Chrisine

What is normal? Normal is defined as "conforming to the standard or the common type; usual; not abnormal; regular; natural." Our lives were normal until June 20, 2015 when God decided He needed JD for something bigger than normal. Our normal was listening as I thought the ceiling was going to cave in at any given moment because JD was always on the go upstairs. Normal was conversations that usually consisted of, "Mom I'm a teenage boy." Normal was dancing around the house followed by a hug and a kiss. Normal was Taco Bell bags, Poptarts, and Powerade bottles stuffed under Hannah's bed; even after telling him a million times that was unacceptable. Normal was "I know I've made mistakes, but you have never given up on me." Normal was Hannah and I watching Netflix, Snapchatting each other from my bed, looking at social media together and laughing at wisdom teeth removal videos. To change the word to add a "sparkle" to this post. A synonym for normal is typical. A typical day at our house consisted of David cleaning our cars, working in our yards, and loving each one of us wholeheartedly. To our family our lives were normal and we loved it! Our life was normal with JD here in his earthly body. Since his death nothing has been typical/normal. We have a new normal. Last night when Hannah returned from a short vacation with a friend's family we attempted to continue a typical night of Netflix. We are currently in Season 2 of Army Wives. At the end of the episode and after talking about JD some the song "It is Well with My Soul" began playing. Now so far in this series there has been nothing normal about a Christian song being played and especially one that touches our hearts as this one does. This song was sung at JD's service because it was the first one to come to my mind when David and I were told about his death. The song was written by Horatio Spafford after several tragic events happened in his life one being losing all four of his daughters after a ship they were traveling on sank at sea. My mind, as it as been these past 2 weeks, immediately turned to our NEW NORMAL. Our new normal is praising God for 18 years with an amazing boy who we named Joshua David and called him Josh David until he came home from second grade and told me that he was tired of writing 9 letters every time he had to write his name on his paper at school. That spitfire changed his own name! He then became JD. Our new normal is laughing at all the things that used to make us just shake our heads in disbelief. Our new normal is knowing "It is Well with My/Our Soul(s)". Romans 12:2 says "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." This verse reassures me that while we loved and cherished our normal; we are just passing through this world, and God has our new normal in His control just as He did our "normal". We miss our JD and our old normal, but we know that he is waiting for us at Home with our Savior. And it is by God's sacrifice and "Amazing Grace" that we will see him again. "What a Day that will be when my Jesus I shall see, when I look upon His face the One who saved me by His grace". Until then you are never away from us one second, J.d. Paul. We love you!