The Blessed Journey Into Our New Normal [SOWLE Journeys of Faith]

Journey Into Our New Normal [SOWLE Journeys of Faith] SOWLE RV

The Blessed Journey Into Our New Normal

[SOWLE Journeys of Faith]
Dec 28, 2018

Introduction to The Blessed Journey Into Our New Normal

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SOWLE Journeys of Faith

If you are reading this, I would personally like to say hello and welcome to the first article I have written myself for the SOWLE RV blog. My name is Mark Hardman.

I believe I would be better known as Angie’s husband or Aiden’s father to anyone who has been following us on this journey that Angie has been writing about. I want to share my thoughts and views on what I like to call the Journey into Our New Normal.

My Journey

Before I start with the journey that we have been on in the last twenty years, there are a couple of things you should know about me. This will help you to understand how and why we choose to go down the paths we journey down together.

I have been camping and going to the lake since I was one. My family loved camping and that was the only style of vacation we ever went on. For every family vacation, Hardman’s went on it was to the lake for camping.

The next piece of a puzzle of my life is that we were by no means poor, but we lived in a rural area. My days were spent outside in the woods playing and building. Not inside with video games or a computer.

My parents would not pay to have the things I broke repaired; however, they would provide me with the items to repair them myself. This is part of why I will try to attempt to repair or replace a lot of “stuff”. Because of everything I was repairing throughout Junior High and High School, my friends called me MacGyver.

My Journey to Her

The next and most important part of this story was almost twenty years ago. It was when I asked was one of the wealthier and handiest men I had known for his daughter’s hand in marriage. I figured he would do one of three things when I asked…  

1. Just say “absolutely no”. This I would have understood I was a bit of a mess then.

2. Not give me an answer and just have me taken out and killed. I believed this to be a real possibility at the time. HAHAHA!

3. Say “yes”.

SOWLE RV Our New Normal
Instead, he talked with me a while about what it means to provide for a family. He let me know that he expected me to provide his daughter with a life that she deserved. He told me I would need to make sure I made enough money to buy her whatever she needed. The other option was to make whatever she needed or learn to fix what broke. I had a good job at the time, but it wasn’t one that would allow us to buy brand-new of everything we needed or wanted. So, I made him a commitment that I would learn to make, fix, or adapt the things we needed to make a life together. I can’t say I have always done things correctly when I have tackled these projects. However, along the way, I have gained a lot of knowledge about the “do’s” and “don’ts” that go along with remodeling or redesigning something to make it your own.

The Normal Journey Everyone Expects

Around 4 years into our marriage, we found out we were going to be parents! This was extremely exciting and if I am being honest, overwhelming. We had been trying for a little while and thought we had it all figured out. We were on our way to paying off all our bills, both had steady jobs, and had bought a house.

Additionally, we thought we were doing everything the right way by being financially responsible and following what we understood as the “rules” to the “perfect” life. Although being responsible and trying to plan for the future is the right thing to do, it doesn’t mean it will be the future you perceive as your own when you’re planning for it.

Journey Into Our New Normal

SOWLE RV Our New Normal

“Normal”

Two weeks before our son was born, we were given a clinical diagnosis of his condition by the doctor. I won’t get into the details because we don’t focus on his condition but instead, we focus on our son as a person, but the news sounded very rough at the time. Throughout this 2-week timeframe the fear, “what ifs”, and “what are we going to do” ran through my mind. Looking back now after the conversation with the doctor, I realize I just tried to get back to “normal” living by going to work and just moving forward. As I stated earlier this lasted for two weeks until July 21, 2003.

SOWLE RV Our New Normal

Blessings

July 21, 2003. This was the day that changed everything I thought I knew about life, family or what being a parent can truly mean. Being a father to Aiden is the most important job I have. It is the most joyful thing I can imagine. Since Aiden was born my beautiful, caring and devoutly Christian wife, as well as myself, have always made decisions based on what was best for Aiden. To some that might sound self-serving, however, we have always thought it was the best way to keep our family happy and healthy.

SOWLE RV Our New Normal

“New Normal”

Throughout these last 15 years, we have faced a lot of trials but have never failed to love and care for each other at the end of the day and are blessed to have the life we have. Aiden is that blessing. I want to share with you a saying that we have learned to use as a motto in our house. It’s just “our new normal”. We say this because we have had a lot of challenges, difficulties, and new experiences. Every time we are faced with one of these situations, we adapt and overcome whatever we felt was an insurmountable obstacle and we say this is just “our new normal”.

In Conclusion to Journey Into Our New Normal [SOWLE Journeys of Faith]

In conclusion, within the SOWLE RV Blog, I will be providing content such as Auto Upkeep for Vehicles and Recreational Vehicles, Providing for a Family, Homeownership, and Men’s Health and Life. Angie and I will provide valuable information regarding RV Camping as this is our family’s favorite thing to do.

I hope in the future I can help you with some projects or provide information to make something you do a little easier.

We hope that you continue to follow us on our Journey into Our New Normal. We do believe it will be entertaining and contain a whole lot of RV Camping!

God Bless till next time.

 

 

Everybody Has a Story to Tell

Everyone has had that moment (or more) where they knew something that happened was destined to happen. The blessing that occurred at just the right moment (even if maybe it wasn’t exactly what you had been praying for). It was just supposed to be THIS WAY moment. It felt right. We love hearing peoples stories about those divine moments when something happened and you just knew it was supposed to. We would love to hear YOUR story! We plan to add a section on our website for YOUR stories! If you would like to share your story and be considered for having it added to our site, send us a message below and we will get in contact with you.

 

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Journey Into Our New Normal [SOWLE Journeys of Faith] SOWLE RV Our New Normal SOWLE RV Our New Normal Journey

 

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