Photo Story Friday - Forever Grateful

May I say how stoked I am that Cecily asked me to co-host Photo Story Friday this week? Since most of my Fishful Thinking Thursday posts involve pictures, the two themes seem to get along quite well - much like Cecily and I. Although we haven't met in person (yet), I do consider her a friend and will be forever grateful to her for introducing me to the Fishful Thinking program.

It was actually last year about this time that I first clicked the link on Cecily's PSF post. Our life at that time, for the lack of a better word, was a mess. Pat hadn't had a a steady income for more than a year. He was tirelessly job searching and commuting home to VA from Florida where he had been working a commission-based temp job for almost three months. We couldn't make our mortgage payments. I was charging groceries. Our house was on the market. I was still teaching dance and had started substituting - when I could arrange childcare. We were dealing with all kinds of craziness from the demise of Pat's small business partnerships. I had pulled Abby out of preschool because we couldn't afford it anymore, etc... Stress and uncertainty had consumed our lives. And, for the lack of a better word, it sucked.

Seeing the words Optimism and Resilience on the Fishful Thinking site completely resonated with me.

Optimism is the skill of focusing on the positive – without denying the negative – and channeling one’s energy toward what is controllable. Optimistic people expect good things to happen in their lives and work toward creating positive change.

Resilience is the ability to bounce back from setbacks, learn from failure, be motivated by challenges and believe in your own abilities to deal with the stress and difficulties in life.

I remember thinking - These are the things I need to be focusing on. We were healthy. Our kids were thriving. Our family was supportive. Pat had been interviewing like a mad man. Something was going to turn up...and finally, our prayers were answered.
Noah actually snapped this picture (June 09) after many hugs, tears, and waves goodbye as we pulled out of my brother's driveway and started our journey to Sweet NEW Home Alabama.

Then he snapped this one...
and this one...
Abby apparently snapped this one as we drove down the road...

I didn't have the heart to delete them. To me, these pictures capture that experience in such a genuine way. They captured the encouraging smiles of my family despite the tears. They captured my kids' excitement to be taking a road trip as they snapped away with the camera. They captured my complete disillusionment to the fact that the kids even had my camera.

And this one - taken soon after arriving at our temporary digs (miraculously provided by the new employer), was snapped by the self-timer (per Abby's spontaneous request while in our pjs) - captured our sense of gratitude, togetherness, and a new chapter for our little family of four.
It's been a big transition for me, to say the least, but between snuggles from my kids, a hard-working husband, skyping with my family, my bff as one of myFaves, generous blessings, opportunities to serve, and Fishful Thinking at my fingertips, I am "bouncing back"...

and THESE certainly help quite a bit too.
* For a double dose of Fishful Thinking - check out my post about the FT parenting workshop that Cecily, Lolli, and yours truly were able to be a part of earlier this week.


Hosted by Cecily and Kelli

To play Photo Story Friday, check this. Copy this code into your post and sign the link list:
<center><a href="http://mychaosmybliss.blogspot.com/2007/06/photo-story-friday-and-rules.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2526/4235120634_71d9399b5f_o.jpg" border="0" alt="PhotoStory Friday" /></a><br/>Hosted by <a href="http://mychaosmybliss.com/" target="_blank">Cecily</a> and <a href="http://writingthewavesmama.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Kelli</a><p/></center>