Previously on Me & Mr….

So, you know how on television shows with story lines that span multiple episodes, they often start out with “Previously On…” and then proceed to show a montage of clips to get you up to speed? These snippets of information are not nearly enough to adequately catch you up on all the details, but gives you enough of an understanding that you can comprehend what is happening in the present.

This is my “Previously On”. For those of you whom I have not seen/heard/hugged recently we will still need a skype date soon (Mrs. Ford, this means you) to fill in the missing sections, much in the same way you know you will have to go to hulu or Netflix and watch the previous episodes you missed in order to fully understand how the characters have come to find themselves in their current predicament.

So, here is what has happened to Me & Mr in the last several months of blog silence.  Grab a snack and settle in, it’s a long one.

1.       MR. RATLIFF IS GETTING A DIPLOMA IN ONE MONTH!!!!! Caps Lock and exclamation points do not give this statement justice. It is seriously the single most exciting thing to happen to us in a long time. I cannot begin to describe how proud I am of him. Clay commented to me recently as I designed graduation invitations not to get my hopes up that many people would be excited by this fact since he “should have graduated 4 years ago” I proceeded to tell him that this is specifically what makes his endurance so admirable.

    
Where many would have given up after making mistakes that set them behind, my husband decided to go back to school, take the long way to do it right and correct mistakes made the first time around, choosing a highly competitive and difficult major and totally ROCKING IT!
I also find it truly lovely to look at where these “mistakes” have brought us. If he had graduated 4 years ago, we would never have come to Tallahassee. To think of all that we would have missed out on makes me very thankful that we were called to this place at exactly this time. Which brings me to #2

 

2.       City Church Tallahassee is one of my favorite things…. Ever. They’ve kept us busy as we’ve spent many an hour over the last few months serving coffee for First Impressions, running umbrellas to cars on rainy Sundays, watching some of my favorite people get baptized, and hosting “our kids”, a.k.a. our Co-Ed College Community Group which we held in our apartment. Most of my kids are gone for the summer now and I need them to come home ASAP. I recently found a quote about one of the benefits of hosting a community group being “You get to see the kingdom of God show up on your couch” and I couldn’t agree more! It is truly amazing and I love those young men and women with whom we got to share our Tuesday evenings more than words.

 

3.        My family is finally here in Tallahassee (for the most part). Kimberly graduated and she and Mom finally live here 7 days a week rather than having to drive back and forth from Niceville for the weekends. Liz will be here in 24 days and I will be able to hug her any time I want! No offense Texas, but I prefer having my sister less than 14 hours away. Heather is the only one I will still have to travel to see but I will have several opportunities to do so over the next few months as we prepare for her wedding. Love being a part of the planning and celebrating this time with my big sis.

 

4.       Finally, the last few months have been a time of great emotional growth for me. I have been through the wringer emotionally in so many different ways. Some small things, some big things, but they all seemed to come together at once to knock me off my feet. The biggest things I am taking away from it all are:

• Don’t be selfish! Demanding your way will not ensure that you get your way it only makes you and everyone else miserable.
• Forgive even if it means you must do so 490 times per day. Do not hold hurt around you like a blanket that will keep you from more hurt. Does anyone else see how that doesn’t work? Well, let me tell you, wrapping yourself up in your own entitlement doesn’t make you feel better.
• Do not convince yourself that you are too “tired, upset, busy, etc”  to include the people who love you in your daily schedule, when you do this you are not given them the ability to encourage you, and you give yourself no one to focus on other than yourself. Believe it or not you really do come out of your “funk” when you spend time talking to God, family and friends, and care more about them than about yourself. I don’t have it down yet but I’m trying. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

So, now that you’re caught up, I’ll try to update more often.