The Plot Grows Ever Thicker

I'm sure you are all familiar with what it's like to read a novel you can't seem to put down. As the plot thickens and the final chapters begin to unfold, you can't seem to quit turning page after page to see how it all plays out. And then, as you finish reading those last paragraphs, you find yourself mourning the end of a great tale. You might be anxious to start the next book in the series, but finishing this one almost feels like saying goodbye to a newfound friend...

Our lives lately read almost like a novel of sorts. Maybe I should write it!  The last year of our lives has brought us some of the biggest blessings we could ever imagine and also some of our greatest and most challenging trials. By this time next week this apartment will be empty. Our lives will be packed away into a storage container awaiting the next book in our series and our little family will be off on another whirlwind adventure. The final chapters in our "Medical School" novel. And let me tell you, these final chapters will be page turners for sure!  From here we go to Texas for Jonathan to take some time to study for his board exams, then we are off to Baltimore to finish rotations. By this time next year we will have applied and interviewed for residency positions in places only the Lord knows where at this point. We will be not so patiently awaiting our match...the start of the next book in our series...

But as we close this chapter of "Medical School" I find myself a bit torn. On the one hand, I am SO incredibly anxious to shut the door on the chapter called "Florida" and open the next one called "Nomads for 9 Months". Yet on the other, it's bittersweet to leave behind the place where we started our family. As much as we've hated living in Florida, it will always be the place we welcomed Greysen into the world. This apartment will always be his first home. And packing up his nursery stings a little as I consider the fact that when all of these things come out of storage, our sweet Greysen will no longer be a tiny baby. He's growing by leaps and bounds daily as it is!  This chapter is coming to a close and a notable part of me is sad to see the final pages being turned on it...

However, I feel that same excitement you feel when you're ripping through the final pages of a riveting novel. I can't help but feel like our lives are really getting ready to begin. God has gone before us and laid it all out so perfectly. We have little glimpses of what the next 5 years are going to bring, but so much of it is still cloaked in mystery...and I can't wait to see what happens next!  2016 promises lots of traveling, lots of "firsts", lots of stress, and lots of success. 2017 will be the beginning of the newest book in our series...the one called "Residency"...

As the final chapters in our "Medical School" book are playing out, I can't help but see how God is putting the finishing touches on our growing experience. Finishing up what He started...preparing us for what's next...still teaching us, stretching us, molding us, challenging us, and completing His marvelous works. We are different people than when we started this whole thing. We are wiser, more mature, bolder perhaps, more flexible, softer around the edges in ways...rougher in others. We are unapologetic about what we intend to do, we are unafraid of taking chances, and we are unwilling to accept less than everything we have the potential to achieve...

So in true Thinking Positive fashion, we go forward with great expectations of God's continued work in our lives. We know He's working, we know He's not only prepared a way but He's prepared the means, we know His plans are to give us hope and a future. That future is SO bright!  So keep reading folks, these final chapters in this novel are gonna keep you on your toes!!