Catching Up!

It's hard to believe that it has been a couple of years since I have blogged. I guess we have had a few things going on. How can one catch up a blog from a two year hiatus?

Where has my writing been hiding? Oh that's right.
Thanks Facebook, for helping us exercise our right to say even more about nothing.
Hey don't judge me. I love Facebook. As one of my friends once said, it is instant blogging. Come to find out, not so much. Eh. What can I say.

Let's see. So how to catch up? Why don't we just rip the bandaid off so we can get right back to it.

Ready?

One: We have been through the financial RINGER (for some reason I feel the need to say that like "RingAH") and are recovering. I stand by the fact that as longstanding private investors of real estate, we got off EASY compared to some of our counterparts.

Two: We started an adoption process with a little girl named Kylee on October 18th, 2010 and went through what could only be called the most-surreal two years of our lives. She just finalized here a little bit ago after this two year process which included sheltering her baby sister. Her baby sister was with us from birth to just recently (over a year) and was returned to her bio mom. LONG story.Try to imagine what pain that was and just insert it here in some magical way.

Here is our 5th daughter Kylee Josephine Clunn (we kept her first and middle name given at birth after much thought) I love this picture of her. She looks content, does she not?

 Here is my favorite one of Kylee and her sister Carah who is no longer with us. Yes, it still hurts. A lot.

Three: No, we have not moved yet but yes, the house is in fact still sitting over there. I think. Pretty sure. Mmmm, maybe not. It must be!

Four: We acquired our local territory of the National  franchise called Macaroni Kid. We have the North Lake edition. It has kept me in publishing from the retirement of Lake Family Magazine.

Now that wasn't so hard, was it? 1-2-3 (4) and we're back! Well, as you and I both know, there is a WORLD of story behind each one of these bandaids. I went through them all without writing about it and that makes me a little sad... I tried and I tried to write through them- but I just couldn't do it for some reason. For the first time, I feel like I might be able to write again.
Emphasis on might.
So you'll just have to trust me on the last couple of years. ;)

However, I will say that the past events of my life since the last time I have blogged plus the current events in the nation have given me my new theme for the year.

I proclaim this my Year of Love.

Pain has opened my heart in a new way. The way I have been feeling about love lately has been difficult to express. It was nearly unexplainable. But then, Corrie showed up:

“Do you know what hurts so very much? It's love. Love is the strongest force in the world, and when it is blocked that means pain. There are two things we can do when this happens. We can kill that love so that it stops hurting. But then of course part of us dies, too. Or we can ask God to open up another route for that love to travel.” ~Corrie ten Boom, The Hiding Place

I could not actually believe this when it came across my newsfeed on (well yes, it was Facebook) It explained how I felt exactly. You can choose to let pain grow your heart and your capacity to love- or you can kill it, as Corrie says, so that it stops hurting. Sometimes I wonder if I really had a choice or if my union with Christ demanded it...all I know is that it is the only thing that kept me alive over what could be called, if I may be so bold, the hardest time in my life thus far. (Um, disclaimer: I do not need more testing on this)

Love. Keeping me alive since 1968. Whatever happens in this new year, I hereby officially proclaim 2013.... my Year of Love.