Gatlinburg 2011.

Last year in November we went as a family to Gatlinburg, TN. It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost a year since we took that trip. It’s hard to believe that I moved here in 2006, and that the time has flown by like it has. Moving here was a decision that seemed so obviously right, so I just .. did it. So many people questioned me and wanted to save me from myself and my irrational teenage behavior. It’s funny because I’m an anxious person with a need to plan things extensively, but when it came to being with Nate or not being with Nate there wasn’t much to think about. I guess that’s what love is, right? I’ve felt a lot of guilt over the years about leaving my own family to come here but I knew and know that it was and is God’s plan. I’m not ever going to say that I didn’t get homesick or question that plan but, I knew where I was supposed to be.


I feel like I understand that plan now more than ever even if what we’re going through doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense. Every single thing that happens to us makes us who we are and leads us to a different place in our lives. I can trace all sorts of life events that I just couldn’t understand that led me to where I am now. I know that if Nate had never met me that he and his family would go through this the same way that they are. I don’t think I’ve made any sort of major impact on the situation, but I do feel blessed to be here for them in any way that I can. I just can’t think that it was a coincidence that I’ve been through this with my own dad and my own family and that somehow I ended up here going through it again with them, for no reason at all. I hope that it’s helped Nate to know that he has a wife that can completely understand how he feels. I hope for Tim that having one extra “daughter” to sit with him, talk to him, and hold his hand over these last few days has been an extra comfort to him. I hope that having one extra sister and one extra daughter has made a difference to Erin, Kristi, and Ann.