Time has a way.....

Time - it's one of those mysteries. Some days drag on forever, some seem to fly by yet it's physically the same amount of minutes. When you're in the middle of a tragedy, time seems to stop and the realization that time will march on and, in fact, heal some of the wounds is untangible. On the other hand, moments of joy flash in a twinkling of an eye!

First off, congratulations to my wonderful husband! He was named the new principal of a local high school last night! What a HUGE accomplishment! Amazingly, when we married, he was a high school band director. He then went through a little "funk" when he didn't really know which direction he wanted to go. I remember 7 years ago this summer trying to faithfully support him as he tried to gain focus on what the Lord would have him do. Here we are this summer celebrating a huge professional accomplishment. As Stewart told me this week, "It's a GOD thing!"

Secondly, my Mom reminded me this week of this time 1 year ago. I'll set the stage - I was 19 weeks pregnant with the surprise the Lord gave us just 4 months after losing Olivia. I was petrified, terrified, but trying with all of my strength to trust that HE had a higher purpose in this. I was scheduled to visit the UAB OB Complications Clinic at 20 weeks for a high level ultrasound to check for any abnormalities. There was really only one factor they knew Olivia suffered from to look for, so they were going to check everything they could. I was clinging to the promise of that visit, hoping it would bring some peace of mind. I had been prayed for, even annointed by the elders of our church, and I was trying my best to cling to the feelings I felt and not let the Devil torment me. Well, I didn't do such a hot job! Stewart developed pneumonia, of all things, the week of the visit. I remember driving to the pharmacy to pick up his prescriptions and begging God to let me feel the baby. I was only 19 weeks, and you can't always feel it then, but the Devil had me convinced that we would get to UAB and there would be no heartbeat - again. I ended up making Stewart take me to the hospital (of course it had to be on the weekend when the doc office was closed!) and the sweet, sweet nurses at Huntsville Women's and Children's kindly hooked me up to a monitor and let me lay there as long as I wanted listening to my sweet baby's heartbeat. The day before our UAB appointment, our doctor sent Stewart to the hospital for breathing treatments. Stewart convinced them not to admit him, but he was unable to go with us to the appointment. I remember drivin down I65 that day with my parents thinking, "This is it - the next chapter." But I also remember feeling somewhere way down deep that it wasn't the end of the journey that mattered so much as how we travelled and were led on the journey. The Lord always leads down the right path even when the journey isn't planned.

Well, we got there and, with Stewart listening to the doctor via cell phone, we went through extensive ultrasounds and got the news that everything was absolutely perfect! I'm not going to kid you - the next 18 weeks were still hard, but after that moment, that plus all the other things the Lord had done for us were enough ammunition to help us fight the down-right mean ways of the Devil!

Here we are today - what a difference time makes!! Thank you Lord......you are faithful!

(Thanks to Simplicity by Christy for the proofs :))