We've been here six months, and in that time we have anticipated the new job, the new city, the new life that we will have once this period of waiting is over. But it has been six months, and we are still waiting. We cannot plan anything in the distant future. We can't plan on anything. We just wait. The job that I thought was going to work out didn't. Then another one came along that seems like a good fit, but they want to take more time. So we wait. It has been a difficult thing for me to discuss on the blog.
But there are some good things coming to me while I wait. This lake house is number one on the list. It is an enormous blessing. I know that not everyone gets to spend their time waiting on God in such a beautiful place.
As a byproduct of living in a vacation home, we have found that when we invite people to come visit us, they are happy to do so. By my count, we have had over 61 visitors to stay with us since we've been here. Some of them have come from Tennessee with a newborn baby, some have come from Texas with a van full of children, some are college friends that we hadn't seen since before we had children. Some have been childhood friends that I have known for 25 years. Many of them have been family members; sisters and brothers-in-law and nieces and nephews that I used to only see twice a year, but are now able to come down for the weekend or stop by for dinner on the way somewhere else. The kids have had ample time with grandparents that used to be crammed into a short Christmas or summer visit.
This has been at once a time of mourning and a time of healing for me; a time of laughing with old friends, of holding babies, of chasing toddlers, of making s'mores, of teaching children to fish and to canoe, of catching up, of sharing burdens and of staying up too late playing cards. This has been a time of anxiously waiting to see what will happen next. This has been a time of renewal, of learning to rely on God and of bonding with my husband and my children. It has been a very very good time.
