Transitions

Transitions always comes with becoming busy and these last couple of months have been just that.  Trying to tie up loose ends on Ezra's memorial at Radys (more to come on that soon), spending last days with friends, doing some of our favorite things down here one last time, and doing the check list that comes with moving. Many people have asked us how we are feeling about moving.  To be honest our emotions are all over the place when it comes to the subject.  Last year we were in the same place leaving Michigan and the friends who became like family there.  If we are being truthful we didn't think when moving down here that we would have a really hard time leaving. Since we would only be here for a year our expectations of how deep our relationships would grow here were low and honestly probably some of our fault in not wanting to go through leaving more people we love a short year later had us thinking we would just be on a year adventure and be on our way. But California has become so much more then that.  Sure the weather is gorgeous every day and never gets in the way of your plans. Yes there are endless fun activities for us to do, especially with the kids. But the thing that makes this the hardest is leaving the people we have come to love.  The community down here opened up their hearts and lives to us and took us in with no questions or hesitation.  We had two weeks when we met people here before we found out that Ezra had life threatening congenital issues. Rachel and David invited us in like they had known us for years.  Grace Point Church welcomed us in with open arms.  Our neighbors and Jeff's staff he worked with were at our door offering to take the kids, bring food, etc.  We quickly found out three things.  First, God is incredibly gracious by providing the many people, friends and family, in our past to make our community and support system deep from afar and also provided what we needed right now, here in San Diego.  Secondly, these people were genuine. They didn't just say we were here to help and will be praying for us half-heartedly. We quickly saw that what they said is what they meant.  Inviting us to join their small group, befriending us first so they truly knew us and saw our personalities so they knew how they could help us rather then just helping to just be nice because of our situation. Even Mikayla's sweet teacher at school showed her continuos love and support for Mikayla throughout the year and keeping me informed how it was affecting her there and when she came back out of her shell after Ezra passed (also thanks to the help of two adorable twin girls who quickly became her best friends at school).  Lastly, God's faithfulness has shown clearly.  In all honesty the pain will never go away of losing someone you put your heart into, loved so dearly, and fought so hard for but the pain will change and and God has used this pain in so many ways for good.  Through that we have grown in many ways and also added to our forever friends list.  A gift we truly feel Ezra gave us. There is a slight hesitation in having to start in a new place that doesn't necessarily know our story but we also know that because of God's faithfulness there truly is no need to worry about what our adventure in Duluth will bring and have a peace and excitement to starting this next step in our lives.

JUNE RECAP

 

The first weekend of June I ran the Rock 'n Roll half marathon. Sammy's (Ezra's NICU neighbor) mom was a rock star and ran the full marathon.  The one thing that kept coming to mind as I was running that day was that although I'm not downplaying living a healthy lifestyle and trying to do things right, it still doesn't make you immune to bad things happening to you in the world.  A good reminder of really how little control we have in this world and also how precious and short life is here on earth.

We got spoiled with a visit from Grandma Janice and Great Grandma Bechen for a few days!

Mikayla had her last day of school and graduated from Kindergarten. We really liked her school this year and loved her teacher.  She went full days two days a week and was homeschooled the other three which allowed us to really explore San Diego during the week too.

We biked the Coronado Low Tide Ride and Stride.  They open up the military beach this one time a year for this to take place.  The sand wasn't quite as packed as we thought it might be so even though it was only a little over 8 miles long it was great workout and also a ton of fun.  We only had one encounter when the seaweed won with Mikayla's chain and gears (which is when one of the workers offered to take our picture).  Mikayla was super excited she was able to bike (a.k.a. tag-along bike) the whole thing and feels like we should have been able to go faster.  She's quiet
and sweet but can have a spunky and competitive spirit! Malachi just enjoyed the ride and sight seeing in his chariot :). We enjoyed a picnic at the park on Coronado Island with our small group who met us there afterwards.

We celebrated our 10 year anniversary in June with an amazing view and had a great time reflecting on the journey those years have taken us on which go hand in hand with the medical training path we've been on.  The running joke was that I was only going to have to wait 10 years of our married life for Jeff to get a 'real' job ;) (even though I truly don't feel that way at all).

The kids and I went to Texas to celebrate my cousins wedding which Mikayla had the honor to being a flower girl. We had fun going to Fiesta Texas the day before as well.

We snuck a night away from the kids and despite Malachi being convinced we were at the hospital again we really enjoyed a triple date at a Padres baseball game, a night at the Omni Hotel followed by a delicious breakfast and relaxing morning walking around downtown San Diego together Saturday morning.