Bloom Where You’re Planted

At 8:30 this morning my dear husband peeked into the bedroom (yes, I was still in bed…he is Mr. Incredible!).

“You’ve got to see this!”

We moved about 2 weeks ago and are loving our new home and all that came with it, including an enormous corn field in our back yard that has yet to be develped. In addition to providing a spectacle of tractors and other farm equipment that makes young boys’ eyes grow wide, the field doubles as a perfect landing pad for hot air balloons.

While I had been snoozing, the boys and Mr. Incredible has already seen one hot air balloon land in the field a mile away. Now one was headed for our field! I grabbed a camera and we ran outside, all 4 of us in pajamas, Dash in puffy Thomas the Train slippers. What a sight!

Fortunately for the moment, we have no neighbors.

Dash and I started across the field while Mr. Incredible lagged behind with our newly minted biped tripping over the recent sprouts of foliage. Dash and I raced towards the balloon, which was deceptively far away. Soon, this pregnant, pajama clad mom was carrying a 40-pound toddler racing toward the balloon we didn’t want to get away. Fortunately, “we made it to the biggest balloon ever!” Dash was even allowed to touch it and handed the ballooners the straps to pack up their balloon.

5 years ago, I never anticipated living in Texas. I never suspected I would be married and thankful for several children. I knew exactly one person when I moved here, Mr. Incredible, my fiance at the time. Most, if not all, of the builders of this blog probably would not have predicted their whereabouts nor their family status just a few years ago.

When I moved here I was very lonely and needed true friends with whom I could talk about hopes, joys, doubts, struggles. I desparately missed my college friends. Thankfully, there was a slew of weddings, baptisms, etc. over the next few years that meant semi-annual gatherings.

But in between we had the miracle of the internet. Hundreds, probably thousands of emails, individually and as a group ensured that support, encouragment, and, occasionally, a good kick-in-the-pants, was never far away. We have joked about picking a location and all moving there to raise our families together. However, this is not what God has called us to do.

We are to bloom precisely where we are planted at this moment. As we begin this Lent, the builders of this blog are planted all across the country in a variety of situations, some welcoming new babies, others battling nausea. We have so many moments to take advantage of our unique situations. We can turn them into joy for our families or we can roll over and go back to sleep. As we live our lives, regardless of our current sitution, I pray we can just get out of bed and go chase a hot air balloon.

And, as Mr. Incredible and Jack-Jack, after realizing just how far Dash and I had trekked in our pursuit of the ballooon, pulled up beside us in our car to spare us the 10 minute walk home, we can always be assured that the assistance and encouragement of both our Heavenly Father and our friends is there to pick us up just when we need it.