Miles and Smiles

Hello there friend… Oh, am I glad to see you!!

It’s been quite awhile I know… I have e-mails, texts and questions that I haven’t responded to properly yet and I started to feel guilty because I love the “senders,” but my days have been so full and I am purposing to spend less time on my phone throughout my day (it’s a work in progress…) so I haven’t gotten around to responding yet.

I want to be able give each thing, each person, my undivided attention. So, until I have a moment to answer those individually, I thought that I would use my time here today to briefly get all of you caught up on what the last few months have held…

Long, amazing, truly awe-some, clearly GOD orchestrated story short: we’re moving.

We’re moving.

…moving.

At this exact moment in fact.

The duration of this process from, the mere possibility of moving all the way to, we are currently driving to our new home, has been about a total ooooooof… three months.

On one hand, yes, I see how it can seem like a crazy short amount of time. While on the other, it has been like slow motion around here as GOD threw (and continues to throw) door after door… after door wide open, like only He can.

Hearing myself over the past month and a half I’ve noticed that I sound slightly like a broken record.

Example: Person: “What do you think about the move?”

Me: “I’m so excited!”

Aaaaaaand… repeat. I couldn’t really think of anything else to quickly and casually reply with.

This is 100% fact. I am, truly, so excited! When I heard of the possibility that we might move I was already ready. Practicing to trust fully in the LORD and the authority that He has placed in and over my life. I know that He will care and provide for me always.

So, I was (and am) ready.

Ready for a new adventure. To explore a state that I’ve yet to even visit. To see God’s greater plan and picture unfold into the next chapter and season in each of my family members lives. To be on this ride waiting for Him to show us just exactly what He’s doing… It’s so much bigger than us.

Or three four ginormous budget trucks…

But, what was really a process for me, was still being content even if we didn’t move. (A bit backwards maybe?) Not feeling “restless” or like something was incomplete.

When I was sick a couple of weeks ago I had about five or six days of “downtime.” While I was laying there is when I really realized… we’re. moving.

I’m leaving this house that I came home to my family in. These familiar walls, that Mama threw beautiful colors on, and floors… the loose board in the pantry and the tile in the kitchen that catches your foot because it’s higher than the rest. The stage that has hosted many parties, bands, vow renewals… and the old stage that we just got the littles to start calling the “booth.” The giant eleven foot window in the kitchen that frames the magnificent trees in the front yard that rain buckets of sap down on us in the summer…

But, you know what I’m not leaving? My home.

After not staying somewhere longer than two years since I was thirteen I had made a little “goal” that this, this was going to be it. This was “home.” But, I was wrong.

Home isn’t the structure in which you eat and sleep; but rather, the people in it. And this time around, God is moving my home with me. I think that is a major factor in the reason why I didn’t even question the idea of moving.

(Although, it is preeetty funny to me that He is moving me from this house to another in less than two years… you know what they say about making your own plans!)

Final thoughts. I just finished reading a couple of other blogger’s posts and they got me thinking. Today, I am just sitting in the bus. Driving across New Mexico. Half of the littles are sleeping, the other half are staring out of the windows or watching “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.” Michael is driving right along and Kasey is co-piloting. While Daddy, Sully, Sammy and a comical amount of animals are in the van right behind us. And I am sitting here writing to you.

It’s just another Wednesday really… but, in ten, five… (I’m sure) even one year from now, I’m going to look back and see how God was “behind the scenes” orchestrating something so much greater than I could ever think of or imagine… For His good.

…The entirety of our crazy, amazing, wonderful lives is found in single, ordinary, everyday measurements.

Thank you joining me today… I know that the much loved friends I, sadly, physically depart, I will continue to hold closely in my heart. I know that those who are meant to be a part of my life will continue to do so… friendship is not measured in timezones or miles, but in love and prayers, tears and smiles.

Do you like change?

How do you deal with change?

What big, or small, change are you facing?

Until next time; I pray your day, every day, is blessed.