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Happy Go Stuckey

Tethering Grace & Togetherness

Nine Months.

July 25, 2011 by HappyGoStuckey 6 Comments

    It was NINE months ago this week that we packed up this truck and moved to Georgia. It just does not seem like it’s been that long until I look at how much Lucy has changed. Lance and I realized we have been here for over 1/3 of Lucy’s life. Speaking of Lucy, Lance and I would both agree that of the three of us, she is the only member of our family that has the right perspective. More on that in a moment.

     For all that we went through getting to this stage of moving, getting a job, settling down, I have to be  honest and say that it’s been H-A-R-D to adjust. Really. Downright difficult many days. I cringe even as I write this because I know so many of you reading it are the ones who faithfully prayed with us and encouraged us as we waited for God to open a door and move us. And then in His perfect timing He did, and here we are. And we have never doubted that HE moved us and we are in HIS will to be here. But in our own human weakness, we have struggled with making it Home. Sure, we’ve bought a home and made it our own–and we love it, but if we’re being honest,(and apparently I am) it’s not easy to settle.

    You know how people always say that the place where you start your life will always hold a “special place” in your heart? Well, for us, that is doubly true. For me Wake Forest was not only the first place I lived outside of my parents roof but also the place I formed many friendships, not to mention the place I became a girlfriend, a fiancee, a best friend, a wife, and a mother once I met Lance. Yes, I guess you could say it has a special place in my heart. Most days, as I try to give this new city my all in energy and heart, that “special place in my heart” becomes a huge lump in my throat. But we’re trying. And more importantly, we are TRUSTING. God has blessed us so here and we are helping each other focus on those blessings and the knowledge that He has a plan for us here. And far be it from us to stand in the way.

   Lucy, on the other hand has had it down pat from day one. She never questioned us when we packed up her toys & moved them several states away to a quaint little townhouse in Georgia… and then again four months later when we moved her and all her stuff to a house down the road. And from the day after we moved in, when we pull up in the driveway, she says “HOME!! We’re HOME!!!” Then a few months later, when we had the house painted, she began saying “BLUE HOME!! We’re HOME!!” Amazing how she accepts everything with the joy and faith of a child and doesn’t say, “Umm.. are you SURE we live here now? Mom?? Dad?? Because, this sure doesn’t feel familiar.”

Huh. My Two year old GETS it. Better than I do.

Oh, that I would trust my Heavenly Father the way she skips happily along, trusting us. Completely secure. Completely at peace. Completely LOVING today. I hope I will be just like her when I grow up.

And now, for those of you who have stuck with me and read this far, a little smile for you, because you’ve earned it. 

Our Disney Trip Shutterfly Book
A reflection on a Thursday

Comments

  1. Ronnica says

    July 25, 2011 at 5:35 pm

    What we can learn from children…

    Reply
  2. Tara says

    July 25, 2011 at 6:23 pm

    Love this post, Cindy! We do miss you here but pray that God will continue to put a sense of home in your heart for that area!!!

    Reply
  3. a girl and her love says

    July 25, 2011 at 7:33 pm

    i loved this post! And i can definitely learn a lesson from Lu right now… I know where you're at and I'm there with you. Love you!

    Reply
  4. Linda says

    July 26, 2011 at 1:47 am

    Beautifully expressed Cynthia, and heartfelt…as always. Thank you for being honest before your friends, that we might pray that you will feel at home where God has placed you. How sweet to see that the faith of a child can be such a picture of trust. I know it is hard…I felt the same way a whole year after we moved from Orlando (where we went to college, met, were married and had our first jobs)to Boca Raton. Over time, after finding an amazing church, everything slowly began to change and it became home…the place where our faith and family grew. I'm praying that for you! Much love is being sent your way…

    Reply
  5. Caitlin L. says

    July 27, 2011 at 3:19 pm

    That was beautiful. Thank you for sharing your heart, Cindy. And Lucy sounds like an amazing little kid. I cannot wait to meet her!

    Reply
  6. Derek and Amanda says

    July 28, 2011 at 3:44 pm

    What a sweet and honest post Cindy! I will pray for you and Lance and that you will have a peace that you are at “home”. It sure is amazing what you can learn from a child. And they have no idea!

    Reply

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Hey There!

I'm Cynthia and I'm so glad you're here. I am an introvert with an extrovert's love of gathering people together. I love good books and capturing moments. Whether you visit me here or on my own front porch, I'll be the one holding the Iced Coffee for us both.

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Joy is the courage of people who don’t have all Joy is the courage of people who don’t have all the answers, yet.

While you sit in a season of waiting,
the calendar can often be a cruel companion, reminding you that days go by, weeks, months— with what feels like very little change in the right direction.

Perhaps you can easily assent to: 
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

but you strain to see just how it will be when: “...a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” (Proverbs 13:12)

Wherever you and I are today— whether we wander, wait, stand firmly planted, or some pressed together combination of all three — we can take heart.

We are not alone.
And this will not be wasted.
What seems to be an unending blank space, an indefinite pause, is a space for new things.

Long before all is made right, and whether or not it all is tied up neatly with a perfectly crafted bow— we can know this:

We do not have to know the outcome to be faithful today.

✨Joy is not disregard for reality as much as it is obstinacy against despair.✨
Hi 👋🏻 I’m Cynthia and I’m a bit weary. T Hi 👋🏻 I’m Cynthia and I’m a bit weary. There. I said it. These days I’m gravitating to the true & the beautiful as rest for my weary self... and I wonder if you are too.

So much so, that I’m starting a new little offering, it’s called “The Feast: Wonder for the Weary” and the first issue goes out this weekend. It’s a bit more personal (okay this first one is WAY more personal. 🤭) It will be a little bit of everything, all with the goal of offering REST to both the feasters & foragers alike. If you’re already a subscriber— no need to do anything, if not— click through my bio to “keep in touch” and join the feast.✨
We are a people of both lament and praise. We hol We are a people of both lament and praise.

We hold questions without answers— yet we hold them in hands already full of good things.

We hold our daily bread, our daily gifts, and we hold the daily closeness of the God Who Sees.

The God who is no stranger to our lament, and Who Is the reason for our every hope.
He does not grow weary of our asking. Of our need to be told again, He will. 

You friend, are not invisible.
You are seen and cared for by the God who does all things well. (Even when they feel anything but.)
Married love ambition: making the kids roll their Married love ambition: making the kids roll their eyes at our “gushy-ness” as often as possible. 

President & CEO of the Lance Stuckey Fan Club— in every season, but especially on days like today.
Rainy day Mocha date, courtesy of our own toasty k Rainy day Mocha date, courtesy of our own toasty kitchen.😍🌧📚

On this chilly Saturday, we spent entirely too long browsing for books at our library and then all came home to a fire, mochas, and cocoa, respectively. Of all the things we do not know at this very moment, we know the gifts abound, and are worth counting.

PS, if you haven’t spread whipped cream on a foil-lined baking sheet to freeze, and then cut out cute shapes with cookie cutters to top your coffee or hot cocoa, may I suggest you get thee on that at once.
“If God sends us on strong paths, we are provide “If God sends us on strong paths, we are provided strong shoes.” — Corrie Ten Boom

✨File under, things to save in a fire.✨

The prayer journal pictured here contains six months of the hard & the sweet.
Six months of prayers asked & answered for ourselves and for others.
Six months of seeing through prayer, not how it changed our circumstances necessarily but how it changed us.

I always appreciate a record like this— being able to clearly see the paths we are led down, rocky though they may be? Priceless.

The ways God has come near us & drawn us to Himself again and again are written on these pages and I’ll treasure it forever.

Also pictured: Psalms Illuminated Scripture Journal. Highly recommend. Thank you always, @allifarnell
“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it th “The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

While scrolling through my photos today, my heart was heavy to realize how far back “before” was.

Before masks and distancing, before loss, before other, more personal bits of hard. Multitudinous change, neither all bad nor all good.

With our free time, we’ve introduced our girls to Tolkien, Bilbo, Frodo, and especially Samwise the Brave. They are officially hooked and we are delighted to watch them discover another world where evil doesn’t win, and the courage of the small matters much. {they close their eyes at the Orcs and we haven’t had a nightmare yet!}🤞🏻😂😬
I’m leaning increasingly more into the analog th I’m leaning increasingly more into the analog these days.

It started with the Sourdough and a dozen different kinds of jam last year.
I suddenly find great calm in activities that stand in direction opposition to hurry, the textbook definition of ✨work in progress.✨ And really, if you could see the other side of this piece, you would believe me. 🙃

Thank you to @thebarmyfox for making embroidery so accessible!
@thenester says, “It doesn’t have to be perfec @thenester says, “It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful,” and I believe that the weeknight meal equivalent is, “Just because it’s easy— doesn’t make it a second-tier supper!”

Thank you, Spaghetti with Meat sauce for being both a ministry to mom AND a crowd pleaser. Especially on a dreary January-ish day. It is ✨quite alright✨ to make something we’ve made a million times just because we know it makes the people happy.🍝
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