Happy anniversary ...

It's been a year (and a few weeks) since our Michigan journey began.  Saying good-bye to our home and friends, the long exhausting drive, the anxiety of starting law school, daily house hunting, living in a hotel, soothing crying kids who were missing old friends. 

Yep, a whole year ago.  And now ... new friends, new home, new school, lakes visited, parks explored, callings fufilled, winter survived, and seasons enjoyed.

And oddly, as we visited that old familiar neighborhood this last month on our family vacation the feeling was surreal, like we'd never left, as if the entire last year hadn't happened at all.  To the point where I was having a difficult time remembering what Michigan even looked like.  The details of our first MI year were fuzzy.  I felt as if I had fallen asleep and had a long vivid dream.  Like in the Simon and Garfunkel song, "Michigan felt like a dream to me now."  Steve felt it too and so the analysis began.  Was it because our freindships had remained true?  Was it being back in such natural and familiar surroundings?  Was it the Lord's way of telling us he would erase all the negatives and leave only the amazing positives in our adventure?  Or His way of saying our trials would be but a moment?  What ever the message was meant to be, we felt a huge confirmation that our decision to start law school this last year way out here in Michigan was the right decision.  It's good to feel you're on the right track!  Just a relief.