Reflections on Moving, Part II

Monday, December 21st, 2009

What a journey this has been! I have so much I want to write about this experience, but truly, going to bed is a high priority right now. Just wanted to give you some of the nitty gritty on our adventures since many of you want to know and I can only make so many phone calls to tell the tale.

We have arrived safely and are all moved in. We had about 10 extra people helping us unload (they managed to get all our stuff off the truck and into the house in one hour!) and we’ve got a super head-start on our unpacking. We’re now enjoying our kitchen, living room, office, and dining room completely unpacked and free of boxes. That amazes me! In the past few days, we’ve continued to receive the generosity of many friends and family members…gift cards, meals, groceries, gifts, help, encouragement…I’ve been truly overwhelmed and blessed by more people than I can mention in this little entry. I’ve never felt so thoroughly cared-for by my two communities–Los Angeles and Seattle. As we traveled north, it was like giant hands from Los Angeles stretched north to meet giant hands reaching south from Seattle and we made this tiny little hop over the space between them…Like God prepared the way for us at every step, and made sure our every need was met and then some. Our travel also happened between two cold spells and we encountered exactly zero snow/ice on the road. In December. In the Pacific Northwest. This does not happen unless it is an act of God! And I believe it was!

I’ll write more about our move in and the house soon, but I wanted ya’ll to know we’re safe and sound and so excited for this new space and season of our lives. It truly feels like home.

Reflections on Moving, Part I

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

I need to take just a moment and let my heart hang out there. Tomorrow morning I will wake up to the last sunrise in what has been my Los Angeles home for three and a half years. I moved here with a one month old baby girl, and I will leave here with a three-year-old chatterbox, a nearly two-year-old huggabear, and a newborn that doesn’t seem so nearly newborn anymore even though he’s only two months old…but that’s not all I’ll leave with. In about thirty hours, I’ll depart Los Angeles with my crazy crew of kids and a truck full of our belongings as well as an ocean’s worth of memories, blessings, lessons, and laughs that will most definitely never leave my heart. This season has hands-down been the most joyful of my life.

I’m compelled to shout my gratitude aloud…over and over…To God: for helping me find my voice in the quietness and solitude of motherhood, for fulfilling the promise to heal the brokenness of my heart and restore me, for growing me in more areas than was comfortable, and for giving me clear vision about His very best for my life. God–In this next season, I humbly request more of Your best in my life. You and I both know some of the areas I’m hungry for growth in. I’m also thankful to my beloved husband. Babe, we’ve come through so much together. I’m so proud of the man you’re becoming, and I am so confident that the next leg of our journey together will be even more wonderful. I pray for you wisdom, health, hunger for more of God’s work in our home, and abounding laughter. I’m sure the kids will help with that in our great big house! We might have to laugh louder and longer to fill up all the rooms, but with all the growing that is happening, that shouldn’t be too hard .

I have to also just say–We have been blessed by the community around us in ways I never expected. You know..the ways that leave you scratching your head, but also wiping away a tear (or many) because of how insightful, generous, and overwhelming your support has been. I wish I had an adequate way to say thank you, but I’m pretty sure its not possible to communicate the magnitude of our gratitude. Ha. That was a cute rhyme. Really though, our gratitude is through the roof of a skyscraper. This has been one of the most challenging transitions of our many, and we have felt more encouragement, support, and love than I could have imagined. So thank you. Again. And again.

I can’t start in to all the memories I have of this little place in the world, or I might be traveling to Seattle on a river of my own tears, but I did want to say this one thing. Los Angeles and all the people I’ve met in it have been terrific. Super terrific. I’m full to the brim, friends. With love, I say farewell.