Maui. Day 77

I just realized, day 77 is departure day tomorrow and 7 is the number of completion.

I write this as I sit in our last, (everyone in one room, bags packed in the other room, not in our own home)...night.

What is on my mind these days is Gifts.

I feel we have been given so many.  I sit in the fullness of all our adventuring the last 76 days.  Full of sights, education, friends, unfamiliar beds, road signs, a black van, packing and unpacking, loading and unloading, family, open-ended days with only us and God to answer to, a new sight around every corner, and gratitude.
 
The gift of California, our home for the last two years, giving us beyond what we could have hoped for,,,,

We have been together.  We have entered into so many new places together. 

It is hard to wrap my brain around the reality that we will be in our Maui home tomorrow night.  It is something we have thought about ever since we left.  Of course in recent months much more.  It has represented in many moments that seemingly elusive place that we unsure that we will ever arrive.

I wonder what will unravel and what will tie up in the months to come....

Day by day is how we did 76 days, so day by day as we start 77.

Good-bye's for now....

Sweet memories of our little house that felt like a refuge during this time and knowing Joy was "next door" every ready with a full ear to listen.

Joy and Ben were really in the process of settling in when we arrived at their home, they had just moved.  I am afraid I was not as sensitive to all those feelings of overwhelm she might have had and yet she put things aside to be with us.  Such a gift that she continually gives, to putting aside and to BE with those you love, present.  I say Thank you a million times over for wanting to be my friend and loving me and making me feel so very special!    Thank you friend for being such a good friend and always pointing me towards the Truth, Jesus and is heart!

For now, we give hugs to Young and Eugene, we know they will come!

Their sweet new house.

Silly to the end!

Finding the necessary paperwork to ship our cars to Maui.

Chilling...if he ever wonders if it is great to be a kid, I will show

him the picture and how calm he was as our two family cars

were being shipped far away, he was boarding a plane in just

mere hours to fly to an island in the middle of the ocean.

hoping to find his Gigi in the airport to make the same flight,

and basically his whole life changing in a day.

Man, he looks calm!

Waiting for departure...what am I feeling?  In some ways, auto pilot,

relief that we found my mom, we are at our gate, we got here in

spite of Everything!  Know more feelings will unravel with time.

He loves looking at those planes.

So glad Gigi is coming with us to settle into Maui.

She has had a rough summer, dealing with the fun stuff

of aging, retirement, and has been experiencing short

term memory loss.  It was tough seeing this when we

were in Colorado.  I am hopeful for this time with her!

This is his father's son right here.

On Maui soil.  We landed at 9:30 so it was 11:30 for us

still in CA time.  Bobo woke up to see his new home.

I asked Andrew in mid November when we were in Park City, UT

if he thought we had changed since Maui.  I think we come back in

a different space.  I don't know that I believe much of our core changes,

but through different seasons, experiences, and people, different

things are brought out in us as we respond and grow.  I feel I come back

believing I have something good to offer, that I believe in community,

in friendship that is deep and abiding.  I also believe in exploring

as a family and not being swallowed up in the Maui sameness that

can sometimes creep in or status quo.

Andrew was going to put his shoes on in the plane when we

arrived, I said, "We are in Maui...no need."

Gratefully, Kimberly picked

us up and I don't know how we did it...but we piled

into their Toyota Camery (all 6 of us) and all our

belongings and headed to the West side, about a 45

minute drive. 

First moments in our house, letting them know, this was their home.

We went through all the rooms just trying to figure out our starting point

and take it all in.  So familiar and yet distant.  I was so tired.  We all

decided to sleep in the living room floor, the house did not feel like

ours and I think we all felt good sticking together.  Plus, it was not

clean.  Andrew ran to the store and when he came back and mom came

up from downstairs I could not even raise my head after putting the

two little's to bed.  I felt that my hostess job for mom was lacking but

I could not get up and then I was fast asleep.

More tomorrow....

This is your New/Old house buddy!