Summer 2018 is coming to a close and I wanted to take a little time to reflect on all that happened in the past 3(ish) months.
Losing my Nanny in May was and is the most heartbreaking thing I’ve ever experienced, yet this summer has been a good time of healing. With summer, our schedule slows down as we take a break with youth ministry at church, our weekly Bible study group, etc. – and our day to day seems to have more free time. I usually struggle with this and love the fast pace of Fall, but this summer the Lord knew I needed the break. I gave myself time to grieve and spent more time with my family and made it a priority to get back into working out and fueling my body and it really was a gift to slow my pace.
This summer was also hard because it was a season of unmet expectations. As long as Luke and I have been married, he has been in Pharmacy School and we were living on just my income. The Lord has been so gracious to us, especially with finances, yet we were of course so excited for May to roll around because graduation meant a J-O-B for Luke. We really thought Luke would be able to take his boards quickly after graduation and roll into a job, but that is just now how things came to be. And that is absolutely okay – but when you have your heart set on something and have already been waiting four years for it, it’s hard when it continues to get pushed out and uncertainty takes over. It was a LONG summer of Luke studying constantly and lots of closed doors, but as of this week, Luke has started his full time pharmacy job (only .2 miles from my office and we can walk to lunch downtown together…dream!) and we are so very excited and thankful. I couldn’t be more proud of the diligence and faith he displayed this summer.
Even though this summer was hard in places, it was also full of so much goodness. We celebrated both Luke and Clay’s graduations. Luke and I had the privilege of coordinating four BEAUTIFUL weddings with four precious couples, took two trips to Edisto Island with friends and family, had many fun low key nights with friends, welcomed friends’ new babies into the world, put a deposit down on a SHEEPADOODLE PUPPY that we will get next year (big news for the Ham Fam) and just wrapped the season up with a trip to Murrells Inlet with our besties from college and it was just the perfect way to close out the summer – with a very full heart. Oh, and we got to watch my mom SKYDIVE this past weekend!
I am so excited and ready for Fall – my absolute favorite season. I am looking forward to finding a “new normal” with us both having full time jobs, jumping back into our commitments with church and me joining the worship team, Clemson football, seriously saving for a down payment on a house (woohoo!!), and all that the Lord has in store!