We made it to the next step of our journey
Well we made it to Minong in one piece, our stuff on the other hand wasn’t so very lucky. Sadly the movers damaged some furniture and outright broke a few things. It’s all really frustrating. I thought movers would be the easiest way to do things, and essentially it should have been. We have gained so much “stuff “over the years that there wasn’t a U-Haul truck, or the like, big enough to haul it all in one trip. So when the good people of Calvary said they would help us hire movers we gladly accepted. However, even the company we hired did not have enough space for all our stuff! So Doug and Travis had to go back to Dubuque one more time for the remainder of items we could not take the first time.
This Journey that led us to this move and this congregation has taught me a few things. I hope to remember these lessons and learn to live differently. I have learned what it’s like to have to use state insurance for my kids, and the limited number of locations to be seen by medical professionals. I have used food stamps to help pay for some grocery’s, but also learned that my income didn’t allow for much assistants. I have used a food pantry with freezer burned meat, outdated cereal boxes and canned goods, even the cheapest of shampoos, conditioners and soap. I lived in a large beautiful home and moved to campus housing, which was about 2,000 square feet less them my previous home.
We now reside in a beautiful parsonage that is currently under renovations. This home is comparable or larger than the home we left before entering seminary. It feels wonderful to have room to move and not share a wall with neighbors, no matter how great the neighbor maybe. However, not unlike any other renovation that takes place, hidden problems surface as repairs and updates are made. Some of these hidden repairs are very costly and delay the completion of the first project started. As we live through the mess and clutter, I am reminded of the comedy “The Money Pit”, staring Michael Keaton. Now that was a funny movie. I am confident, I will have some great stories to tell!
So what I take from all this is simple. I am thankful for what I have. The items broken or damaged can be replaced in time. It’s more important to think about our health and family than “items”. I am thankful for the insurance I have now, and the better choice in medical professionals. I am thankful for being able to go to the grocery store and buy “fresh” food, even if I still try to penny pinch. I’m thankful for a warm shelter, even in the mist of repairs, with some good laughs and grate stories to tell in the future.
We have our health, or dogs, family and friends. We look forward to this new chapter is our lives. Calvary church has some very warm and friendly people who want nothing but the best for us and the community as a whole. We as a family are so thankful and feel so blessed to be called here.
So it begins, the next chapter in our lives.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven–