Saturday, January 07, 2006

Settling in...


This is Port Angeles, and on the end of that "spit" is where the Coast gaurd station is that Joel works now.

This is a closer look at what it has to offer...



I have been meaning to do this for a long time now, and don't know why I have been putting it off...and then the move came, and so...Update

Joel and I are doing well. I'm not sure if you guys have been keeping track but our first year Anniversary is coming up on the 5th of Febuary. Ahh!!! Crazy huh!? I can't believe how fast the time goes sometimes. And also Jan 1st is the anniversary of our official courtship/dating too. So we are going on three years of seeing eachother now. Where does the time go.
But I guess I should talk about how our year has been. Lord knows that we have been repeatedly blessed throughout this year. It has been a wonderful, growing, changing, loving time in both our lives.
I can't even begin to tell you what life brings to you in your first year of marriage. I mean life brings you new things every year regardless, but I have never learned so much about myself than I have in the past year. It is all scary and wonderful at the same time. Joel always tellss me how being married has brought him closer to understanding the great love of God, and I know he is right.
For the past 10 months Joel and I have been From over stressed, to over joyed, to overwhelmed and back again, with this whole Coast Guard life. Having things never be clear, never knowing exactly what we are doing where we are going, and when it is all going to happen is a world we both have had to get used to. It can be really hard, but God has shown and proven himself to be watching over us again and again. This life we are living can make it hard to trust Him, and we have both struggled along the way, but at the same time it is impossible not to.
Personally it has been hard for me because of the constant uncertainty of it all. I have always been able to map my life around something that I know is for sure. And in this case there is no for sure, and so I am unable to map anything...and in which case I have mapped almost nothing for myself in this last year except to be with my husband, and to try and get this immigrations situation worked out, which has been a complete disaster from day one. I have to be honest and say that the moving around, and further from all of you has got me into a bit of a loneliness slum the past few weeks. I realize that until I am able to stay in one spot for a longer period than the Coast Guard has allowed me so far, it is extremely hard to make friends. I also reealize how much I desire to have people such as yourselves around me. I feel I am in dyer need of finding someone here that I my form (even to a small degree) a spiritual acountability/sisterhood with. Trusting in God with everything else, and seeing the results has brought me some incouragment on this as well. However I feel I need prayer on not letting myself get to discouraged, and to push myself to make friends where ever I can and not to just wait around for them to come to my doorstep, which is what I fear I do a lot of.

Aside from that and terribly missing my family I am perfectly happy. My husband is such a wonderful man, who loves me way more than I deserve and makes me feel gorgeous everyday. And I of course love him more than words can express, and I am so thankful that we have each other. Although I have been missing the closeness of your friendships, I have to also say that Joel has become my ultimate best friend in the world, from which I can hide nothing from and trust everything with.

Oh yes, and Port Angeles is beautiful. I love living among the mountains. They are incredible. It is so quaint and small townish here, it so reminds me of living in Huntsville. What great memories I am reminded of. I think I'll like it here...

3 Comments:

At 11:55 AM, Blogger steph said...

hope you continue to settle in.
i am thinking of you and joel through all these new changes that are going on!

 
At 11:23 AM, Blogger Jon said...

Chantel bell, you are a lucky one!! Huntsville with mountains!! That would be wonderful. I'm glad that you are settling in at Port Angeles, and that you are willing to stare the challenges of your new life in the face and stand up to them. You are a strong woman. I am proud of you. Keep in touch,

 
At 6:41 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Chantal,

I occassionally pop into your blog and read whats going on in your life.

In this blog, you mentioned how you were always able to plan what you were going to do, etc. I am the same way. I love to plan ahead and know what I am up to next. Unfortunately, that's not always the way it works out, and I'm trying to learn that.

I was reading in my devotions yesterday, from James 4:13-15:
13Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money."
14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
15Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that."

It is okay for us to make our plans & preparations, but what we have to remember is that we need to give God permission to revise our plans, because we know that ALL things (good or bad) work out FOR the good of us as God's children.

Just thought I would share that as it is something I am trying to think about.

Ciao.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home