Goodbye is not the word | January 7, 2012

The past few weeks have been some of the most challenging in recent memory…not on the “outside” so much…life has gone on.  But internally a sense of despair and sadness has lingered.

In December, our family made the decision to take on a new adventure and explore our faith outside the amazing little church we attend.  We've been there since the day it opened it's doors for the first time (at least I have...but that's a much longer story for another day).  It's the only Church home we’ve ever known.  Why we are leaving we don’t really know. There is a lot going on in this little community, and for a plethora of reasons I don’t understand - our journey and these things collided into the overwhelming sense that it seemed the right time.  

I get the sense as I pray about this that the only reason is very much like the one I’ve offered my children so often when I know something is right, but can’t explain why to their immature brains:  “Because I said so!”

What I do know is this:  I have had the privilege of sharing my life with some of the most amazing human beings on the face of the planet for the past 11 years in this community.  I guarantee you without a shadow of a doubt that my marriage would not exist today if it weren’t for them…their support, wisdom and beauty saved us from ourselves.

I realized tonight that the despair and sadness was for many reasons...but mostly because for reasons out of my control, I wasn't there the day the news was shared (and Brian said farewell on our behalf) and now as our little church is embarking on a new adventure of their own it seems a little anticlimactic...or unnecessarily redundant...which makes me sad.  Yet, I feel like I CAN give this...a reflection on all our family has found, been blessed with, done, and experienced in this time, how we’ve grown… 

To my Newbee family, past and present, we will miss you each Sunday, but we look forward to walks, cups of Timmies, movies, girls nights, nights where guys go and do manly things, fondue dinners, Easter Feasts, my basement full of smelly teenage boys, road trips, Christmas Turkey comas... where we can connect and celebrate all that God continues to do in each of our lives in spite of how we don't get to see each other once a week, every week. 

Be blessed.