Here are just a few of the milestones, and the lessons I've learned during the waiting period:
- A place to call home: We sold our house last July after only 9 days on the market. The buyers were friends of mine from the homeschooling community who stopped by one day after seeing it online, and made an offer almost immediately. I was thrilled, but then my joy quickly turned to worry. Where would we live in the meantime? Then God blessed us even further by providing a "temporary" home. What was meant to be just 2 or 3 months turned into a long-term arrangement. I can't believe that we are still in that same "temporary" home, and we'll move from here to Lyon in mid-July 2013, exactly one year after we sold our house. Lesson learned: God meets our needs! Do not worry then, saying, "What will we eat? or "What will we drink?" or "What will we wear for clothing?" For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your Heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. - Matthew 6:31-32
- The power of friends: The long process of raising support forced us to travel across the country. This opportunity to reconnect with family and friends blessed me tremendously! One ministry training event took us to Colorado Springs, the home of not just one, but two friends who had previously relocated to that city. Other trips took us back to our Texas roots, where I was able to spend time with friends and family we'd left behind nine years ago when we moved to the east coast. At training events in Minnesota and Colorado, my daughters made instant friends with young people who are now living abroad in places like Taiwan and the U.K. (Side note: the girls were NOT excited about attending the training events, but they quickly realized how fun they could be when they kept an open mind.) Now that our U.S. travel has thinned out, I'm in the process of saying goodbyes to local friends and family. These friends have been vital to my emotional health. Friends have stood by me, prayed for me, laughed and cried with me, and have helped me in countless ways. Lesson learned: Friendships are important! Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
- It's just stuff: When we sold our house, we got rid of about 90% of everything we owned. I'm not usually a material person, but it was really interesting to notice that certain things were painful to give away. Books I'd read to the girls when they were young were especially difficult to part with (I kept many of our favorites). Furniture was no problem to get rid of, though! Our furniture for the most part was very old and outdated, and I didn't seem to have any emotional ties to my nightstand or dining room table. In fact, we kept only four pieces of furniture, none of which we will take to Lyon: a grandfather clock handed down to my husband, a beautiful antique hutch, a Hoosier cabinet, and my old dresser drawers that I'd had when I was a child, that had been repainted for my daughter by an artistic friend. These will remain in my parents' home and be waiting for us whenever we move back to the U.S. Someone asked me recently if I missed anything that I'd sold or given away. I thought hard about it, and was happy to realize that I had no regrets! It's really nice to be traveling lighter. The only thing that has happened that was really painful didn't involve tangible things. We had a computer crash, and to our horror the backup device that we'd been faithfully using didn't save any of our data. Most of it could be re-created, but many years of pictures and videos were lost forever. Lesson learned: Memories are to be treasured over things. Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21
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