No seriously, I’m still here.

I’ve been pondering this post for weeks. Weeks, y’all. I’m not really sure why it’s taken me so long to write because it’s all good things that I want to write about. Perhaps because it’s a post that walks the line between honest and holding things close that need to be held. Maybe it’s that it has been so long in coming. Whatever the reason, it’s just taken me longer than I thought to finally get back here.

And then a sassy little friend facebooked me {yes, I just made Facebook a verb} and asked, “So, when are you going to get back on your horse named Blog?”

Ahem. Right. Climbing back on.

I’ve missed my little piece of the internet but the time I’ve spent away from it has been necessary and good and fruitful. The short version {to be expounded upon later, let’s just get all this out first} is that, to start with, the lifestyle change has resulted in forty pounds lost, a running habit regained and is still going strong. Well, reasonably so. I cooked a fair amount of Pioneer Woman recipes over Christmas and New Years that have played havoc with what you might call “healthy eating patterns”. But the Cheesy Artichoke Bread? TOTALLY WORTH IT.

In December, our time at The Mountain House ended and a move was made to a delightful area of Chattanooga proper just north of the Tennessee River. While I miss our amazing neighbors terribly, I’m not going to lie- I do not miss driving up and down the mountain or the thirty minute commute to school. The Shore House is our side of a darling duplex and I’m discovering that apparently I do better with smaller spaces. Nesting has been easy and quick and something about having to get creative with less space has kicked up the “decorating on no budget” juices.

But bigger than all that has been the reason I took a sabbatical from blogging last September. What I couldn’t tell you then but can tell you now, is that Jason and I were separated through the autumn months. Divorce seemed imminent, papers drafted but never signed. It was a hellacious time for everyone involved and I’ve never been more grateful for my family and friends. However {and how often is there a “however” in stories like these?}, there is a happy ending-in-progress.

God did a miracle, something I didn’t think was possible. He brought Jason and I back together. Our story is still being written and there is probably more of it that I will share down the road when the time is right. But this part, this little piece, I wanted to share with y’all. I am starting the new year with my husband by my side and with a marriage that is on a completely different trajectory than the last three years. And that? That makes it a very happy new year indeed.

God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.

Ephesians 3:20, The Message