Moving On

Soon after the snow days, our family packed up and left this little house. This is the last photo that I took of the place that our family has spent most of the last 2 years of our lives together. It is a place that held many memories of many kinds. While we had some good times here, we also shared some sorrowful times, some times of regrouping and catching our breath, some times of figuring out where ground zero was... it was a place to begin rebuilding. We moved into this house in a blur of emotion and sadness and chaos. For me, this was the place that I was taken to be stripped of much that I held dear. It was a place to discover what is truly important and a place to learn about contentment in the midst of a storm. It was a place where, I believe, God placed me so that I could learn more about who He is. What this life is really about. How I fit into the grand scheme of things. And how He is the grand scheme of things. I didn't find all of life's answers while I lived here, by any means... in fact, I was taught that I will certainly never find all "the answers" in this lifetime, but I found some theology to rely on when life is full of unanswerable questions. This house was a place where our faith was tested and our resolve to be a family that loves each other and honors God, no matter what, was reaffirmed. It was a place where horrible news was delivered and a place that we clung together as a family as we processed it. We moved into this house with 2 kids and a baby that was still in diapers and was still sleeping in a crib, and we moved out with 3 big kids that can read and play video games and tell jokes and ride bikes. We celebrated 10 of our birthdays here. We hosted holidays with more people than could logically fit into the space that we had here. Our baby began his relationship with Jesus in this house. The children were homeschool here. Corey maintained a business here. My respect and love for him as he fought hard for our family grew here. And many spiritual lessons were learned for all of us here. So, all in all, it was a place that contained some challenging times and some good memories. A place with ups and downs... a place like life. This snow day was one of those good times... kind of a farewell and a reminder that there were some beautiful things that happened in this house.