Elves

My moving elves have been here

today they swarmed around us

keeping us entertained

doing the work we could not imagine getting finished

doing the work we did not want to do

advising on suitcases and packing material,


occasionally shedding a tear.



When I close my eyes, I imagine them physically holding me up, sending me on, and I know that this work they do is a gift that will sustain us for a long time after we leave.

Goodbyes

Josie has been a member of our family for two and a half years. We had a jar in the kitchen where the kids saved their change for a long time....hoping to add a dog to our family. While she was way more work than I had anticipated, she very quickly integrated into our family and we grew to love her very much. We came to the difficult decision not to take her to Bogota, and to give her to our good friends. They are so happy to have her, and have loved her almost her whole life as well. We have seen her almost everyday since the "transition brunch" and the reunions are so happy and heart warming. I hope she still remembers us when we come home from Colombia. It warms our heart to know she has been adopted by such a terrific family. You can see her puppy pictures here.

Spanish school

My dear friend Lu Ann organized a week-long Spanish camp in honor of my children leaving for Bogota. They played together, worked in learning stations, acted out verbs, and I think employed every possible type of learning strategy for the varied styles represented in the SIXTEEN children ages 2 through 11. Wow. What an amazing gift. If you want to see more pictures, you can look here.

Merry-go-round

everyone aboard on the merry-go-round some things will rise up so that others come down if the devil don't dance heaven won't shine it's a mighty thick haze and it's a pretty thin line if the faucet is tightened up the love won't flow if the love isn't bright enough the corn won't grow if the night isn't dark enough the moon won't glow

My Mother's New Year Prayer

I am trying to keep this one close to me, as I anticipate these changes and wrestle with fear and uncertainty.

"For all the possibilities ahead of us in this new year, make us thankful, O Lord. Give us wisdom, courage and discernment in the face of so much chaos, despair and fear. Help us to see how, in our circumstances, we can contribute toward peace, faith and love; and give us the will to translate our desires into actions."

A.m.e.n.

Goodbyes

Each day we say goodbye to something else. It has been slow and long, but we are grateful for the time it takes to release things, and the dear friends and lovely times we have had here in Kansas.

One of those goodbyes was to our "neighborhood school" Northridge, where I was an employee first, then Mom. Our children have enjoyed walking, biking, skateboarding, and rollar skating there for the last six years. We will miss this school dearly.

We celebrated the very last day with balloons on our bikes, a party at the park with whipped cream whiffle ball, and a "spray down" from the local fire department. It was glorious!

Commissioned

On April 19 our family had a beautiful commissioning service at Shalom Mennonite Church. We were humbled by the amount of support and love we felt from this community. It was holy. And Micah brought some humor as well (see snake on shoulder) Thank you Kristin for the photos.