Ten things I didn't expect 10 years later

You know those cliche "Where do you see yourself in 10 years" writing assignments that English teachers make you write? (Yeah....I made my students do this in class the other day. Way to perpetuate the cliche, right?)

Well, I have been thinking a lot about "10 years later" lately because it has been ten years since I left home to move across the country to go to college. Ten years ago I was was a freshman at Liberty University. And oh, how my life has changed in ten years!! There are so many ways I have grown up, so many ways that my life has deepened, broadened. And there are so many things I didn't expect about my life to be like ten years later. 

This is me, a little college student about 10 years ago.

So, here are 10 things I didn't expect to experience...but I am so glad I did. And still am. 

I didn't expect....

10. To still be at Liberty University 10 years later--undergrad, grad school, and now faculty. We even got married in the Prayer Chapel on campus. Yep. I am an inbred now. No matter where I go from here, Liberty will forever be "home" to me. 

9. To get my Masters Degree. This may be a surprise to some people because now, I love everything academic but there was a time in my life that I thought I would just skip college all together. Crazy, huh?

Graduation Day: MA in English

8. To have twins. Biggest surprise OF MY LIFE. 

7. To have all boys. Yeah, I didn't expect this either. The boy-creature continues to surprise me. They are such a wild mess of energy, noise, and affection! 

Love kissing those sticky cheeks and fuzzy heads!

6. For motherhood to be so challenging. I respect and admire my mother so much more since becoming a mother. 

5. To use my creative writing in such a radical way to serve God. I always wanted to be a writer. Right now I am working on a team project as a creative writer to produce three graphic novels to help bring awareness, education and prevention to Human Trafficking in the USA. I have been stretched and deepened in ways that I could never have imagined. And this is just the beginning. 

4. To meet a man that would so transform my life for the better. Aaron, you have helped shape me into the person I am today. I would not be who I am today if I had not met you. 

In the 'rot at LU, our first semester dating (10 years ago). Yeah, we were babies. 

It's been 7.5 years since this day; I am still saying "I do" every day. 

3. To be so comfortable in my own skin. When I left home 10 years ago, I didn't know who I was yet... but I was ready to find out. I am really happy with the person I have become and am becoming. 

2. For my faith to be so transformed. Ten years ago, I pretty much thought "I knew it all" as a Christian. Now, each day I feel like am back at square one in following Christ, the square that says "Love God, Love people, that's it." So humbling. 

1. To be so blessed. I have been deeply, truly blessed in the most non-cliche way. Ten years later, the Lord has blessed me.

Our family: Micah and Benji, 5 years old. Silas 10 months. Me? 29 years old. 

What about you? When you look back 10 years, are your surprised at where life and the Lord has taken you? 

Where do you see yourself ten years from TODAY?