Little Things

Sometimes the stresses of the day become so big.  Just getting folks dressed and fed seem huge.  Especially the dressing part.  And especially when it’s picture day at school.  But then (after wiping away the sweat) you stand back, take a breath and realize it was worth the extra effort to try to look special.

Because it’s not every day you wear your pearls. 

And it’s not every day your little brother lets you put your arm around him.

And stand so close.

Sometimes when you feel pretty you see pretty things everywhere.

And sometimes a small, solitary flower in bloom…

becomes the perfect gift for Mama. 

And makes her day.

If Home Is Where the Heart Is…

I’m afraid I might be leaving mine here.

And here.

Or maybe under this tree…

Of course there are the flowers…

Can’t think of this place and not think about flowers.

I think I might be sitting over in Georgia late one afternoon and think about these guys too…

Or wish I could take a run along this path.

Why is it you take for granted places you love.  You say, “eh, not today….maybe tomorrow.  There’s always tomorrow.”

But sometimes there isn’t.

Now that I think about it… we do the same thing with people we love.  Don’t we?  We always think we have tomorrow.

Sometimes we don’t.

Maybe there’s a lesson here. 

And maybe it’s about something much more important and greater than moving.

A Moving Tale

I can't imagine I still have any readers left out there after my long hiatus, but I feel the need to do this post. Maybe it's just for me.

It's been a long year folks. Last February (the 24th to be exact), Andy lost his job. I know he's not the only one out there. In fact, he's one of four on our small little street who suffered the same fate last year. But like so many other things, you never think it will happen to you. In that moment so much changed for us. Our sense of security I fear has been permanently altered, as has our outlook on finances, employment, and things I shall save for another post. We knew that the chances of him finding another job doing what he loves and is good at that would allow us to stay put was slim to none.

We were right.

After ten long months of a role reversal that just did not work for our family (him as Mr. Mom and me out there working all the time) he found the perfect job. And we were relieved. And blessed. And excited.

But it's 7 hours away.

Too long to drive back and forth every day. Or even every week.

So we said "Ok God....thank You very much for this wonderful job and now if it's Your will for us to go to Douglas, Georgia....let us know. Show us in a big way. Work everything out." Basically, "work everything out" meant let us sell this house that we tried to sell for nearly all of last year and never even had anyone come back a second time.

We put the house on the market the weekend before Christmas. Before the sign was even in the yard we had some people come look at it and ask us that night if they made us an offer how quickly could we be out.

Seriously? Maybe God wanted us in Douglas. They ended up going with another house but it certainly got our attention.

So Andy moved right after New Year's and we knew in the back of our mind that a seven hour drive could possibly separate our family for months. Years even.

Since Christmas the house was only shown three times. A week and a half ago some people came to see it one Sunday afternoon. We didn't know anything about them. But we prayed for them. We stopped and prayed that God would be with them as they made their decisions and if our house was right for them, they would know.

I guess they knew because the next night they came back and the following day made us an offer. Not only was our house right for them, but they were ready to buy....needed a place to live....and needed to be in here in a matter of weeks.

Who says God doesn't answer prayer. Sometimes His timing isn't ours. Sometimes His way isn't ours. Our timing would have had Andy a job within weeks of losing his other one. It also would have given me a little more than three weeks to get ready for a major move alone. And our way for all of this to shake out would have been for a job to have opened that wouldn't have moved us so far away from "home."

But who are we to question a God who has been so present and so in control. I mean....

Wow.

I have much more news and updates about what's happening with us and I promise I am going to update more often with stuff. I got a really cool camera a few months ago that I might actually have time to learn how to use when we get settled.

For now I'm doing ok with it riding all over Fairhope taking pictures of everything I love here that I need to take with me.

Like that girl up there sitting in our favorite park.