Can you believe it? I'm back! And being the truly wonderful mother that I am, I have failed to blog about the first 8 months of Jackson's life...but it is never to late to start. And there is the little fact that we have packed our bags and moved to the Island of Grenada in the West Indies where Dustin has begun his trek through medical school. So that brings me to the topic at hand...Where to begin.
Since part of the reason for my long absence from blogging is the pressure I feel to catch up, I am going to bypass the past and begin with the present.
First: I can't believe we live in Grenada! It is an extremely beautiful, exotic place with wonderfully warm people and a culture I am still trying to figure out. We have been here for only two weeks now and in all honesty it feels like it. I still feel a little isolated, lonely, nervous to go out and about by myself and I am looking at the next two years staring me down like it will be an eternity. But despite all of these feelings, I am positive this will be a life changing experience.
This year has been a whirlwind for us with the adoption of Jackson, Dustin retaking the MCAT, moving in with my parents, moving out of a ward we loved, finding out we were moving to Grenada in June, getting passports, thinking I would have to stay behind while we finalized the adoption, miraculously getting the adoption finalized a week before we left, getting sealed in the temple to Jackson, having Jackson blessed, and finally our two days of travel to get here. And though I have been stressed out beyond measure, scared and overwhelmed, I have felt very aware that my family was being taken care of. In fact, Dustin and I are both very aware that we are no longer able to lack faith in our lives, we have been given too much, time and again, to ever doubt our Heavenly Father, his awareness of us, and the path we are supposed to take.
I know I am getting off track but I am just going to go where my thoughts lead me right now: Our families are amazing. I just want to publicly let them know that we could not do anything without them. We were not able to get loans for this first term and there is no way we would be here now had they not all offered there support, both financially as well as emotionally, and through their service and love. They are there to counsel with us, they have helped us learn as we have raised Jackson, they have put a roof over our heads, helped with transportation, babysat, supported us on our biggest occasions, taken care of our sweet Penny, fed us and most importantly, never stopped believing in Dustin's ability to become a doctor and mine to be a mother.
We love them with all of our hearts and hope that among other ways of paying them back, that we will make them proud of who we become and how we live our lives. Their faith has sustained us when ours was lacking and now we will have the faith we need to continue on.
On the day that Jackson was sealed to us I was overcome with emotion and I believe it to have been the best day in my life. Not only were all three of us made a family for eternity, but I felt very aware of the covenants I had made to Dustin on our sealing day and the promises that were being fulfilled. I am unbelievably grateful for this experience and for this opportunity.
I guess this post was all over the place but now maybe I will be able to do more day-to-day posts in the future. My heart is just so overcome with gratitude that the second I start writing my emotions overflow. I hope I don't ever lose these feelings but hopefully I can at least talk about other things. Thanks for bearing with my ramblings.
