Something to be proud of
The more I reflect on the backstories of my life, the more I see I see the faithfulness of God. He’s carried me through so much and I still get choked up when I look around to see where He has me today.
I’ve been doing a lot of writing, reflecting, and gleaning from my past which now has me taking some new steps forward.
In many ways I’ve pulled back over the last few years while our lives were being put back together again - because some forms of privacy were healthy for us.
After a few years now of building memories together as a blended family, I feel the nudge to start sharing some of our journey more transparently with hopes to encourage others who may be able to identify with what this life is like.
I guess the most important thing I hope to convey as I move forward with sharing my heart is that if you are reading this today and you have experienced the stings from divorce, please know that you can still have a strong and beautiful family for the world to see - it just might look a tad different than you originally envisioned.
According to an article on Psychology today, [1]Past statistics have shown that in the U.S. 50% percent of marriages end in divorce and the numbers go up even higher for second marriages and beyond.
Given this statistic, I see a great opportunity to be a voice of support, encouragement, and hope for others who may feel inclined to pursue another shot with marriage and rebuilding too.
A resource that has been incredibly helpful for me has been Family Life (Blended). They put out resources free to Blended families and I highly recommend you take advantage of them if you have been affected with divorce.
Tonight starts our weekend with all of our kiddos. We call this Friday night our (Friday night Family night). We’ll be celebrating with a fun game of family football in the front yard, homemade kettle corn, and pizza. Tomorrow morning my husband will be making pumpkin pancakes for us (he makes pancakes every weekend they’re here). We’ll divide and conquer tomorrow afternoon as our girl has a parade for dance in Holland and our boy has a soccer game in Norton Shores. We’ve been lucky this season to actually have been able to attend most of their activities together. That’s a challenge with blended families, maybe you can relate? Sunday mornings when the kids are here is always a special time. It’s our last day of being together and we always make the most of it. Sitting together during worship at church, a big family lunch, snuggles and some more outside playtime and then the packing begins.
The Monday’s after they leave are always the hardest. Grace is needed.
Here’s to a fantastic weekend.
Cheers!
[1] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-intelligent-divorce/201202/the-high-failure-rate-second-and-third-marriages