2007 personal thoughts
On a personal level 2007 has been a year of dying for me. In some part I have had to die to my hopes and dreams in order to settle where God has us. I’ve found this really difficult, as some of you know, but I think I’ve now reached acceptance within me. I don’t believe it is an end of these dreams, as I think God planted them within me, but it is not the time whilst we are still here in the UK.
We’ve had many new beginnings this year too. One was the realism that our son has High Functioning Autism (which for those of you who don’t know, means he is fully communicative!). In part it has been hard accepting this, but it has also been a new beginning as we can now learn how his mind functions, we have access to different groups and organizations. Things can only really get better. We also began to home educate the children this year. Wow, what an adventure that has been. I really feel like the children are starting to blossom. They both seem so much more confident and relaxed. We also got a glowing report from our education department inspector, which is always good news! I completed and passed my environmental science course - hurrah!
Things have been tough here, and Canada seems a world away. Something broke this month though, and I think it was through an offer we had. We were offered the chance of going to France to live for 12-18 months whilst we waited for our permanent residency to come through for Canada. The offer was incredibly tempting. It meant we would have had a more relaxed family way of life for a time. We would have been able to live life in the slower pace we crave, doing church in the way we believe. So …… we turned it down. It was very tempting, but God was quiet. We didn’t want to move without hearing from him. I guess that means we have chosen to stay on the tougher road, and see it through until Canada comes calling.
I feel quite excited about 2008 - I guess mainly because this is theoretically the year that our permanent residency application will start to move through the system (three years later!). I don’t want to get my hopes up about that though. I guess I feel like 2008 is going to be a good year - maybe I’ll be wrong, but right now my spirit feels excited! Bless you all in 2008 and thank you for reading my thoughts this year.
2007 thoughts
Happy New Year, Lyn. Maybe this one will see us on the same continent? One can only hope.
In any case I pray God gives you peace with whatever His path holds for you and your family this year.
I hope to be on the same continent by the beginning of 2009 - we’ll see! I will definitely be on the same continent for two weeks in May though!
happy new year! may God continue to bless you and your family. this past year has been great getting to know you a little through your blog. your former pastor’s wife blog helped me (and continues to) learn to be myself in the midst of expectations i cannot meet.
thanks again. i look forward to another year of sharing and learning.