July fifth David and I were up talking one night for three hours. One of the things we talked about was our freedoms, it being the fifth of July, and all. We talked about the many freedoms from which we would be abstaining. A big one for us is the ways we grow closer to our Maker. I, through nature. He, through community. Each will be a unique challenge overseas. We decided we would be proactive about keeping ourselves healthy in this area and support one another in getting what we each need. Even that night and the next morning, our requests were answered for me. Visiting David's Deaf brother Daniel's flickr site was amazing. He sees water drops on a table top, he sees a small bug on a leaf. He sees the clouds before a storm. He doesn't just take photos of beautiful things in nature, his perspective brings out their beauty. I was encouraged that I could fill our home with beautiful scenes of nature and experience the wonder of creation even when I am buried in the city. The next morning, I continued my reading through Ps*lms at 104: all about nature. I was moved, remembering again that the Creator knows His creation, even me in the conversation of the night before.

Last week, I was talking to my sister-in-law, Emily, about the blurred brain I have had recently. How do you prepare to say good-bye to your home of six years and the friends and memories you have there? Our children have been very helpful to me in this are; facilitating their good-byes helps me process my own. I told Emily, I didn't feel right about saying good-bye before we were officially moving, but then I realized we would be in town for little more than two weeks before our move. Plan a Bon Voyage party, send invitations, pack, divest of what we aren't taking, visit six years of people and places for the last time in that time? Blurred brain.
So, we have begun. Kathy, the ultimate party planner, helped me plan a Bon Voyage party and Tina and Christopher have agreed to host it at their house. I have been thinking of last visits with friends and David has planned a camping trip with his guy friends.
Another activity that has helped the kids and I process has been to look through all of the photos we have taken. I made an A,B,C 1,2,3 book from a three ring binder and on each page is a family member or friend that we love. I made an album for us to take over with us to introduce ourselves to new friends and give them a bit of our background. For our Colorado pages, I was impressed to realize we have visited the Botanic Gardens, the Museum of Nature and Science, Red Rocks Amphitheater, the Children's Museum of Denver, Glenwood Springs, Dinosaur Ridge, Mount Falcon, Chief Hosa, Estes Park, Lair o' the Bear, the Capitol, the Butterfly Pavilion, Library story times in 5 counties, and many beautiful parks and playgrounds. For our family pages, I loved having photos of my children with uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents, and great-grandparents on both sides. Each smiling face seemed to me to be affirming and present with us.
Altogether, it has been a truly wonderful experience. Like remembering and carrying with you, very literally, all of the things for which you are thankful.
Joshua and Hannah, saying good-bye to their favorite swimming pool.

I thought I would give a bit of an update on how Joshua is doing with his "things". For the move from the Steven's house, I basically just gave each child a duffel bag and said they could put anything they wanted into it, but it had to zip. I added, that crying would be okay, but if we were all able to finish packing these bags with no tantrums, I would take everyone to Chic Fil A for lunch. We spent the morning going through toys, books, even special blankets. And the children earned Chic Fil A. That afternoon while they were away with David, I put everything else in their room into boxes in the basement. Then we emphasized how wonderful it was to have what they had in their bags.
Actually, each of the children have had the opportunity to miss something since we have made this initial move. Joshua burst into tears when he realized we had given away a computer mouse he used with his kindergarten program. And Hannah keeps asking for her tricycle that we returned after a long-term loan from a friend. I tried to explain to Joshua with an analogy, and, actually, a rather good one came to me as we were driving in the car. I said, "Let me tell you a story. There were two friends, a boy and a girl. One day the two of them were playing in some caves and tunnels, when the girl got lost, and became stuck. The boy was the only one who knew where she was and he could even see her through a narrow passageway. He could help her out, if he could get to her. Well, this boy was wearing his favorite hat and a big backpack with many things he loved. He climbed to the opening where he could see her and started squeezing through, but he couldn't his head in because of his favorite hat! He knew he would have to take his hat off if he wanted to get through to his friend, so he took his hat off. He was able to pull his head and shoulders through the opening but was able to go no further because of his backpack. It was too big and bulky to get through the hole, so he took it off. Although it had many of the things he loved in it, he knew it was worth it to rescue his friend. WIth his hat and backpack off, he found that he was able to climb through the hole quite easily and was soon with his friend. He helped her get loose from where she was stuck and she gave him a big hug. As they walked out of the cave together, he knew that he had made the right choice."