(all of these are iPhone pictures or instagram posts...they were the easiest to access.) :)
Since that day one year ago, we have experienced every range of emotions and experiences...fear, excitement, courage, hope, encouragement, loss, love, miracles, anger, worry, blessings, fun, happiness, heartbreak, prayer...so much prayer, reliance, relief, anticipation, frustration, sickness, health, fatigue, hopelessness, faith, patience, sunshine, newness, overwhelm, friendship, peace, service and pure joy. We have ridden the ups and downs of the rollercoaster of life more in this last year than any time I can remember.
I find myself reflecting often about our time in Oregon. People ask me where we are from and of course I say Utah...but I can't bear to leave out that we lived in Oregon for a year. It is funny how much that place seeped into my bones and became a part of my story...our story. I don't think I could ever again live there because those gray skies almost did me in, but Lake Oswego will always be a place I consider to be "home". I long for our evenings at George Rodgers Park playing in the Willamette River. I miss enjoying 5 breathtaking waterfalls on one short hike. Every day this summer I wanted to pack everyone up and go play at the Lake Grove Swim Park...every.single.day. I yearn to feel the cool salty breeze as I watch my sweet family play in the ocean waves on our favorite Oregon Beach surrounded by the gorgeous views of the Oregon coast. I bought some Oregon Picked Blueberries the other day, and savored every last one I ate remembering the many times we went and picked berries until our buckets and tummies were filled. I miss the kids' school and the amazing system they had for catering to each individual child and fostering creativity while demanding academic excellence. Most of all, I still feel like little pieces of my heart are missing because they are still back there with people who I consider to be some of my dearest friends in the world...very few of them still live right there in our little neighborhood anymore, but my heart knew them there and it will probably always wish to be there with them.
But in a year I have grown to also love this life we have here in Oro Valley. This has been the place where we have had to learn to receive, and the place where so many have selflessly given of themselves for us. I feel like we haven't been able to dive in and become a part of it like we would have liked because we have been in flux for the whole of our time here (not to mention that here has been in 2 different places), but yet it has still managed to weave itself into my soul and become a part of me.
A year from now I wonder what our life will look like. I imagine it will look a lot like it does now, but with two 1 year olds instead of newborns and kids with odd number ages instead of even. I hope it will find us thriving: giving more than we are receiving. I hope it will find us surrounded by friends who have become very dear...friends who have stolen pieces of our hearts forever. I hope I will look around our school and church and know more people than I don't know and that I can weave myself into this place as it has woven itself into me. I do know this: that I will never again underestimate the power of one year to mold and change and shape my life.
