Big Changes

The last several years have continued pretty similarly and pretty routine, and then all of a sudden in the last year or two the pattern of our life has shifted--in mostly good ways--and we've opened the chapter on a very different...(dare I say?) new adventure.

We bought a camper. We enrolled the kids in brick-and-mortar schools. I rediscovered the joy of making art (and have even sold a piece or two!). Covid happened. A new president has been elected. Josh began shifting his focus to stock options after 15 years of property management. I signed up for a ballet class. We changed churches.

Mid-life crisis? No.

New opportunities to trust the Lord? Absolutely.

I feel like each of those listed items needs a whole post attached to it detailing the Lord's hand in it, the thinking behind it, and responses to it. All in good time. I think I've already written about our camper, our decision to put the kids into school, art, and even Covid. I'm not planning to elaborate on the new president because I'm no political whiz bang. And also because Thumper says "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." (Remember the rabbit from Bambi?) Not that I live life according to Thumper, but anyway... where was I? I also would like to steer clear of talking about stock options in part because I don't understand them (wow is that concept intangible to me!), and in part because I may lose the 2 readers I still have. *wink*

The ballet class. I'm not sure what was stopping me or why it never occurred to me before to take classes again just for fun, for an outlet. Because there was something freeing and beautiful in the practiced control of body and motion set to exquisite music. When I was 16, at least, there was something freeing. Now that I am forty (F.O.R.T.Y) the mind still works decently, but the body revolts. Every pointed toe threatens to send me whimpering into the corner with foot cramps. Every raised leg and wobbly attempt at balance jeers at me in the mirror. I jump 6 inched high and come down like an elephant. Nevertheless, each Tuesday evening you can find me and 11 other middle-aged ballet lovers pointing our toes and trying to remember what once was. Clumsy and pudgier though I am, I love it still as I did when I was in high school, though I don't quite eat, sleep, and breathe it like I used to. :)

Perhaps the biggest change of them all was the change in churches. We had spent 11 and a half years with this church, so altering now was a huge decision.  We are so thankful for the time we spent there and for the influence that church has had on us over the years, with the solid biblical preaching. It was a blessing to see what the Lord did in providing it with a building and in the lives of those who attended. It was also a blessing to serve with them in the children's ministries, the music ministry, and in a few minor behind-the-scenes areas. We had been burdened for a long time about the fact that our kids didn't have friends outside of our immediate circle (which has been helped some for Noah by the school situation, but not for Seth or Eden) and that it seemed that the church was meeting less and less with fewer and fewer people. We really have a desire to maintain close friendships with a multiplicity of like-minded believers and to gather regularly with them throughout the week through evening services, small groups, Bible studies, prayer meetings, fellowships, etc...."and all the more as you see the Day approaching." (Heb 10:25)  We felt ourselves longing for more opportunities to study God's Word and meet with fellow Christians. The Lord impressed on Josh's heart especially the need to find a new place of ministry, so at the beginning of this year we sat down with Matt and shared with him about our need to take this step of faith. It has been a difficult decision to make. That is the understatement of the year! We are praying that over time, it won't be a sore spot between our families. We love them deeply, are incredibly thankful for them, but needed to make a change in churches.  Leaving the group of people that we had come to know and love is the hardest thing about this. We will miss everyone tremendously.