The Day after Jesus's Crucifixion

Can you imagine living over 2000 years ago and seeing Jesus crucified on the cross?  All his friends, family and disciples thought he was the savior of the world.  Now he is dead.  For those early Christians the day after the crucifixion must have been awful.  I'm sure they were sad.  Hurt.  Disappointed.  Confused.  Wondering why it happened.  Wondering what was going to happen next.  Questioning God.

Have you ever been there? I have.  Sometimes life is hard and disappoints come.  Sometimes our plans in life do not turn out like we thought they would.  Just like those disciples did not see or understand the whole story, we do not always get to see or understand our whole story either.  But there IS HOPE! The disciples did not know the resurrection was coming but God knew.  He knew all along.  The grave was not going to hold Jesus down.  The death of Jesus on the cross was not the end of the story.  These difficult times in our lives are not the end of the story for us either.  

I'm not going to lie... some days it is hard for me to cling to that hope when all you want is a problem fixed or pain to go away.  But I'm learning we have to hold firm to Jesus.  Look to the cross.  Yes it was heartbreaking for his friends and family to see Jesus die.  It was disappointing and confusing.  So is life! But the resurrection is coming.  Joy is coming.  Sunday is coming.  It may not come tomorrow for us or next week or next year.  We may not see the good in our pain right now but God can see it.   God loves us and he has a perfect and good plan for our lives.  

So when life gets hard and confusing, always remember Jesus's tomb is empty!  He is seated on his throne!  The story of Jesus does not end at the cross in despair!  Sunday is coming! 

On The Road Like Never Before

On January 2nd David and I said goodbye to the team at the Tulsa Promenade Mall and sayonara to the Interim Manager Program.  On January 3rd we packed up and headed to Moline, IL... our soon-to-be new home!  We had two days to find a place to live before we headed to North Carolina with a quick stop in Kentucky on the way.  Thankfully we found a cute little house to rent just 5 minutes from David's restaurant.  We signed the lease and hit the road again.



After a few days in North Carolina spending time with David's family and friends in RDU, we boarded a plane to St. Croix.  We spent three wonderful days just laying on the beach.  It had been over 2 years since we were able to get away, and we enjoyed every minute listening to the waves and eating good food.  We left feeling rejuvenated and realized this vacation thing needed to happen every January.  Any friends or family are welcome to join next year.


Once we returned from vacation, we had just a few more days in Raleigh before we packed up the moving truck for Moline.  Wednesday January 20th, we loaded up the truck from the storage unit and then drove to Greensboro where we picked up more stuff from David's dad's house.  Thursday we made the long drive to my parent's house in Kentucky where again we had more stuff to pick up.  (Thanks to our parents for allowing us to store some things over the past 2 years!)  About a foot of snow and ice was predicted for Friday morning at my parent's in Franklin so at 7pm Thursday night we decided we needed to leave town now to get out of the way of the storm.  We drove almost to St. Louis where we stopped for the night.  It was definitely a good decision as Franklin was hit with 12 inches of snow on Friday.  We finished the drive to Moline Friday morning and then proceeded to unload the truck that evening.  We were all so thankful to make it to Moline without any trouble and no snow to slow us down.  Let me just say it felt so good to have our stuff out of storage and all in one place again! And nothing was broken or destroyed after 2 years in a non-climate controlled storage unit! YAY!  

We had one week to unpack before David left for training in Atlanta and I drove to Kentucky.  I spent a little time in Lexington catching up with friends and checking out all the changes at the University of Kentucky.  My old dorm is torn down :-( So much has changed in six years.

David spent two weeks in Atlanta, then three days in Houston, TX for operator coaching, and then both traveled to Orlando for Chick-fil-A Seminar.  I couldn't come to Orlando and not go to Disney, so we spent Saturday walking around Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios.  I loved every minute!      

After Disney we spent the next four days with Chick-fil-A operators and corporate staff.  We heard inspiring speakers on leadership, the future of Chick-fil-A and lots of other interesting topics.    Lysa Terkeurst was one of the speakers and I loved hearing her talk! She is one of my favorite authors! (Maybe next year I will meet her)  The amazing Need To Breathe performance was quite a surprise!   We tasted some of the new products coming out this year...they are going to awesome!! Y'all just wait!! Some are coming next week!!  What made this trip even more spectacular was my birthday on the 23rd.  That night we sat front row at the Blue Man Group show and ate dinner at Universal City Walk.  It was a wonderful way to spend my birthday!

We arrived back in Moline on February 24th and started preparing for our next big adventure...operator and operator spouse.  On March 1st David took over as the Owner/Operator at Chick-fil-A at SouthPark Mall.  Here is the only picture I got that day so hopefully we can look back in 50 or so years at his career with Chick-fil-A and rememberer where it all started.  We are so humbled and blessed to be here and excited to support and love the community in Moline.

So after living out of a car for 2 years and living out of a suitcase for 2 month, we are done traveling....kinda.  I'll be going home again soon to meet my friend Sarah's little one, Anderson and my niece Aubrey when she finally graces us with her presence.

Overflowing with Abundance

Looking back on 2015, it has been a blur of awesomeness and excitement with some disappointments and challenges thrown in.  All year long God has blessed us with new friends and with seeing new parts of the United States (and Europe for me).  We have been on 3 assignments, traveled over 3000 miles and lived in one apartment and two hotels.









Some of the top highlights of the year

• Test driving a Ferrari
• Going to Harry Potter World for the first time
• Running in my 2nd half marathon at Disney
• Seeing the St. Petersburg Grand Prix
• Traveling to Berlin and Prague for sure
• Being the cow at Chick-fil-A for the first time
• And the biggest excitement of all is David being selected as an operator

In the fall, I was really struggling with wanting control of our future and wanting answers for what the future would hold.  My prayers to God were fix this situation and make this happen and make that happen.  One day I was reading through Psalms 95 and 96 and the Holy Spirit opened my eyes.  I was missing so much from my prayers.  God wants to work in my life and make things happen but it may be different from how I want it.  And how could I praise God like those two psalms when all my thoughts were on me.  Because of the Holy Spirit, my thoughts and prayers are changing.  I'm learning to lay down my plans, my dreams, my desires and trusting God with our future.  His plans, his ways, and his thoughts are higher than mine, and I'm trusting they are better than anything I could hope or dream.  

While the year has not been an easy one, it absolutely as overflowed with abundance.  God has been so gracious and taught he is good, he is always with us, and he has not forgotten us.  He has lavishly loved us and generously blessed us. Hard and uncertain times are never easy or fun, but they are pointing us to Jesus and making us more like him.  And for that I can be thankful.