A Year in Review

How often I found where I should be going only by setting out for somewhere else.
~Buckminster Fuller~

Our lives have been turned upside down and redirected in the last year...beginning as two young loves moving to the ocean-side for school and in 11 months becoming a family of three living in the mountains (well close to them). Unknowingly, our greatest adventure was not moving out West, but having a child out West. The last 12 months have been a whirl-wind of new people & experiences, of adjustment & trial, and of clarity of God's perfect plan for our lives. Here is a quick recap of our journey out here so far:

• August: Moved from Ajax Ontario to Surrey BC without jobs or a place to live
• September: Andrew started school, Melissa got a job with Scott Construction, A&M found an apartment & a new church (Gracepoint), A&M celebrated 1 year of marriage & began exploring the Vancouver area
  
• October: M became a counselor for GEMS, A became an intern with the Young Adults ministry, A&M began volunteering for the senior high youth group, A&M got pregnant;)
• November: A&M found out they were pregnant, A got a part-time job at Staples
• December: A finished off his 1st semester, A&M celebrated their first Christmas alone
• January: M started to show, A&M told everyone they were pregnant, A got a full-time job with Shaw Cable
• February: A&M attended the lighting of the Olympic flame ceremony & went for a weekend on Keat's Island,
  
• March: M visited Ontario for Bennett's birthday,
  
• April: A&M went to a Whitecaps game & visited Darrell in Victoria for Easter
  
• May: A took M up Mount Baker in Washington for Mother's Day
• June: M turned 25 & A took her out on the town to see the musical Wicked, Grammee Dee came & took A&M up the Grouse Mountain gondola, M stopped working
  
• July: Theo was born, The Meems' came for a visit, A&M's friend held a shower for T
  
• August: M's friends & A's family came for a visit, T started smiling
  
• September: A,M&T went on our first family vacation to the States & went to the PNE in Vancouver for the day, T rolled over, A&M celebrate 2 years of marriage
  

And here we are today, a whole new "us", starting off the next chapter of our lives. If you had told me a year ago that I would be a mother by now, I would have laughed and said "No, no, no we want to wait a couple years." People say that once you have a baby, you can't imagine your life without them...but I can. I can imagine myself getting up early every morning with Andrew, driving to the skytrain station and taking that train all the way downtown. I can see myself fighting to get off the train and straining my neck on the bus just to get one ounce of fresh cold air. I can see myself arriving on site, talking to my PM and then start working away...on the work I love.

Instead, I get up at noon after a long night of feeding, burping & changing, put Theo in the swing, and turn on the TV to watch some overplayed episode of Criminal Minds while I munch on crackers & cheese. I then feed him while checking out facebook & babysteals to feed my new found addiction for cute baby things. I check the clock and discover Andrew will be home in an hour, so I change out of my pj's, pick up the clothes off the floor and throw a load of laundry in the wash.

Now don't get me wrong, I love Theo from the bottom of my heart, but I'm just taking some time to adjust to this new kind of "normal." And I know that in time we will create a healthier routine. Theo is an amazing child who knows what he wants and makes sure to let us know. He only cries when he is hungry or can't poop, and the rest of the time he is smiling or talking. He sleeps well at night & is a great travel baby. Theo loves music and noise...in fact he sleeps better when music is playing (or when daddy's snoring). Theodore is a true gift and I am honoured that God chose me to have the great privilege and responsibility to be his mommy. So please pray for us as we adjust to this chapter in our lives & decide on where to go from here.

Our Little Gift

God's gifts put mans' best dreams to shame.

~Elizabeth Barrett Browning~

As a young girl I dreamed of meeting the perfect man, getting married and having LOTS babies, all by the age of 25. But as I went through highschool and into university, my dreams began to alter. I still wanted all the same things, but not quite so soon. I now dreamed of starting my career, of getting my P.Eng. and maybe travelling before I settled down. But God knew better; He knew that the dreams of a little girl were His actual plans for my life. So, at the age of 21 I met my perfect man; at the age of 23 I married my best friend; and now, at the age of 25 I will be a mom :)

Yep, that's right, I'm pregnant with a wee little MacGregor! Andrew and I are so excited! God has given us a gift that we hadn't even started planning for...and that's actually the most beautiful part. We went for our first ultrasound last Monday and got to hear the little munchkin's heartbeat. He/she is now 10 cm long and is due on July 18.

Ideally we would like to move back to Ontario in the fall, after the baby is born, but we know that we need to be open to God's plan. We both want our families to be a big part of our child's life and I just can't imagine having a baby without my mom. But at the same time, we know God brought us out here for a reason and we can't just pick up and leave because we want to, or because other people want us to. Although this is excruciating for me to admit, any decision made to move or stay will have nothing to do with what I want. If we're heading home to Ontario, it will be because we know that we have accomplished everything here in BC that God set out for us to do/learn/see/hear. So please, pray for us, pray for direction, pray for clarity.

Life is God's novel. Let Him write it.

~Isaac Bashevis Singer~

Over the last couple years I have been truly learning what this means. I am a planner and as such I like to think that I can plan my whole life...from the career I will have, to the cities I will live in, and to the age that I will have babies. And in every instance, God taps me on the shoulder and says, "Melissa, trust in me. I know your heart. I know what you can handle. I have a plan for you." And so, I've had to put my desire to be in control aside and let Him step in and show me where to go...even when that means move to BC or be prepared for a child. I'm learning to surrender all of me, knowing that God's plan is much much bigger and much better.