Gratitude

This morning, I swept the floor of my old garage and put my old keys in the drawer next to the old stove.  Painters were touching up the kitchen.  Legos that once were lost had been found.  Loving, tiny fingerprints have been covered.  The boys bathroom is clean.  There is no laundry next to the washer.  I finally took down the Christmas lights over the front porch.  My voice echoed as I called ‘Vaya con Dios’ to the guys prepping the gutters for Hurricane Irene.

God was very kind to my family during the 2 years we lived there.  We went deeper in friendship with our neighbors.  We were close to Restoration.  My kids loved their school.  We had new member dinners (once and then too many folks!) and outreach meetings and servant team meetings.  I worked on over a hundred sermons in the little study.  We had so many significant conversations with friends and loved ones around the kitchen table.  And we added a kid.  Wonderful home.  Great memories.

I am over-filled with a sense of deep gratitude.

This week we moved into our new place.  And so many people got us through it:  our kids went to a different family each day (who fed them lunch and dinner!!); eleven different people came for hours at a time to load boxes and furniture and stuff at one end, then carry it up the hill and steps into our new place; people made us dinner; my neighbor gave us their driveway for the last 2 months(!).  We have had so much help.

One of the things that made me proud was this unspoken assumption from my contractor that ‘we have friends in the church, the church will help, you’ll be fine because of your community…’  I love that the church has that reputation and I am so thankful to be a part of such a loving, generous community.

Thank you for your patience as my family has gone through this transition.  Thanks for your excitement and questions.  We are officially in to our new place.  Now if I can just remember which box I put my collars in…

Hurricane Report

In case you are wondering…  we will have church no matter what tomorrow. But be prepared to be flexible!!  If power goes out, things will feel a little muggy.  We will keep the front page of the website updated with anything you need to know!