Begin again.

I am so thankful that I serve a God of second chances; a God who makes all things new.

As a very close friend of mine has stated before, "God is so previous."

That He is.

The kids and I packed our bags and headed down to spend the week in Yemassee back in January of this year. It was during one of Ellie Kate's school breaks, my previous marriage was over and I wanted some family time.
We got settled in at my parents.
My mom and I caught up with small talk while the kids began playing.
My dad walked in not long after.

He was still dressed in his camouflage get-up from hunting. I think I laughed a little and shook my head. (Southern men are like kids when it comes to hunting and fishing- At least in the small neck of the woods where I grew up.)  He grinned a silly grin back at me, emptied his pockets and handed me a buckeye.  He found it years ago while hunting on one of the local plantations and stumbled across it while going through his hunting gear that morning.

He told me the story behind the buckeye. Buckeye's have been carried around as good luck charms since colonial times. It got it's name from the Native Americans because they resembled the eye of a deer. (We obviously don't believe in "luck" since we are Christians, but the story behind it is pretty neat.)
"Cool. Can I have it?", I asked. He didn't mind.
The kids and I enjoyed the rest of our stay before we headed back to Florence. We were back home just in time for school to start back up.

I hadn't thought too much more about that buckeye until a few weeks ago.

Ryan's parents came down from Ohio for the week of Thanksgiving. I always enjoy every minute with them! It's easy to see why Ryan is such a great guy. 

They were also able to stop in Yemassee to meet my parents on their way back up from visiting family in Hilton Head and Bluffton for the holiday.
We were hanging out chatting in my parents living room laughing about all kinds of things, including the fact that Ryan and I are both only children. We also thought it was kinda cool that we both spent our childhood summer's vacationing in Hilton head and probably crossed path's at some point but would never have known.
Then somehow we got on the subject of Ryan's Alma Mater.
(Ryan graduated from Ohio State University which makes him an Ohio State Buckeye.)
That's when I thought about that cold winter day my dad handed me the buckeye. I reminded my dad and shared the story with them about that day. We all couldn't help but laugh about it. Then, Ryan's dad joked about how we had a big buckeye now...which made us laugh a little harder.
I couldn't help but think this was no coincidence, and that God in all his previous and good-humored ways knew we would all be sitting in my parents living room laughing about that stinkin' buckeye story almost a year later.

As for this big Buckeye, I love this man with all of my heart.

I admire him for so many reasons:

He's a leader. He's responsible, caring and fun-loving. He's a good dad to his daughter and he treats my children the same way.
He doesn't compete with me. Instead, he is constantly encouraging me. He encourages me to write, compliments my creativity, and even allows me to hang my creepy art on his walls.

And to top it off, I get to be myself with him. I get to be the open-book version- my darkest parts revealed, deep, belly-laughing, jovial, feisty, emotions fully exposed, raw, un-edited self, because he's not just my boyfriend; he is my BEST friend.

God has given me and my kids, as well as the rest of my family such a huge gift in Ryan.

In all His goodness and infinite wisdom, long before we could see it, God began something new for us.