When We Decided To Make This Move...

... I pretty much promised my kids that we would stay connected to their friends and that we would not interrupt their music education.  These were two of the three biggest concerns, and I just couldn't promise that we could keep the house, so it was the best I could do.  A few months in, so far, so good. 

I'll admit that making the trek to Indiana isn't so bad, and I legitimately enjoy seeing friends there as well as going to music classes and lessons.  It's hard for me to be at the house, because there are so many memories, and I know it is only a matter of time before the house will no longer be ours.

But the pros outweigh the cons, and our most recent trip was an awful lot of fun.

Seeing Friends:

Lexi, Nate, & Matt:

Keegan:

 Owen:

We hope to catch some more of you next time around!  Ian did also get to play with John during Grace and Caleb's piano lessons, and Caleb, Ian, and Miah all got to see their music class friends, as well!

And... ahem... Miah and I made some of our own fun in the van, where we spent an awful lot of time on Tuesday:

L.

And the Girls' Rooms...

... are unpacked!

This was no easy task, and I'm struggling with lack of space, among other things, today.  I finally just shoved half of Grace's stuff into the garage.  She was pretty understanding.  I would imagine that had something to do with the fact that I had just moved her bed, from the garage, by myself.  For anyone who thought it wouldn't fit... it fits! 

I think I got pretty spoiled owning my dream house for the past six years.  Even though I know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that God was preparing me for this very house (the closest house possible to the place where I felt compelled to come home), I am having a difficult time adjusting to renting, even "short term".  It's OK.  I'll get over it.  First world problems...

Grace's Room:

Miah's Room:

 L.

Slow Progress...

... is better than no progress at all!

At the moment, the boys' room and the kids' bathroom are both completely set up.  The rest of the house is basically functional, with varying degrees of mess!  If I can accomplish one room/day from here on out, then I will be happy... ha!  I feel a little like Larry the Cucumber...

The Boys' Room:

 

The Kids' Bathroom:

L.

This Was Hard...

... but maybe not quite as hard as I thought.

Now that it's listed, it would be excellent if we could get a buyer...  maybe this week?  ;)

L.

There Are Things I Should Say…

… but I’m finding that I can’t seem to get the words out.  If you know me, that’s saying something in and of itself!

Mostly, I am overwhelmed.  I am overwhelmed at God’s goodness.  For anyone who does not yet know, Phil accepted an associate pastor position, this past weekend, and we are headed “home”.   

Almost 12 years ago, we knelt at an altar with Seth (age 1) and Grace (age 2 weeks) and were sent out from our home church on an incredible journey that has led us many places and allowed us to meet many people.  I don’t regret one moment of it.  On Sunday morning, we knelt at an altar with Seth and Grace (Caleb, Ian, and Miah had already headed to children’s church) and were welcomed in to our new church family, and we are ready to start the next adventure.

For the temporary, foreseeable future, we are even going to be living back “home” at the campgrounds where Phil and I met… were called to ministry… were engaged… bought our first home… and brought our first two babies home from the hospital.  I am really capable of crying (happy tears) like a baby, myself, over this.  I know this, because it just might have happened…

Adequate words…  I just can’t seem to form them, but let me share this.  Grace and I wrote a song, together, this summer.  The lyrics are mine, but she brought it to life with music.  This is about as close as I can get to what I really want to say:

This is Grace:

There is nothing I would rather be than yours

Filled with passion

Speaking only truth

Yet I’ve run scared

So unprepared

And the journey

Sometimes it’s just too much for me

Perplexed I cannot see

It’s easy to get distracted

In the wind, in the rain, in the fire, the storm

And often I’ve over-reacted

This life lived so loudly the whisper you’ve formed

Has been lost - in the noise

I’m getting what I don’t deserve

Your mercy’s clear at every turn

It’s something I could never earn

This is grace

Oh, your grace is amazing

Going back the way I came seems so unclear

But I know you

And I trust in you

I won’t be scared

You are prepared

And the journey

Sometimes it’s just too much for me

But it’s never too much for you

Mystified I cannot see

But you can always see

And you lead me

It’s easy to get distracted

In the wind, in the rain, in the fire, the storm

And often I’ve over-reacted

This life lived so loudly the whisper you’ve formed

Has been lost - in the noise

I’m getting what I don’t deserve

Your mercy’s clear at every turn

It’s something I could never earn

This is grace

Oh, your grace is amazing

© Lisa and Grace Michaels 2013

L.

Famous Last Words...

For years I have picked on Phil.  This is how it started.  Early in our marriage, we made not one, but two, moves across the country to Idaho… and back.  There are a variety of stories I could share, and they’d all be good, and they’d all be true, but for the purposes of this post, I will share only one…

It was a simpler time in life…  a time where we were young and ready to take on the world.  I can remember on at least one of those trips, I was reading the Anne of Green Gables series for the first time.  And I was sort of caught up in that picture perfect, fictitious world when we drove through Iowa.  In the back of my mind, I could see us building a little house, nestled in the hills along the highway… raising a family there… being very happy.  It was beautiful!  At some point, I must have made mention of this to Phil – not in detail, but something like, “I would like to live in Iowa someday”.  This was met with immediate resistance, because, as it turned out, Phil would never, ever like to live in Iowa… ever.  But every time we drove through Iowa, I loved it.  And nothing changed for him.  He thought I was certifiably crazy…

I can’t begin to tell you how many times in my life I’ve heard someone talk about how they were willing to go anywhere… anywhere… except “that one place”, but that’s exactly where God sent them.  When we landed in Iowa a few years later… and loved it… both of us… we started making silly comments like that, as well. 

Through the years, when we would sense another move coming, we would actually say things, in jest, like, “I never, ever want to go to Jamaica!”  Very funny… I know…  Funnier than you might realize, actually…

And I’m not superstitious or anything like that… and I legitimately don’t think God is sitting somewhere, unattached from our present reality, just hoping to send us somewhere we honestly don’t want to go.  But I started making a concerted effort to not say things like, “I never want to live in Lincoln, Nebraska”.  Oh my goodness… did I just say that out loud?

I’m a different person than I was all those years ago.  The truth is; I have come to terms with the fact that anywhere can be home if you’ll let it be.  And I was ready to go anywhere… almost.   

Somewhere, in the back of my mind, there has always been this one place I would prefer not to go.  I mean, more seriously than Lincoln.  And we had an interview last week.  And I kid you not, 11 minutes down the express way I found myself sitting in the most dangerous city in the United States… several years running… the city in which I will buy my groceries if we go there.  The only words that really came to mind were, “It serves me right”.  When I uttered these words, Phil got quizzical, and I just burst out laughing.  I mean, I was never, ever going there… ever.

It’s probably a little too late in the process, at this point, to start singing, “Please don’t send us to Africa,” or anything like that…

But who knows?  Maybe we have been prepared for such a time as this…

L.

The "Never Ending" Move...

So... It seems as if we started moving several weeks ago, because... well... we did. But, finally, we are nearing the end... I think.

I am still a little hesitant to believe that this is all going to work out in the end and I am going to find myself standing on the deck of my incredible new house sometime early next week, exclaiming with some amount of shock, "This is my house..." and probably crying...

I still have much to catch up on, especially in the virtual world, but for the moment, let it suffice to say that God is unbelievable, and that's just why it makes sense to believe.

More to pack... more school work to complete... and a whole lot more to write... later.

Lisa

Uh... This is bad. It's now been over a month since I have posted, and I still have not completely made the move to my new blog... Thus, I have not given out the address yet. It's coming soon. I promise!

Speaking of moving... My quote of the day is from Phil, regarding our current bidding status on the house we hope to buy, "It's just like playing a very expensive game of chicken!" That is so true...

More to come... But probably not much more here...

Hey... If you read this and I don't have a current e-mail address for you, PLEASE send me one soon. A new "Personal Mass E-mail" (Is that possible?) will be on the way within a couple of days... I hope...

Lisa