Looking towards home...

I can't believe that we'll only be in our house for two more weeks. I shared with another blogger friend that I, too, am having some grieving feelings about leaving this home and this community. I've lived in this area for over 11 years and in this home for almost five years. This is the house that Penny first came home to. Our neighbors welcomed her home with a big sign and balloons.

It was hard to paint over the streak of red spray paint that dripped off the sign onto the garage door. It felt like erasing a special memory. And we had to sand off the "graffiti" left by the former owner's daughter on the deck post, which said, "Girl's Rule". But, somehow, as I'm packing more and noises are echoing off of the empty walls this hollow place isn't feeling quite as much as home. I think it's helping to prepare my mind that there is another home awaiting us. Right now it may not be "perfect", since there are many projects I already have in mind to make it seem more like "OUR HOME". But, it's reassuring to know that a place awaits us. I guess that helps me imagine a little more about the place that God is preparing for us. Yes, if we accept His free gift of eternal life by trusting in Jesus, who paid the price for our sins, we can be welcomed into His forever family. The great news is that our eternal home really WILL be PERFECT! Can you imagine that? Almost sounds too good to be true. That's probably why a lot of people grow cynical and say, "Ah, it's just a fairy tale." I guess that's why Faith is such a gift. It brings such joy and peace like nothing in this world can! We've needed that kind of reassuring faith this week. It was a really rough week for Jay. It was the first week that kids came back-to-school at his new school. It's a whole new experience teaching in Denver. His new school is in a low-income neighborhood. In fact, the whole school qualifies for a free breakfast and lunch program. 90 percent of the kids are from non-English speaking homes. So, he sometimes worries if he'll be able too communicate well with the kiddos. It's quite a different experience from the school where he spent the majority of his teaching days. That school was a charter school that receives the top awards for academic test scores almost every single year for the entire state. But, ever since they booted him out in 2009, Jay has struggled to wonder where is his place. The news of losing that job came on my 40th birthday, just five weeks after bringing our daughter home. It's been a real struggle ever since. And the culmination of the stress over the past three and a half years seemed to suddenly load down on Jay to the point where he felt like he was going to break down this past week. But, God is good! So many of you responded by lifting him up with loving prayers. He took the important step of taking a day off to go see the doctor. The same day we unexpectedly found out that a friend from our former church adoption support group was a Christian counselor. And she offered a free counseling session, along with some free hormonal treatment. My mom recommended some natural remedies that have helped her. And the doctor made some med adjustments. So thankful that he started sleeping again and getting his appetite back and could calm down and actually have some great first days at school. So nice that he has very supportive fellow staff members who are telling him that they are so glad to have him there. Now just two more weeks until we can move down to Denver and make our home feel like home. Then Jay will only have a 12 minute commute (and no freeway driving) vs. the hour-plus one-way commute he has now. Oh, boy! I better get to packing! We'll be home-sweet-home, soon!