2005 a very ... something... year

december 24, 2004 we moved into a new home full of possibilities. the movers, who had included all sorts of extra charges in the final bill (nearly triple the estimate) unloaded our stuff into a house we hadn't even reached. under the direction of my mom, furniture was placed and arranged in the various rooms amid christmasy things mom and one of her friends had set up earlier.

when i arrived i had missed al l the insanity of paying the bill (a task accomplished by the then church treasurer.) mom had already begun to unpack and was in the process of making a hot dog on the stove for the princess kitty when i walked through the doors.

God, we loved the house.

the silent prince was still silent. he had been with the birth-three program in jersey working with wonderful and irreplaceable women: jessica the occupational therapist and wendy the special education teacher. by the time he was set up and working with new people in ct his hours had been cut in half and there we only a few weeks left until he was old enough to begin pre-school.

i loved work and its challenges. this was a congregation with resources and talented people. my organizational skills (or severe lack thereof) were balanced by a secretary who was excited to be included in decision making and highly skilled at her job. i loved being with the people and even made a girlfriend who my daughter nicknamed kat-kat.

and the pobble was now a 2ish hour drive away and we turned the computer room (for my pagan computer) into her guest room with the addition of a twin bed. the 'puter and the pobble certainly make for one pagan room in the parsonage.

the silent prince and the princess kitty turned 3 and 6 during the spring and received a swing set with a sliding board for their gift from us. and the princess kitty became the princess kitty ballerina/ hip hop dancer at the yMca.

sundays were now family days; church in the morning (where the children were absorbed into the congregation the moment they arrived until they were handed back to me when it was time to go home) and afternoons and evenings became time with my parents for dinner either at their home or ours.

it wasn't a perfect life. i went back on antidepressants and hubby struggled for several months with a difficult congregation. (which of course grew as he pastored and cared for them.)

life is filled with ups and downs and i came to jokingly but lovingly tell people at the church that it was a good thing i loved my job because they were a lot of work. of course this is the case for a church like mine straining to find health and wholeness.

and i started blogging. not everybody "gets" that. (but of course now that i am writing this out by hand in a $2 composition book i so realize why i blog... typing is so much quicker and easier than long-hand even though i still have to cheat and look at the keys.) and i love blogging and the community it has let me join in. blogging began because of a relationship formed at the desperate preacher site with brutally honest rick who has my heart and respect despite the fact that we have never met and our completely differing views on politics.

and then the holidays hit like a lead brick. and well, if you've been reading you know what that was all about. two years in a row we moved on december 28 leaving us unable to decorate a home or feel settled for christmas. and that sure put mary's story into perspective... no room at the inn, well at least we had the hotel (which i had become used to and enjoyed despite the close quarters and horrible commute.) and the people there were... well, they made a difficult time better and i told them that.

i miss the computer (my wireless card was pushed deep into my 'puter during a transport and the dsl won't be ready until the 3rd of january anyway. so here i am at my parent's place typing away...

and i miss the cyber community and time to work on my novel... i was well over 130 pages by the time this all hit and almost 2 months later i want a settled life to sit down and work on the story and the characters again.

~sigh~

and hubby's dad would have been 80 years old today had he not died the winter before hubby and i met so many years ago.

but i have felt blessings these last 12 months. even as i look back over what i just wrote i realize there is far more good that i remembered than any of the bad.

so... happy new years! continue to pray for us as it has certainly made our lives fuller and us stronger. over the next few days we pack up the house so that the abaters can begin their work on thursday. we see an end in sight and a new beginning on the way.

now i'm going to go eat dinner with my family, play with my children, laugh with the ones i love and give thanks for all the gifts that have been in my life.

i'll be back soon!

God's peace y'all