In 2007 and 2008, we had hospice care workers and doctors "counseling" us on what it means to have a new normal. Our Moms had passed away and we were staring at a future unlike anything we had planned, hoped for or desired.
God gave us a new normal and we figured it out. He also brought along Emma Sue. What an amazing source of healing God is. How quickly we learned to deal with our grief as we were distracted by a pregnancy, then a baby, then a toddler and now a little 3-year old girl.
In the summer of 2013 within weeks of each other, my sister moved to North Carolina and our close friends Sonny & Erin moved to Texas for a job opportunity and with them, went their 3 adorable kids. One of whom, happens to be Emma's best friend. She has two friends living near us that mean the world to her, Joy and Hudson. Hudson moved to Texas. Joy enters K4 this fall and will be gone 3 days a week and unavailable.
I'm not saying anything of this for sympathy sake. Are we sad around here? Yup. Do we miss Aunt Seppie and our friends? Yup.
However, we are already starting to create our next New Normal. So, I will lovingly refer to it as New Normal 2.0.
God is good. All of the time. No matter what life brings, and we are promised it will bring suffering and pain, He is always there. Never leaving us. Always restoring us.
So, what will our new normal look like?
For the past 2 weeks, I have been doing a fit body bootcamp. Yup. Me. The one with ample amounts of fat and very scarce amounts of muscle. It started as a surprise Anniversary gift to my husband for our 10-year wedding anniversary. It quickly changed into a personal form of challenge to myself to be healthier, live healthier and give God all of me. The one area of my life that I struggle with the most is by far my health. So, with Groupon in hand, I headed off to my first body bootcamp having no idea what to expect. In my 3rd week now, I still don't know what to expect and I still have a nervous knot in my stomach as we drive there. I can say, it has been the most physically difficult thing I have ever done in my life.
The surprise? Is that it also has challenged me spiritually. What words are coming out of my mouth when I am at my worst? What am I relying on to get me through these workouts? His strength? or my own? In the last 3 weeks I have found myself going from uttering "OMG" every 10 minutes - to "holy cow" every 10 minutes - to "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" over and over in my head the entire time without muttering anything else out of my mouth.
You see, I take Emma with me to these workouts... and she sees and hears everything. That first day, I was ashamed of the things that came out of my mouth when I was put under pressure (intense pressure, mind you). Not that I cussed or spoke vile words... but would I want Emma saying "oh my God"? Do I want her saying "holy crap I can't do this" ? NO. I don't. So, I prayed. I prayed for my heart to be changed and you know what? God is changing it.
My physical body and spiritual body are changing at the exact same time. It was completely unexpected. In fact, I had not planned to share any of this! LOL :)
Moving on.
So, our new normal consists of some new things:
* Mommy work out time at 9am (every day! ugh)
* Emma gymnastics at 11am (one day a week)
* Emma began piano lessons last week (she loves it! one day a week)
* Emma now has a chore chart
* I have taken on more piano students than I have ever had before, 2 of them during the early afternoon hours
I have already seen a drastic difference in Emma and I both with our new normal. More energy for Mommy, more motivation and learning for Emma, both of us being challenged every day.
So, do we miss our friends? Yes, we do. Very much. However, God is filling up our time and I know that He will be faithful to bring new friends into Emma's life and keep us moving along the path He has laid out for us.
In the meantime... Mommy needs a massage, some tylenol and another cup of coffee!
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