A year ago, I had no idea 2015 would be such a life-changing year for Team Taylor. We were considering a mission trip to Guatemala and knew our son Ben would start kindergarten in August. Otherwise, the year was wide open.
Turns out, God had much planned for our 2015.
We ended up committing to that mission trip at the end of January. We knew God would use it to grow our faith, but we didn't know our daughter Cate would decide to be baptized because of it. My perspective has been totally shifted because of that one week in July my husband Greg, daughter, and I spent serving in Guatemala with a team from our hometown.
The spring was full of change and new life. We sold a rental house at the lake, not knowing we would buy another a couple of months later. Greg moved his main office in Murray to a bigger one and opened a second office in a nearby town. And we met the birth mom of our daughter, who was due in September.
We've had the desire to adopt a third time for years.
God surprised us with the timing. The week in May I turned 36 holds a sweet memory of the first time I talked to the woman who would give us our third child. The age gap I didn’t think I wanted between my second and third children has been perfect for us.
There were smaller but still important moments in our life: Ben had his tonsils and adenoids removed. (Have you ever tried to keep an active five-year-old boy from running for a couple weeks?) There were trips to Nashville, St. Louis, Louisville, and Buffalo.
And there were emotional, more relational changes: My best friend who had been a stay-at-home mom with me since our oldests were born went back to work full-time. My other dear friend and her family moved several hours away. Our sweet college friend who has been the one person outside our immediate circle of family and friends to babysit Cate and Ben graduated in December and moved the same weekend as my other friend.
In our extended families, my sister-in-law had her sixth child and my sister had twins to give her a family of five like mine.
It's been a year of transition and growth and adventure.
I had no idea this is what God would do with us in 2015, but I wouldn't change a thing.
And, you know, here at the beginning of 2016, I have no idea what this year will hold – and I’m not even going to try to make any guesses.
Isn't that the epitome of our faith? We know who has us and our lives in His hands but we don't always know the details of our coming days. It's an adventure with the one who hears our desires, manages to surprise us, and remains faithful.
How was your 2015? What are you looking forward to in 2016?
Kristin believes in seeking God as the author of every story. You’ll quickly learn her favorite story to tell is how God created her family through adoption after a hard season of infertility. God continues to surprise her – in the best kind of way – with all the ways her life is nothing like she expected. She lives in Murray, Kentucky, with her husband, Greg, and two kids – Cate and Ben. Read her #FaithStory HERE.