family. It's been a good year of learning who we really are as a family and watching God work in ways I never thought possible.

I've been stretched as a person and for that, I feel that I'm a better person, mother and wife.

It's hard to believe it's been a year and as I look back, I am amazed at how far I've come and how much I've learned. Michigan was wonderful and where my roots will always be, but Arizona is great too and for that, I am thankful!