Life, Friends, Gratitude & God (and lots of stuff)

So, I don’t quite know where to begin. My writer’s heart has been scripting many a novella in my mind these past few weeks… but none of these musings have made it to virtual or actual paper. I guess the only way to begin is just to simply BEGIN.

There is a saying I often remind myself of: You are a human being, not a human doing. These past few weeks, I feel like I have been in a perpetual cycle of living as a human doing. I’m typically somewhat motivated by these sorts of projects – setting up home, tackling life with kids, getting out of the norm. But, I will admit, I am exhausted. No one will probably ever know the extent of the emotional, physical, and spiritual ‘roller coaster’ these past months have been – and specifically the past 2 weeks- and that’s OK. I realize that I also cannot fully understand the challenges, trials, and even the joys of others. We can try – we can share our hearts, our stories, our prayers – but it truly is only Jesus who knows it, walks it, and lives it with us. And can I just say, for the record, I am oh so very grateful to have such a faithful friend in Jesus. When life is heavy, hard and confusing, He truly is my strength. I am so grateful He is forgiving, because Lord knows I need forgiveness daily for the many ways I come up short in patience and grace and love. I’m equally grateful He can fill me up with His patience, His grace, and His Love that are never ending – so I can be more like Him each day. If Katie Roberts reflects Jesus in any way, shape or form, that right there is a testimony to His amazing power!! =)

And on that note, I just have to mention that SO MANY OF YOU out there have truly reflected Jesus to us in many ways these past few weeks. In lieu of listing each and every one of your precious names, we’ll just hope you know who you are. Yep, it’s YOU... You who have been thinking of us. You who have been praying over us. You who have sent an encouraging email, voicemail or text to us. You who gave hours/days to help us pack up boxes. You who lifted boxes & furniture, heavy furniture– down dangerous stairs and tight corners! You who let us borrow trucks. You who worked out how we could get trucks. You who loaded and drove trucks. You who prayed our home would sell. You who prayed we’d have a home to go to just in time. You who helped finance us. You who cared for our children and helped them forget their parents were busy somewhere else. You who fed our children. You who fed us! You who helped us purge, donate, store or sell our stuff. You who bought our stuff. You who saw all our stuff and didn’t judge us =) You who said you’d miss living close to us. You who said you were excited to live closer to us. You.

We are so very blessed and thankful for you in our lives. We truly, most certainly and definitely, could not have done all this alone and stayed sane enough to tell about it. We have been in quite a needy state these days, and while that’s not typically a ‘fun’ place to be, it surely does put you in a great place to depend on the Lord, to throw up your hands (whether figuratively or literally) and say, “I’m done! I can’t do it!” And I think it’s also a great way to see the beauty of community and relationships. When we are self-sufficient, we tend to truly think we can do this life on our own terms, in our own way. Yet when we have a load too heavy to bear alone, then we are under no illusion that we are our sole pillar of support. We are finding once again that our strong pillar is Jesus – but that at key moments, we also see some faces on the other ‘pillars’ He’s using to help support us… and we were blessed to see many of your faces amidst our “foundational support.” So, Thank YOU. Thank you x100. I don’t mean to be dramatic or anything, because I realize this was simply a move, and a small move at that. But it really was much more than that to us. It’s been over a year long process. And I feel like it’s this big tangled, intertwined web with dynamics of the short sale & possible foreclosure, house hunting, Adam’s night school, school interviews & travels, raising kids, working through finances, and marriage, … Somehow, it all ends up being intricately (and sometimes annoyingly, ha!) connected. And it often seems like it all is just producing ugly things in us. But I’m realizing that it’s precisely when those ‘ugly’ things surface, that we can get to that next level of brokenness, because we HAVE to… and we get the chance to rebuild. And hopefully some of the ugly gives way to beauty as we become more like Christ and exhibit His fruits in the face of trials: joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. I’m working on it, oh Lord, I am working on it.

So, life is hard. No question about it. And I certainly don’t claim I’ve seen the hardest it has to offer. But we can honestly say that, once again, it’s during the harder points in life that we are able to go back to keeping it simple -- Get back to the basics. Be thankful for the little things, which are often really the big things. Simplify life, simplify expectations, simplify. Pray, ask, hope, be grateful, accept, give, forgive. So that’s what we are attempting to do over here, as we set up our new home for 9 months. Where we go after that, we still aren’t sure. We’ll keep you posted. One thing I do know, we WILL NOT have as much stuff to pack for our next move. And, we probably will still need all your help again =) In the meantime, know that we are here for you all in whatever ways you need… it is such a joy and true gift to be in relationship with you and share life, both near and far away.

Now, to wrap up. I do have to say, I never thought of myself as a pack rat. I’m organized. I clean, I love cleaning. ‘Pack rat’, I am not… ‘Prepared’ however, sure I am =) Po-tay-toe, po-tah-toe. Anyway, I’ll be working on that. Simplify is the word over here! But, dare I say, it’s when instances like this occur that I feel dangerously justified in my storing of such items. Take Exhibit A:

This was eagerly ordered by us, Mr. & Mrs. Adam Roberts, during those first few weeks of marriage when everything needed to be monogrammed or initialed to boldly display that we were now a duo, husband and wife. We *may* have over ordered a bit as we only rented at this address for a brief year before purchasing our lovely Bay Dale townhome.

Well, five and half years later, one may think it crazy to have kept a few hundred address labels for an address we no longer have. Oh, but look who’s laughing now =)

Adam & I always held Scott’s Crossing dear in our hearts as this was the building in which we began our married life together. It is a great location, small but cozy, safe & serene. And now, the Lord has brought us full circle. As you can see with the minor ‘correction’ on the address labels, we are only one building over and two floors up from our old condo. A lovely 3 bedroom unit with a great layout and an amazing landlord. The Lord has taken care of us. And though the timing was perhaps a bit later than I would’ve preferred, as I do so like to plan and prepare, He certainly wasn’t late on anything. As the children’s song goes, ‘He’s got the whole world in His hands.’ And, happy to report, we are very aware that He’s definitely got the Roberts Family in His hands.

Must include a ‘shout out’ to our terrific two… though they can’t read this or quite comprehend what’s really been going on, they should know that we are very proud of them. They’ve done an amazing job at being flexible with, well, flexing to each day’s different demands. Whether they were forced to nap in a new place, or hang with friends they didn’t know too well, or stay up late b/c we didn’t have their beds put together – they’ve been pretty great through it all and patient with us. Granted, there have been perks in there for them too… like, I can’t seem to find Anabelle’s vitamins anywhere, so instead of a vitamin before bed and naps, she now gets a chocolate chip! How’s that for making do?! Anyway, I guarantee the ‘perks’ of the move thus far as few and far between, and for that we say another THANK YOU to little Miss Anabelle & Prince Oliver. You make it all worthwhile.