Gena lived in Tempe for 14 years before moving away with me to St. Louis. She had years away for college in various locales, but Tempe is a familiar place for her. Tempe is where I did my undergraduate work at Arizona State University, and as I called the East Valley area of Phoenix home for almost 30 years, it's a very familiar place for me as well. Of course, things change. We've been away for six years, and things are different. Places are new and changed. But you always know your hometown in a way you never know any other place you live.
It's a comfortable place, but it's not home any longer. We're grateful for friends and family, for a place to land (and a place to crash if that ever becomes necessary!). We look forward to so much in the coming weeks and months - all highlighted in the diffused tones of uncertainty. We await God's leading in our lives, unsure of what that leading will look or feel like when the time comes, but delightedly aware of how He has led us in the past. We are blessed beyond measure as we enter this period of homeless unemployment. Far more blessed than many people who find themselves in this situation. We want to make the best of it, knowing that.
For now, I'm spending time catching up on some of the back work with the two online courses I'm currently teaching. Preparing to maintain and monitor them on the more jumbled of our on the road phase. The students are good, the material is interesting, and I'm grateful for the distraction that it provides me each day as I seek to make things relevant and interesting and applicable for them.
The kids are excited to be reunited after a few days just with Opa and Nana. They ask questions about what has happened to our house (we don't have it any more!), my car (it's staying in California with good friends who are willing to spare a portion of their driveway to house it until we either come to get it or sell it on Craigslist), our furniture and belongings (in a storage unit in Oxnard until we know where we'll be living next). Each of them reduced their belongings to a single backpack full of books and treasured toys - the rest either donated or put into storage. They're remarkably adaptable children. They travel well, and they ultimately trust that we're looking after them, which makes their uncertainty bearable.
They ask about when we'll have a new house, and we tell them when God tells us where to go. They want to know how we'll know when God is telling us where to go, and we struggle a little for the appropriate answer. God has shown us over and over again what He wants, even when we weren't sure ourselves. How do you employ the metaphors of open and closed doors effectively with kids under eight years old? How do you convey a sense of profound trust, even in the midst of profound uncertainty? We continue to talk about it. They continue to trust us as we trust God.
My wife is exquisite, with an appetite for adventure that I treasure. I've learned so much from her in our ten years of marriage.
But for now, I should quit procrastinating and get back to work. There's plenty to do on these classes in the next two weeks. Gena & the kids will take turns updating this blog as well. We'll assign colors or something to the text to help identify who is writing at any given time. This should be a lot of fun!
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