ONE MONTH IN ONE WORD...and a post.

This week will mark 1 month since we moved from San Diego to Raleigh. If I had to sum up the past four weeks in one word, that word would be CLARITY. It seems like every day brings new revelation that just stinking renews my soul.

Becky came to visit this weekend. I was so so soooo happy to see her. We had a good time just catching up on life and showing her around town. We're saying goodbye tonight, since her flight leaves early tomorrow morning.

On the way home from our Superbowl party tonight, Beck mentioned something to the extent of what a big task it would be to start from ground up and make an entirely new group of friends. As soon as she said that, I was hit with yet another moment of clarity. Since we've been here, making friends hasn't seemed like a task at all. Whether it's through Craigslist, or our small group meetings, or just coffee at Caribou, God has just blessed us with new friendships daily and it's been so refreshing to start from scratch. And for whatever reason, we're not too concerned about jumping into any deep relationships with anyone right now. As weird as it sounds, there's something so freeing about walking down a busy street or a crowded mall knowing that NO ONE knows me! I don't know if that's because our REAL loneliness just hasn't set in yet...or just call me in denial... but I'd rather believe that the peace that Steve and I are experiencing right now is just a blessing from God as we seek Him and His best for our lives.

Yes, being a mommy is super challenging right now. And I've gone psycho on my kids and my husband more than a couple times since we've been here...but that's really only because I have a patience issue that needs dealing with. Thankfully Karla and Malae get here on Wednesday to help out with the boys so Steve and I can go on a date and run a few errands by ourselves without "scream boy" and "Mr. I'm Hungry" in the back seat.

At a church we visited this morning, we read a few verses out of John 15. This entire chapter in John is simple yet so profound. These words really help me understand this season of my life, and encourage me to keep following hard after God. Tonight, when I think about the sacrifice it's been to leave all we know to follow "God's calling", I think of this verse, and am humbled by the fact that "He first loved us"...and not the other way around!

“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.

“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.

“I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. This is my command: Love each other.

John 15:1-15