10 years

This past Sunday was my mom's birthday. Unfortunately, our phone here can't call internationally, so I couldn't talk to her. But August 6th is significant for another reason as well - it's my parents' anniversary. They've been married 10 years now.

10 years ago, I was nearly 12. All seven of us girls went with my parents to a local detention center where the justice of the peace was located in that particular town in North Carolina (we were on vacation there together). My dad, a father of 5 girls and a widower of 8 months at that point, married a woman he knew very well (they had been writing and talking on the phone for 5 months or so), who had lost her husband a year earlier and had two daughters. They had both put a lot of prayer into this decision and felt this was what God wanted them to do. And so our two families became one.

But it wasn't easy. Those first few years especially were a very rough ride. My parents are two VERY different people, plus they had a houseful of still-grieving young girls. The adjustment wasn't quite so hard for my youngest two sisters, but the rest of us had many struggles. I have always been a person who struggles to adjust to change and that was a massive change. But I can remember that, during the fall after they married, I realized that I was faced with a choice - join this new family or not. I made the choice to fight it out and be a part of the family, and that choice has been one of the best in my life.

These past 10 years have been very very full. New churches, new houses, new situations very often. Over and over I have witnessed my parents following God's leading into new circumstances. We took in many needy people, including 5 abandoned kids and several families (not all at the same time :) ) We made our own family traditions, different from the ones before, but good. We had many good times and many hard times. Slowly but surely, we became a family. I remember when my sister's first child, Micah, was born. It was about 2 years after my parents got married. We all stood there in the hospital and fell in love with this beautiful little baby. I don't want to say that he brought us together, because God was already doing that work, but having a little one around certainly helps. Micah is my nephew through and through even if not by blood, and I knew that from the start.

I have been very grateful these 10 years to have a mother. She has been there for me in everything, all of the many many changes of these years. She is a very wise woman and I have learned so much from her. So much. I love her very much even if she drives me crazy sometimes (like any good mother does) :)

And in the almost 4 years since I moved away from home, I have seen many huge changes happen in the lives of my parents. Following God's leading, my dad stopped being a doctor, they moved to Georgia, and my dad started taking seminary courses. As of about a month ago, my father is now ordained and they have joined staff at their church in Savannah. They have also joined an organization called Hope Force www.hopeforce.org I am so proud of them. They are amazing, godly people and I am proud to call both of them my parents.