Only 1 Day Away!!!!!!!!

Almost a year to the day that God revealed His plan for Donn and I to move to NY to begin C1, we will be holding our first major event and unveiling the new storefronts!!

I can hardly believe it is here and just wish that all of you could be here to see it! I especially wish that my amazing friends from Charlotte could be a part of this amazing day because you have all been such a catalyst for Donn and I having the courage to step out in this plan.

The signs are around town, the newspaper ads have run and I'm starting to hear people talk about this "new C1 ministry" that is "giving away over 80 backpacks!" (True story: I heard that twice today)!

Please cover this event and the people who come in your prayers! I will be sure to take lots of pictures and get them posted as soon as I can! Find me or Change of 1 on facebook and you can get updates there as well!

I truly believe that this day would not have happened if we hadn't had so many people "pulling for us" over these past 12 months. You all know who you are and I hope you also know how much we love you

Ahhh!!!!!!!!

My good friend at work just reminded me that I hadn't blogged yet today!

AHHH!! Now I've got little spies who are keeping me on task in my quest to blog regularly!!

Stupid spies!!!

And so, this is what you get when it's 6 minutes before I leave work for the weekend and the internet is still not hooked up at my home.

You get me...talking about how I made it one week, and even though today's blog is pretty much lame, at least I blogged!!

Keep in mind, yesterday was a deep blog. Truthfully, yesterday was deep enough for a whole month for me so don't judge and just celebrate with me! This could be the first full week I have blogged since last December!!!!!!!!

I did it! I did it!!!!

And so I'm off to an exciting long-weekend of continued storefront renovations and getting ready for opening day (which is just 5 days away)!! Ya-hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't wait to show you pictures next week of the C1 storefront completed!!!! Have a great weekend!!

C1 Update...

Not too much extra time today (while I'm scarfing down some food) but I wanted to share a few pictures with you. The top picture is of one of the sides of the C1 Storefronts on the day we began leasing it. The bottom picture is the same side as of today.

God is moving! Things are coming together and hopefully lives will be changed! Just 6 more days until our great Back To School Bash and the grand opening of C1!! More pictures to come as the transformation continues! Let's pray this transformation happens in lives too and not just in this building!

One Year Later...

Can you believe it's been a year since God called Donn and I to leave NC to begin C1 in NY!!

I can hardly believe it's been that long and yet here we sit now (in temperatures that are dropping) and just one week away from our grand opening event!

Here are some things I've learned over the past year:

1) Surrender is crucial. Before God even gave us this calling, He was preparing our hearts by teaching us to surrender. I'll never forget the day I sat on my back patio in NC and ended up in tears as I felt God reminding me that every part of my life needed to be surrendered to Him. "Lord, I surrender our home, I surrender our family, I surrender my life to You..." Those were some of the hardest words I have ever uttered and yet they threw open the gates for God to begin revealing His plan in our life!

2) Having deep faith on one day does not mean you will have deep faith the next day. This faith journey has been such a rollercoaster! Some days I look at our bank account or our trials and they barely bother me because I know that God is in control of them. Then, inevitably, I wake up the next day in a sweat wondering how we're going to make ends meet! I used to feel guilty about this until I realized that this is actually a great way for God to keep me on my toes in our faith journey together. Faith is a day by day commitment (sometimes a minute by minute commitment)!

3) My ways are not His ways....uggh....shoot me dead now...This is a tough one for me! My life has changed in just about every way this past year. My friendships have changed, my home has changed, my career has changed, my family-life has changed, my hips have changed (oops...that's another blog). The point is...everything is different! As a general rule of thumb, I'm thrilled with knowing that God has placed a calling on our life and we're pursuing it, but specifically, there are a few things I would have personally done differently. I miss my days in ministry settings, I miss my time to write, I miss (most of all) my children. Sometimes life throws us curve balls and all we can do is try to play the game well. I've never been much of an athlete, but I'm trying to do my best now. It may not be a "game" I would have chosen but I trust that God has the big picture in mind and knows what His plan is for me.

4) Don't lose sight of who you are. This one has been interesting for me. Any of you who know me, know that I'm pretty transparent and wear my heart on my sleeve. Just a few years ago, I wrote a book about being honest and confident in who you are....these past few months have been a definite exercise in my own confidence! Never before have Donn and I felt so challenged, so burdened, so responsible or so "watched" as we have since beginning C1. At times I find myself over-analyzing my actions. I have come to realize that it's a wonderful thing to recognize the responsibility that we have, but it's a problem if we let that responsibility change who we really are inside. Walking through a rebirth of my own Godly confidence has been one of the greatest blessings of this journey.

5) God is waiting to blow our socks off! Just when you think you'll never sell a house...He'll sell it...just when you think you'll never get a job, He'll provide one...just when you think you'll never have deep friendships again, He'll bring them...just when you think no one is showing up to help unload the moving van, people will come out of the woodwork...just when you think you'll never be in your own home again...He'll put the perfect house in your path...

...just when you think you can never do it, He'll remind you that it's Him who was doing it all along!

One year later...what a great year it's been!

Admit it!!!!!!!

Okay, admit it...how many of you looked at the clock and saw that it was already 2:30 and thought to yourself, "Nope...Cyndie's not gonna write today!"

Come on!! Be honest! I know my Mom thought that...she actually called to tell me that I hadn't written yet today (just in case I hadn't noticed)!

Alas, here I am....day 2 of the challenge and I'm staying true to my word despite the fact that I'm actually 3 paragraphs in and still have no idea what I'm going to write about!

I know you're all on the edge of your seat wondering where in the world this compelling drama will go!

Sorry to disappoint but this could actually be one of those times when you will walk away dumber just by reading whatever nonsense comes out of my brain!

And yet, still you're reading on!! Wow, you 4 are committed!! :)

So, here I sit....at my desk in my cozy little office (where I should be working - shh...) with my heater at my feet (because, yes, this is the North) and i'm typing away wondering what in the world I could impart upon all 3 of you reading this. (you see, the 4th person just dropped out back there when I began discussing my heater).

And so, here goes...

Slight pause for dramatic effect....

Nope.

Nothing.

Man, have these last 6 months of working full-time seriously made me brain damaged!? I swear, I used to spend 24 hours a day with a 2 year old and I had deep thoughts...now I spend my hours with a bunch of adults and my brain is crippled?

Wait - is there a deep thought in there???

Nope, it's gone.

Mental note: No more blogging at 2:30 in the afternoon...I'll stick to early mornings.

But remember - at least I blogged!! MOM!

Where's my coffee?!

A New Challenge....

Okay, I'm ashamed...I can't even begin to look at the last date I posted something. It's truly appalling and I can give you a million and 3 reasons why I have become a blog reject, but I'll spare you the boredom.

Needless to say, I'm tired of not taking the time to blog. I often think about how stupid it is that I even miss the blogging...I mean really, do all 17 of you out there actually care a bit about the dumb comments I made in grocery store line or the tricky way in which I know it's time to diet (stories for another day, I suppose)? The point is, I highly doubt that any of my blogs alter anyone's course in a significant way - but I've realized something pretty big.

I miss it.

I have so many amazing and incredible and difficult things going on in my life since our new adventure began and I miss having a way for myself to sort through all of it!

And so, I've made a declaration with myself (good luck). This week I will blog each day. Just like old days.

I can't guarantee that any of the words will come out forming any actual sentences, but I can guarantee that I will do it!

Game on!! Here we go!! Get ready for your life to absolutely be altered in NO WAY... but who knows, maybe we'll laugh a little as we go! :)

Ever have one of those days...

When you're heading up to bed, but you can't quite make it! :)

The Reality...

Sometimes there's just nothing left to do but admit the reality.

Sometimes the reality is simple.

Sometimes you can know for certain that you are living God's will, but you can long with deep sadness for days gone by.

Sometimes you just ache...

Sometimes you miss your deep friendships that were closer than you ever knew friends could be...The friends who knew exactly what you were like and loved you anyway.

Sometimes you miss the life of being the one who leads Bible studies instead of the one who leads Fundraising meetings.

Sometimes you miss the days of waking up and having time to get your own kids dressed for the day.

Sometimes you just miss yourself.

You...the way you used to be...The writer who had time to write. The leader who had time to study.

Lord, I pray for a thankful heart and for the strength to remember that, even on bad days, You are the reason we are here and You are worth it.

I pray for glimpses of You and reminders of who I am in You.

I pray for more of You.

Welcome Home!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, it's been a journey (to say the least) but we believe that our journey is about to finally come to a close to some degree.

About a month ago, we were blessed beyond belief to get a message from my college roommate's little sister asking for more information on our house in NC. She and her husband had just found out that they were going to be moving to Charlotte to accept a position at Charlotte Christian School.

We tried not to get too excited at the possibility of them actually purchasing our home, but in our hearts we knew that it was just like God to take someone from our days back in Boston and relocate them directly to Matthews. Within days they had decided that our house was the one for them and we are now set to close on our NC home in just a few weeks.

In the meantime, we again picked up our search of homes in NY. If you recall, our Matthews home has actually been under contract 2 other times throughout these past months, so looking at homes in NY has been quite a roller coaster. What began as such an exciting adventure, got to be something that we dreaded. All in all, I think we have looked at about 30 something homes. That's only about 25 more than we ever had to look at in Charlotte!

When we looked at this home, there was just something about it from the minute we walked in. It's not the biggest home and it's definitely in need of updating, but we feel at home there and we know we can make it ours. At one point I sat in the window seat that overlooks the yard (from what will be Elle's room) and I felt like I could picture her standing on the front lawn taking prom pictures! I think it was at that moment that I knew we were finally home.

And so, we are now in the process of packing up the Charlotte home (which the boys are doing right now) and we will be closing on our new NY home by mid August!

We're elated and very grateful to God. The journey of these past 6 months has been a very unique one. We've had ups and downs in many ways but more than anything we've had our faith tested and our faith strengthened. God has taken care of us through it all and it is clear that He had everything worked out all along!

I smell like a monkey...

and I look like one too! :)

Happy Birthday to me! :)

It's the 4th Annual 29th Birthday Celebration Baby!