Sitting down to write as yet again suitcases are waiting to be dealt with, this time packed. We have been in Texas through the Autumn and the Holidays, for a mixture of reasons. Needing a place to crash, needing space to think, needing to be around family, needing a job, and sunshine.
Dan's parents have been sharing their home with us. Jesse has loved spending everyday with Gramy and Pops and rushes to to the door when he hears Pops' truck backing up into the driveway. They play the piano together, go on long walks, look at pictures, play with toys and thoroughly enjoy each other.
Meanwhile Dan has been working his bread and butter job, serving. He's good at it and it allows for Family Time every morning. I write, play with Jesse, and take care of the little needs that are left after Gramy spoils us all :) We do these things while sorting out disappointments and dreams. I can say laughter is back and dreams are growing. I can say lessons have been leaned and love is stronger. Faith is here but looks different then it use to, there is less fluff and more real stuff if you understand my drift.
Have you ever gotten a Christmas tree at a farm? At our favorite place to go, before they (yes they) tie our fresh tree to our car, they put it in a shaker. The tree shakes about like crazy for a minute, at the end all the little leaves, twigs and dried needles you hadn't even noticed have been shaken off and you are left with your beautiful tree and nothing more. I feel like my faith, my self and our life has been in a tree shaker. We have shed all those twigs we didn't know we were holding (and that we didn't need) and now it's just us standing here.
When Dan and I started this blog it was to encourage people that they didn't need to fit into a 5 year plan for life. That family time can mean early mornings and breakfast instead of dinner and evenings. That bringing your bouncing baby of 6 month to an unfamiliar country is the best way to show your new friends you care about them and trust them. That in short there are not wrong and right ways to live your life, but instead be a person of character who is completely in, no matter where you are.
When we decided to come to Texas we did so with the understanding it was a "8 week plan".
My cousin shared with me that when her and her husband are transitioning in life they make a "8 week plan", at the end of 8 weeks they talk about what needs to change and what has been good.
8 weeks took us to the week after Thanksgiving. We planned to be "all in" in Texas, in counseling and in work for 8 weeks then talk about what needed to change and what had been good.
At the end of the 8 weeks our counselor spoke words of life to us, my parents bought property to start their new ministry (a home for people in ministry who need to pause and rest... like our time in Texas) and offered us a job. We said yes to a year. Our 8 week plan feed into a 1 year plan. A year is perfect for us.
January 5th we get to join a group of people who have been longing and dreaming and already however they can, encouraging those who are at the ends of the earth telling people Jesus loves them. Often while sharing this love of Jesus exhaustion, tragedy, heartbreak and disappointment happens and there is no time or space to pause, process and keep breathing. Many people don't have a Texas they can go to rest and untangle.
Sanctuary Inn is going to be just that. A place of peace, of rest, while your heart has time and space for mending. We are honored to join and give back to others some some of the peace given to us.
Our family will still be us. Dan will work, Jesse will throw rocks and I will write, cuddle my loves, and listen to others' stories. But we will do it here, be "all in" at this house of peace, at Sanctuary Inn
