This Little Big World

This past week, the magnificent Gigi sent a Wall Street Journal article to Peter about current restoration project on the Colosseum in Rome. We were enjoying the article on its own merit, but then come to find ... the last paragraph has a quote from a co-worker of our archeologist friend in Rome, and mentions the institute that he works for. So fun to find!

And speaking of finds, I'm always amazed at the people and connections God brings. The "Professor" has become a dear friend of ours and even came and stayed in our home last year while he was over in the States on business.

He fit in like family.

We've already been emailing about our impending move and giddy over being "neighbors." (France and Italy are technically neighbors ...) Amazing how small and personal this big world really is.

Je pense que oui!

I've been hesitating to make this post ... but it seems that it is to be true! Je pense que oui! Two days ago we sent in our deposit for a 1-year lease on a 17th century farmhouse in northern France. (Can you hear me whooping in the background?) We have visa appointments left to come, the final mandatory puzzle piece, but we feel encouraged and that God is in control. In order to apply for the visas we have to have proof of paid lease and plane tickets purchased. It's a full-commitment process!

In the meantime we are madly completing and assembling paperwork, and preparing to sell our home and cars, pack up our stuff for storage, and attend to all the miscellaneous details that will allow us to move this August. I have never moved more than a 100 miles away before, much less to a foreign country with a foreign language. My head is swimming.

But the house. It's like the icing on everything. We had wanted a place a bit rural for the children. A place where we could turn them loose and they could explore and be free, given that everything else will be so new. A place where we could retreat from the inevitable exhaustion of learning to function in a new culture and in a new language. In the midst of all that scares me silly ... even though my emotions fluctuate between thrills and sheer terror ... I am filled with joyful awe and deep gratitude in God's extravagant provision. 

Dreams and Possibilities

It's been almost 2 years since I took these photos of Pops in Aix-en-Provence. A point in which my own dreams expanded and he hopped aboard.

In the passing time we've been praying and plotting. France. Could it be? Would the Lord have this for us? How might He use this for our family and His glory? The Lord has been gracious in opening doors and He has been using Pops as the vehicle by which we pass through. I am humbled that my husband is willing to reroute his professional track for a time so as to open our family up to some wild, unpredictable adventures.

There is much, much uncertain right now. But the kids are game, my health is improving, we have a job lined up, a rental home that's on the cusp of being available, and a consulate appointment that will decide, officially, if France is on board with our plans too.

I want so badly to worry these details to death, but I know that God is able and these details are but a yawn and a stretch for Him to accomplish. So for now, I am thankful that these dreams are even a possibility.

Now glory be to God, who by his mighty power at work within us 

is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of

—infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes. 

Ephesians 3:20-21 

Days of Remembrance

This is one of those photos that encapsulates a memory fully. I remember going to this parking-lot carnival with Grandpa Vanderburg. I remember the cotton candy and the corduroy jacket and the woven raffia headband that dug into the soft spot behind my ears ... but that I loved anyway. And I remember being here with Grandpa and feeling special.

The tanned farmer who raised six kids and took great pride in the grands. A man always good for a raspy chuckle and an eye-roll inducing joke. A man who proudly loved his wife and could grow a pumpkin so large you could sit inside of it and eat your caramel apple. A man who both unabashedly and quietly loved the Lord and those He placed in his care.

These end-of-life days are a brutal business. As believers in Christ, there is a hope and a future that brings very real comfort. But we cling to life and to those we love. Even as we desire to set free, we hold dear. These are the days of remembrance and yet also, anticipation.

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 

Hebrews 10:23

He Will Quiet You With His Love

This past month has been full of heartbreak and hope. Despair and mercy. Critical moments of pleas to the Lord and quiet moments of simple gratitude.

This past month my four year-old nephew was diagnosed with Leukemia. And not that anything involving children and cancer is normal ... but his last four weeks have not been normal. My heart doesn't know how to reconcile the events and my brain wants to block it all out. But in this all, we still see God.

My brother-in-law and his dear wife have been amazing through all of this. Their care for their son, their dependance on the Lord, and their straight-up grit in managing a nightmare situation. I am in awe of them.

Our own little bright spot in this has been in the care of little brother. He is the most delightful, charming two and a half year-old ever. Having him in our home, has been blessing and a constant reminder of what to pray for and what to rejoice in.

The journey has just begun for this sweet family. Our prayers are maturing as is our faith. I have no words to adequately speak to recent circumstances, but grateful we serve a God who is always enough.

"The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, 
He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing." 

Zephaniah 3:17

A Wink and A Smile

This last year I have endeavored to take on a less-is-more mentality. The purging has become rather addictive. So freeing to have less stuff to not only clutter my home but also the recesses of my already cramped mind.

The natural by-product of this outlook is to be purposeful in what I buy and bring into our home. This is a more challenging discipline, I confess, but necessary and worthy nonetheless. But what is lovely, I'm finding, is satisfying my "I'd like something new" desire with temporal items. 

This week we've spruced up the dreary, bedraggled pots and planters that haven't already been tossed in the bin. The happy, budget-friendly violets that have found new homes on our front porch and back patio feel like a little wink and a smile every time I see them. I can't think of one thing in my garage rafters that has the same effect ...

Curious About the Harvest

This last year has been such a tangled vine of growth. So many challenges that seem to stretch on and wind their tendrils around anything it moves past. This scandent behavior has felt overwhelming, at times. It's easy to become weary ... of feeling weary.

Yet, the interesting thing about growth is that the intent is to bring fruit. Off of the woody, invasive vines, those tendrils latch on to provide security, to develop a base in which fresh green shoots can launch forth with an astonishing growth rate of their own. After a winter of seeing only barren stalks, the green bursts forth yielding vibrancy and the promise of a harvest.

This last year my health has presented itself as a forerunner for our attention. However, there is now a springtime of activity in our lives that is bursting forth in a most dramatic show. Some opportunities for our family that we have prayed about for years now seem to be unfurling with remarkable haste.

It feels strange moving forward into possibility rife with the unknown ... particularly since I have not yet wrapped a bow around the box of my health challenges and set it on a back shelf to collect dust. But here we are. And we acknowledge the issues of the day and press forward into the promise of the yet to come.

It's a bit terrifying. But it's exciting. I don't want to prune off the new growth from the old. Summertime is coming and I'm curious about the harvest.

I am the vine; you are the branches. 

If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; 

apart from me you can do nothing. 

John 15:5

A Captured Heart

This past Saturday, my little boy turned 13 years old. In my mind and heart, he is still this fuzzy-headed, bright-eyed little boy.

We are all better people for knowing and admiring this young man. He inspires me year after year.

With Elegance and Intentionality

 I heard someone say, recently, that when they are engaged in conversation, or are posed a question, they ask themselves, "What am I trying to say?" They added that this internal dialogue resulted in a more concise and intentional comment, which is a much more elegant way to converse.

Now, I love a good chatter session, but so often I find I am jawing but not really sharing meaningfully or listening thoughtfully. Love this advice.

Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, 

so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.  Colossians 4:6

The Merits of Simplicity

Shells upon a radiator, Aigaliers, France 

 

"The fewer things you keep, the more special they become..."

-Rachel Meeks