LIFE

Today has been a fabulous day already.

I had the day off and was able to go an appointment that I needed to go to down in Cameron Parish. Most of you are not familiar with Louisiana too much, but Cameron Parish was the area Louisiana that was most severely damaged by Hurricane Rita. Hurricane Rita changed so many lives and the face of Louisiana was changed dramatically.

It has just barely been over five years ago that we had to flee for safety and came home two weeks later to find our home severely damaged and not repairable by the time insurance finally settled with us. We were one of the lucky and blessed families. I can't believe I am even saying that because at the time, our woundness of losing our first home was overwhelming and it seemed our dreams were just put on hold as we struggled to look past the tragedy and dream of a future full of hope.

Going back to the point of mentioning Cameron Parish is that for some reason my appointment was moved there (nearly 1 hour away from my home) and I was a little resentful of the inconvience of this but even last night I told my husband that this might be God's way of revealing something to me, a new way to get my attention! So I woke up bright and early and made the trek down south.

I remember in the months following the Hurricane, there was so much destruction that it was so heartbreaking to even drive down the highways that were cleared of debris. The area was not a hugely populated one, but it was home to many amazing families and their lives were in shambles. We passed on the roadways and would see whole houses stranded in the marshes. Horse trailers that were blown/pushed by the raging waves more than twenty miles from their original locations to the side marshes near the roadways. The signs of sorrow and brokeness evident with each passing glance. I remember one of the families I served at the time completely lost nearly everything that they did not take with them when they departed to run from the storm. When they were able to return to "Look & Leave" there home was completely gone, only a few of the cinder blocks remained standing. Through the brokeness around them they found a few plates that were unbroken in the mud. These were very bleak moments.

Yet, today when I drove down these same highways I saw so many signs of recovery - NEW LIFE! There were new homes built everywhere, lots of rockers on porches signifying a return to normalcy to this fishing community. We are talking about the area closest to the Gulf of Mexico and these faithful people came back and rebuilt their lives. Knowing that they may experience grief and hardship again, they embraced their dreams of living on the land they owned, most likely passed on from generations past. They did not look at the cost as being too great to outweigh the hard work necessary to start over. Yes, five years later the look of Cameron Parish is different, but the heart is still pumping the same blood through that community.

The same goes for my husband and I.

I realize that our journey through infertility and loss could have easily destroyed us. There were times when the surgerys, the medications, the sorrow, the shots, the loneliness nearly toppled us over like the waves of Hurricane Rita did to those homes. Yet, God had redeeemed us to allow see us to a brighter day - a day of new life. A journey of hope. Years ago, if you would drive on the road of our lives, you would see sorrow much like I saw five years ago when riding through Cameron Parish but now the road looks different. Our faces are the same but the view has changed, praise God. We still experience and know of the cost of the loss of dreams, the loss of children but we are also experiencing the joy of new hope and the wonder of becoming parents to our third child!

We are in a new place, built by the design of God's vision. We get to feel the wave of new life when Joseph moves inside my womb. We get to dream in a new way and love in an even deeper way as we realize that he is a gift that has been long-awaited and that jouney could not have been different if we wanted to reach this destination. It is my greatest pleasure to hear my husband tell me "The nursery is looking better and better every time I walk in there!" It is unbelievable to me to experience the joy of being pregnant, of watching my belly grow and move all because God is growing a baby in there.

See God had a reason to get me spend time with him this morning on my drive to the Louisiana coast. It made me appreciate our home, but even more than that it made me appreciate our dreams and our journey.

Our life has not been without its share of sorrows or struggle, but I will rejoice in the day that God broke through the clouds of our lives, scattered the storms, and brought us the sun to warm our face again and to dry our tears.

I am now sitting at home, smelling the gumbo I am cooking (duck, chicken & sausage gumbo) and feeling Joseph move. By the way I was inspired by PHDW to make gumbo this week since we have been having cooler temperatures. Thanks for the inspiration, this will make my husband very happy!