What a Difference a Year Makes

I've been talking a lot with my friend Sara in Houston lately.  Both because I miss her dearly AND because she is due to have her first baby (Emma) any day now!  I was terrified that while the power was in an out last weekend with the hurricane that she was gonna go into labor and I was gonna miss it.  But Baby Emma is still holding out (even though Mama has been dilating for like 2 1/2 weeks now!).  I think she's waiting until the best day of the year (aka-Novemeber 2nd...my birthday!) to come!  That would be so cool!  At any rate, we were talking about what life looked like just one short year ago.  Here's what we were doing:

Our church was having its annual Fall Festival around this time last year.  Sara and Jared were about a month away from starting their "quest for baby" ;)!  So no Emma yet.  We were in the the throws of our young marrieds Bible study which Jonathan and I and Sara and Jared had spent literally a year trying to cultivate.  It was FINALLY taking off and we had a TON of couples in the class.  After a year of waiting, we were finally seeing the "fruits of our labor".  Jonathan was in the middle of med school applications.  At that point, the Caribbean wasn't even on our radar!

Before we headed to the festival, Jonathan and I had spent a large chunk of our day at the fertility specialist undergoing an IUI.  Not fun.  That marked the last real aggressive treatment we underwent to try and conceive (we attempted one more treatment in February, but because of my previous ectopic pregnancy, we couldn't complete it...).  I can't say that I was sad to be leaving that ordeal in the past.  It had been too much for too long!  I was about to turn 27 and I was in the throws of "raising a new band director" (we had just hired Matt Bell on as my new assistant...he was a first year teacher) and I was managing a band program of over 200 kids.  Jonathan was working at the Pasadena Health Center as an MA and doing amazingly well.  Bernice was healthy, both my parents were in El Paso, and we were still living on Peachford Lane...

So what does October 31st, 2012 look like?  Well...Jonathan and I are living in the Bahamas.  He is nearly done with his first semester of his med school journey, and I am a happy housewife.  I am spending a good chunk of today working through my "Dominica To Do List" since we will be moving there in a very short 8 1/2 weeks!  Sara and Jared are gearing up for Baby Emma to come, and Jonathan and I are getting ready to come back to the states for 6 weeks.  Still no baby on our horizon, but we are no longer feeling "defeated" in that realm.  Mostly because God came through for us tremendously in the medical school realm, so we are confident He won't leave us hanging in the baby realm either.  It just has to be His perfect timing!  I am about to turn 28 in a few days!  Bernice is on the road to recovery and has undergone major surgery and 3 chemotherapy treatments (she's halfway done!).  My mother landed a job in Cleburne, Tx and is there working and prepping for the building to start on their retirement property.  Daddy is working away in El Paso.  And we aren't living in our cute little Peachford house...instead we live in a one bedroom apartment 2 blocks from a gorgeous turquoise ocean.  My what a difference a year makes!

When I think about what this time next year is going to look like, I get sort of stopped in my tracks.  How many things about this year have been so "left field" for us?  How many things about this upcoming year are going to be just as "left field"???  I can't even imagine what those things might be because if you'd told me this time last year that this is what I'd be doing in a year, I wouldn't have believed you!  Next October Sara and Jared will have a nearly ONE-year-old and little Emma will be dressing up for her first Halloween.  Jonathan will be a short one semester away from finishing his stint in Dominica.  He and I will be gearing up to come back to the states (woohoo!).  My parents will be in their retirement home.  Bernice will be done with this whole crazy cancer ordeal (every single aspect of it which is mind boggling to me).  Nicole will be done with school!  She and Patrick will be starting the next leg of their journey (they're next in line for this crazy ride I think!).  Jonathan will be 30!!  And those are just the things I KNOW are going to happen.  Insane.  But I look forward into this next year with great anticipation.  How richly we have been blessed even through the bumpy ride that has been 2012 so far, and how richly we will be blessed as we walk through yet another year.  

What will YOUR 2013 look like??