Happy Relaunch Day!

What a month it has been! I now know why I put this off for forever! But I knew it was time–and when you know it’s time, and you are a head strong (doesn’t that sound better than stubborn?) woman, you enlist your smart hubby, your talented daughter-in-law, your niece, and you make some necessary purchases that help make life a little easier.

So I know a few of you might be wondering-“Why is the blog relaunch so important?” Besides the obvious out-of-date-style of my old blog, I wanted to make life easier for you, the reader and for myself. WordPress provides me with many more options and helps my site be compliant with regulations around the world–yes, that really is a thing. But those are not the main reasons I knew it was time to update–stick with me for a minute or 5 while I give a little background information, and then get to share the “Funnest News” that I’ve been sitting on for a little while.

In 2015 I was on a mission trip in Honduras. I was on a medical missions trip–which in it self is hysterical because I don’t have any medical background. But I knew I was supposed to be there, and I was a great washer/cleaner of used dental tools for the dentist. It was during this trip that the Lord began to show me the immediate need for orphan care. Many of you know that my husband and I have been involved in orphan care since 2002, while we were in process to bring Leighanne home from China. Over the years we have provided humanitarian aid, raised money for foundations to give grants for families adopting, co-founded a transition home for aging-out orphans in Central Asia for 10 years, worked as foster parents in the U. S. and took teams on mission trips to meet the needs of orphans. I’m giving you this history so that you can see how it wasn’t a hard jump for us to sell our stuff, establish a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, make additional connections in Honduras, move to Honduras, go to language school, establish a foster care home, and get our first babies. The Lord gave us such peace about this move–we just had to be obedient to His call on our life.

When the cancer diagnosis came in June of 2017, we had to make one of the most difficult decisions in our lives–stay in Honduras for treatment or move back to the states. Based on the limited information we knew about the diagnosis, we decided to move back to the U.S. so I could get treated at Mayo in Jacksonville, FL. Since then I have completed chemo treatments for Ovarian Cancer, had a debulking surgery, been declared in remission, had a colostomy reversal, been declared out of remission, and most recently no new growth was declared of the only nodule found in my body. While all of this was going on, Ben was hired at Rayonier Advanced Materials in Jesup, GA. So we have also since bought a home, and are settling into our community.

So now that you have a high-level glimpse of our lives since 2015, let me share with you the reason for the blog relaunch.

In July 2018 I had my colostomy reversal which has been a huge blessing and a curse all wrapped up into one. On the one hand it has saved Ben and myself A LOT of medical care for the colostomy site. But on the other hand, I have not healed back to pre-cancer normalcy. My stomach gives me fits on certain days, or parts of days. Apparently, I am told that it may take my body 1 to 2 years to become normal again. I am in the 8th month post-surgery. Thank goodness I am so much better than I was, but just to give you a “real” moment. I was unable to go anywhere Saturday or yesterday. My body just would not cooperate.

Now there is a purpose to me sharing. While I have been at home healing since July, I have been writing. In October and November I started doing research about writing devotionals. I felt the Lord leading me to write about events in our life and in November I submitted 2 devotionals to a publishing house. This past January I got an email informing me that they accepted one and they rejected the other. The devotional should be published in the Fall of 2020–yes, that’s the right date. I’m such a novice in this world–who knew that authors write devotionals almost 2 years ahead of publication? I will share the fun details when I get them. At this point I haven’t signed paperwork, so I don’t know anymore than you do. But isn’t that exciting news?

The biggest reason for the relaunch is my platform. I want the Lord to use this site and my words however He wants to. If he wants me to write or speak, I just want to be available to do the things He puts before me. After doing some research, I discovered that publishers want you to have a “presence” in social media. I’m not sure what exactly they are looking for in this presence, but my goal is to just share what the Lord leads me to share as faithfully as I can. Like my verse from today says my heart IS glad in Him, I WILL trust in His holy name and He can use this platform however He wants.

I told someone the other day that it was easier to move to Honduras than it was to write. I don’t know if it is because I’m a people-person at heart and writing involves me sharing my own personal thoughts while I am alone, but I’m telling you that this has been a challenge. Can I ask you to pray specifically about my writing? Pray that I will dedicate part of everyday to sit still and write. Believe it or not, cleaning sometimes sounds better to me than writing. I am praying that the Lord will give me a love for this process.

One of the hardest parts about the relaunch is that it feels like I’m having to promote myself. I never want to come across that way, but I do have to give out some of these details. My new web address is www.julieagee.com or www.godisup2something.com My old web address will no longer work because 9 years ago I didn’t know I would need to buy the domain, “God is up to Something.” Now a movie that is being made has this domain site. Who knew? You can reach me by visiting either of these addresses or you can subscribe by email up on the top right.

I want to take the time to thank those that did the “behind the scene” work.

First of all, I want to tell my husband that not only is he the person I most like to hang out with, but he is also the best person to work on a project with. If he doesn’t know how to do something, he will research it until he gets an answer. So for tackling WordPress and graphic design problems, and dealing with a woman who kept saying, “But I’d like it to look like this.” or “Do you think we could do this too? You have surely earned a big prize.

Tricia Agee did an outstanding job of making me look beautiful with her photos. She is a great listener and after we talked she knew exactly the kind of “feel” for the blog I was going after. She also was very patient with me–even had to demo how to pose. So if you are local to south Georgia and need a photographer look up Triciaann & Co. Photography on FaceBook.

While these pics are really me, I thought it might be fun to see what I look like today while writing. See below. Ha!

Also, my niece Laura Agee, took the lovely picture on my “contact” page. She has a great eye for details and I sure am thankful she allowed me to use her creativity.

My website theme is from “AngieMakes”. Her themes for WordPress are beautiful and affordable–which is a great combo. This theme is called, “Jasmine” and I fell in love with its feminine look and its simplicity. Special shout out to “AngieMakes” for her graphics and fonts also.

So “Happy Relaunch Day” to us! Hope you enjoy the new look as much as I do!