Reflecting on 15

I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old. I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds.     Psalm‬ ‭77‬:‭11‬-‭12‬ ‭ESV‬‬

My Timehop yesterday pointed out to me that I have been writing this blog for 15 years now.  (Upon doing a little research, it actually hit the 15-year mark about a week ago, but close enough!)

15 years!

That seems like an eternity ago.  And like it was just yesterday.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the passage of time…. And trying to redirect those thoughts because they can quickly take me down undesirable rabbit holes…

Fifteen years ago, my life looked VERY different!  My children were 15 and almost 12 years old.  My house had wheels under it.  I was dreaming about a day like today when I would find myself living in a home on a permanent foundation, waking up every morning in the same city, doing a bit of laundry without having to drag it to a laundromat, and preparing meals in a real kitchen with a full-size refrigerator and a freezer that could actually keep ice cream frozen.  Of course, in that dream, the kids were still at home, we were homeschooling the right way in a dedicated schoolroom, there was a yard and a fence… and butterflies and unicorns frolicked out my window, lol!

So much has changed.

The earliest Invisible Woman posts were all composed in different locations across the country as we traveled in itinerant ministry.  Then there were posts from Ellenwood, Georgia where we found ourselves trying to help our church through a transitional period while basically living in the church fellowship hall.  From there we moved on to the Clearwater/Tampa area where we discovered that re-entry after the road years was not going to be as easy as we’d thought, and so there were a few posts reflecting that season. 

Then Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina…

Kenduskeag/Bangor, Maine…

Columbus, Georgia…

Tallahassee, Florida…

Pensacola/Cantonment, Florida…

Brandon, Dunnellon, Ruskin, Ocala…

Lubbock/Shallowater, Texas…

And now Wellington/West Palm Beach, Florida…

Since leaving full-time itinerant ministry, I’ve worked as a daycare assistant (because I wasn’t qualified to work as a teacher anymore 🙄), nanny, burger shop worker, call center customer service representative, behavioral health professional, inventory worker, preschool photographer (two separate occasions/locations), craft store stocker and cashier (also two separate occasions/locations), church directory photographer, children’s home houseparent (three agencies, four locations), fast food worker, photographer’s assistant, school photographer, transcript editor….   (And then there were the hundreds of other jobs I was turned down for along the way!) I joke that I’m still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up!

It’s been an action-packed fifteen years, for sure!

I’d really like to thank the handful of people who have stuck with me on this journey.  I’ve yet to write anything so interesting or profound as to go “viral” or even be widely shared.  But through all of the moves and jobs, this little blog has been one small constant through a whole lot of change.

If the next fifteen years are anything like the past fifteen, it’ll be quite a ride!  I’ll keep checking in here from time to time.  Though my life has involved a lot of change, my God has not changed.  My life is a lot less public than it used to be, but my heart’s desire is still that my life would reflect Him to others.

Blessings!