A Million and One

I have a million and one things to do today.  We just got back from our Thanksgiving trip to Indiana where I spent five wonderful days relaxing, eating, hanging out with my family, eating, watching movies, eating, snuggling my handsome nephew, eating, and .... well, eating.  Its funny how things change through the years.  It used to be for me that going to Indiana was leaving home and going somewhere else but since moving, going to Indiana feels like going home from another place.  When you are constantly surrounded by unfamiliar things, the familiar things take on an even more special, deeper meaning.
 

Like this morning when I was driving to the grocery store and I called my sister, not for any other reason than I wanted to hear her voice.  Like when we opened up our Christmas boxes and started decorating our tree and I marveled at each ornament like it was the first time I'd seen them or when I hug our stockings and got all choked up because we've had them for so many years.  Or like when I pour myself a cup of coffee with Peppermint Mocha in the evening and enjoy the lights on the tree and the smell of pine in my home.  All wonderful, cozy, warm familiar things that just make my heart fill with peace and joy.

The other day I crossed a big line for me in Kentucky.  I went to Walmart (okay, not such a big deal) AND I knew people there!! Several people.  As in more than one person said, "Oh, hi!  How are you?"  And today a man stopped me and asked me for directions AND I knew where to tell him to go!  I guess that "Oh my gosh, where in the world am I?" look has finally disappeared.  And, even more special, when we pulled back into Kalas with our Charlie Brown christmas tree and our minivan bulging with luggage and shopping bags and all the mess kids can make in 3 hours ina car, we were greeted with smiles and waves and texts and all kinds of love.  It felt, much to my surprise, familiar.

One day, we will pull into Wilmore to visit from wherever we finally end up and I will take a big deep breath and say, "Ah, this feels like home."  And I'm starting to figure out what the common denominator is.  It has a lot less to do with surroundings and environments and a lot more to do with people and love.  It's not really the size of the house or the quaintness of the town but the ones who fill the homes and make up the town.  It's not even that we always agree on everything or that we even all like the same things; it's that in the midst of each moment you know love is present, faith is shared and life is lived.

This will be the first time I have been away from my immediate family on Christmas Eve.  I think because they are awesome they are holding the traditional celebration until we can join them after Christmas but still, on Christmas Eve I will not be eating too much shrimp with my brothers, laughing over memories with my sister, sharing a cup of coffee with my dad or helping kids open presents with my mom.   So that will be hard.  However, I'm starting to learn (starting!) that just because things change it doesn't mean it's bad and just because something is unfamiliar to start doesn't mean it won't become a beloved familiar moment in the future.

My kids love Phineas and Ferb and, let's be honest, so do I.  One of the things I love about the show is that those kids live in the moment.  In fact, they personify Carpe Diem and never let a moment slip away without making it the best day ever.  Hmmm, I'm thinking there is something to that!  My life has been richly blessed with family and friends from many places; some I haven't even met in person but have forged a deep friendship with over many shared letters and chats with each other (Annie Conti, I mean you!)  I would love to gather them all up and put every single one in a room and just be with each one but you know, that just wouldn't be as special.  The moments we share together, while maybe not as often as we like, are special because they are when we are together.  Not a crowd, but a time where we slow down, enjoy the moments and bask in the famliarity of family and friends.  I don't want to miss a moment - not here in Kentucky, not when I go to Indiana, and not when I'm with my family and friends in Pennsylvania.  I want to "carpe diem" the daylights out of this life and treasure each time I get to spend it with others God has brought into my life.

We have reached the end of our first semester... can you believe it?  Luke will be taking finals next week (prayers would be awesome) and we will get a little break until classes start back up again in February.  I will start working again in January and Luke is taking on a job as well.  God continues to bless us by providing for our schooling needs and we feel so encouraged by the support we are being shown by both the seminary and the Brethren in Christ denomination.  We still don't know exactly what the "future" looks like but I have a million and one reasons to believe that God has got that under control.  For now, I'm just gonna "carpe diem" where I'm at and thank the Lord for the many blessings (YOU!) He has given us.