I had posted a few months back that
I needed to put blogging on hold for awhile. That was five months ago as my
days were filled with getting the house ready to sell, then the actual move,
and for the past month or so getting settled into our new house. I had written in my previous post that I was looking forward to having a welcoming front porch where I could sit and greet neighbors. Well, this porch isn't my dream porch. It's nestled back a ways between the side walls and is out of sight except when you're passing right in front of it, but I'll see what I can do with it come spring.
It's starting
to feel like home here now, and I'm beginning to have more of a routine to my days
again with time for gathering my thoughts and journaling a bit. Blogging helps me to think about what's happening around me and to reflect on how I respond to it. My thoughts may not be deep or insightful, but when I put them into words, it helps me to understand myself a little better and draws my thoughts Upward and Homeward. Perhaps, too, my journaling will be a legacy for my grandchildren and future generations to read. Hopefully, they'll be interested in knowing a little about me.
Thoughts at the moment are gratitude
for being able to move near family. My parents and siblings moved away over the
years, and when our daughters married, they also moved far away with their
hubbies. As the years have passed, and the house has been much too quiet, we've
missed having family around. After much prayer and consideration, we decided to
make a new home near my parents and my sister who lives with them, to help in
whatever ways we could in their latter years and to enjoy the feeling of belonging
that family brings. That would be 500 miles from where we lived, so the move
was major.
We moved into their neighborhood and
can walk to one another's house. I walk around the neighborhood with my sister occasionally, and can stop in to chat with Mom and Dad for a few moments.
Such a warm feeling.
My youngest sister and her family
also live in this neighborhood, so we're reconnected once again. After their retirement my parents had moved to Florida, but after a few years decided to
move here to be near my sister and her six children. She now has two of her
children married with seven grandchildren so far, so there are lots of family
here and more to come! I still miss my daughters ever-ever-so-much, and long deeply to
be with them and the grandchildren. Perhaps someday God will pave the way for
us to live closer to one another. What a blessing that would
be!!
Someone said not long ago that
family was not as important to them as it is to us. Well, that may be how they
feel about it, but I think they miss the intent God has for families. We see
throughout the Scriptures how God worked in and through the relationships of
the family. Not just immediate families, but the extended family as well, as they
interacted with one another and passed on the faith.
My heart's desire is to tell the
next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord. That's one of the important
aspects of extended family--to tell of God's faithfulness from one generation
to the next. It's not impossible with all the miles between us, but as I often say, distance is no friend to
families. That's one reason why I blog/journal--so the next generation with hear of God's faithfulness to their grandparents.
If you have family nearby, you are
truly blessed! You have a wonderful opportunity to tell the next generation the praises of the Lord, and His strength, and His wonderous works that He has done. (Psalm 78:4)
