The Battle Has Just Begun

If I could put into words how absolutely stressful the last six months have been, I certainly would have already blogged away my deepest feelings and troubled emotions. However, the impact of moving twice in less than half a year, having a baby, enduring financial difficulties, and battling some stress-induced anxiety and depression were almost more than I could bear. And my ability to verbally communicate those feelings were beyond my comprehension at the time.

Yet, here we are. January 7th in the year 2012 and I feel like we are almost out of the dark and I can perhaps put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and do my best to rekindle this love of blogging.

I know you're all just filled to the brim with excitement.

The funny thing about facing trials and tribulations is that you realize that they are only just the beginning. We aren't promised an easy life and stress is just par for the course for most of us. The real test of our character is not whether or not we have stress at all, but how we will react to it when it happens. I ashamedly must admit that I did not handle the stress in our life very well. I crumbled under pressure and wept many nights away. But I look back now and realize that it was a necessary evil to get us to this place. Of course we are still busy and there will always be stressors and more difficult times than others, but the true key to contentment is understanding that those times will come, being prepared for them, and learning how to live through them.

In life, the battle has only just begun in the quest for finding joy.

I am lucky that my partners in this life are a crew of chaos that make each step unpredictable and equally entertaining. Were it not for my husband and my five crazy kids, I know I would have caved under the pressure of the last six months of our life. So here we are, in a new house, in a new city, looking for a new church, starting new schools, in a new year.

That's a lotta new.
But it's the same ol' chaos, bringing me the same ol' joy.
So I guess my "normal" is all intact in spite of all the change.
One battle won. :)

Happy New Year.