"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace."
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
The Coach's dad passed away in April. Even though he had been declining, he left us so quickly, during such a strange time in the world. We FEEL his absence. His hugs, his kisses on our cheeks, his hand on the kids' faces or heads, his words of encouragement, his notes, his teasing, his talks on history and family and His relationship with His Heavenly Father. His death gave us time with family, gathering to say goodbye (41 of us at his bedside) and eternally grateful for his legacy of faith and family. All together for the burial, in spite of it all.
Graduation for our 5th - in a different location, but with our family and friends (and social distancing). Such a strange end to her Senior year. Our little Valedictorian graduated with honors, after missing her last basketball state tournament, tennis season, Spring Formal, and senior trip to Boston. We were just so happy to get to see her walk across that stage.
Memorial Service for Papa. Seeing so many who were touched by his life and loved him so dearly. Sweet memories that still fill our hearts. Hearing all 10 of his kids honor him with their words, hearts so full of thankfulness to be FAMILY.
Marriage for our 2nd - I'll never stop being thankful at the MIRACLE that their wedding date hit when it did - right when things were opening and gatherings were allowed. All outdoors on a gorgeous June evening, with the people we love all around us. Beautiful life long memories with our girl and her future pastor. It's fun having newlyweds around.
Vacation with our "still at home" people and my parents. Beautiful, cool, Breckenridge. We look forward to it all year. We hiked less and rested more, this year. But we sure love those morning runs in the mountains!
And now we're on the precipice of moving our boys (senior and sophomore) back to college in Shawnee and taking our baby girl to Virginia for school - for her first semester away.
Thursday? The Coach will have his final interview and formally complete his masters in secondary school administration. Two years of CRAZY amounts of studying for him - evenings and weekends, at the dinner table while the rest of us... well... didn't study.
And last Thursday? Our boy had his final chemo infusion to finish 3 1/2 years of treatment for Acute Lymphoblastic Lymphoma. One more month of oral chemo and one more Lumbar Puncture and he'll be done. No even sure where to file that in my brain.
So lots of BIG feelings around here. Change, progress, endings. The stuff of life.
We went back to church for the first time on Sunday. So strange to think we hadn't been there since Spring break. We went out to eat for the first time for the Coach's 50th, two weeks ago. We didn't even get take out, we ATE THERE. Haha.
These months ALL TOGETHER have been hard, I'm not going to sugar coat it. Close quarters, lots of kids, lots of stressful things going on. And I think we still all like each other. Most of the time. Ha!
The Coach and I still love each other and he's still my favorite. The troops all have grown in age, physical maturity, and spiritual maturity, too. Life keeps changing. Not even COVID and shelter at home can change that. Even when we are all stuck at home, things still kept changing around us.
Life ending, marriages beginning, new life, all mixed up together, like it always is.
The HARD is always mixed in with the JOY. The JOY is always peeking through in the HARD. They don't come in isolation, they come together. All mixed up and twisted together in some kind of craziness - that we call life.
The HARD will continue to come. It always does. But I'll keep looking for the JOY that I know will be there, too. It's always there. Sometimes we just have to look harder for it.
God is good and God is faithful. He always will be. And he's given us above and beyond all we could imagine in blessing us with His Son and Eternity with Him - but there's joy here in THIS life, too.
And even though I find myself praying daily for Jesus to come back and take us all to our REAL home, I'm thankful for this home, too - and these people He's given us to walk through it with.
Every day a gift.
