Meanwhile we are driving through strange towns and now a strange city-all so unfamiliar and yet this traveling in the car through unfamiliar places is becoming quite familiar. Some of my favorite times with Ty have been road trips the last 10 years. Sometimes its quiet as we drive-each of us lost in our own thoughts or plugged into our own headphones. Other times we crank up the music and all sing along. Ok so all this nostalgic “familiar” unfamiliarity was just brought back to reality by my daughter piping up in the backseat with “what world are we on now?” So I guess my perceptions of us all just going along with this whole big adventure are a little skewed.
People have been asking if we are excited. Are we? I’m not sure-I think so. I also think we’re exhausted, giddy, scared, anxious, happy, sad, and ready. Some amazingly wise women have helped me understand transition so much better through all this, and yet there are things you cannot understand until you are in the midst of them. That is how this feels. Our current state of life is like nothing we have ever experienced. We have no frame of reference, no standard to measure this against and ask “is this normal?” And the thing is, transition is becoming our new normal. We stepped out and moved forward with global arts ministry and instantly our jobs changed. Then we stepped out to begin to travel across the country to build a support team and our car became home with each night changing where we slept. Then we landed in MN for a few months where we were embraced back to our church family that truly treats us like one of their own. Just as we began to have some routine in our “home base” there, we stepped out to begin to head south. And even when we get to GA in a few weeks much will change. We may live somewhere temporarily for a bit to get settled, then change housing situations once again. We will work part-time jobs while continuing to build our support team-and when that is in place change to working with OM Arts full time. Then there will be the constant change of travel-Ty or all of us, it is still change. This isn’t negative-it is just a new reality for us that we are adjusting to. I am adjusting to it.
We are so thankful for so many things this past year. We have no doubt that our plans are not our own. We know so much of this seems so crazy-it seems crazy to us as well. But we have said yes to each small step that God has asked us to take and those many small steps have turned into this huge adventurous journey! We are thankful for our kids and that they are well loved by so many people. That has brought them through these intense transitions amazingly unscathed. They are happy and well adjusted (although also ready to be a bit more settled with friends and such). So to sign off this, my first blog entry, I want to thank any of you readers who have journeyed with us and who have loved and supported us and our kids. We are not journeying alone and absolutely could not make it without our entire support network behind us! So as I head off to bed in yet another bed in another “world” as Ellia said, I am thankful for a new normal-one of faith, friends, family, and adventure around every corner! I hope you join us on this journey-goodnight! -C