During the winter, I developed a rhythm to my writing and posting. But once I’m back in Washington with family, that is easily disrupted. To prepare for my travels, I made a few early posts, but time moved quickly as I dealt with other things. Has it been a month already since a new blog post? Where did the time go?
I spent much of this last month with family. After six months away from family, my emotional tank is now refilled to the brim. Plus the flowers. I love coming back to the spring flowers in bloom.
We traveled faster than expected, giving us extra days to spend in Albany, OR. My siblings and their children are within an easy drive from Albany. I got to see all my siblings and most of their families. For the last few years, our stops have been brief as we travel to and from Arizona. This has given me little time to catch up with family.
Our visits to town often brings the family together. Although they live closer together, they get busy and somehow don’t get together much. So twenty-two of us gathered at a Mexican Restaurant for dinner. It was fun, but way too noisy and hard to hear each other speaking. I’m looking at a different approach for next time. I don’t realize how much I miss them until I get to see them again and I’m hoping for more time with them.
Back at our camping club in Washington, we had a few days to settle in before we packed our bags and took off for our daughter’s house in Renton. For this weekend of moving, we slept at the old house, and her in-laws, Bob and Cheryl, slept in their new place.
I got to work packing up the kitchen and directing the small army of worker bees that my grandkids are. After we loaded up five vehicles and a couple of trailers, we headed off. Once there and unloaded, we were thankful Cheryl had a hot meal ready for us. She unpacked boxes while we ate and sent us back with empties for the next day's packing and loading. Three intense days got the bulk of stuff moved.
Despite being worn out, we rejoiced to see them moved into the place they have prayed and worked toward for over a decade. So satisfying. Now, the kids have room to ride their bikes, and the business has room to expand.
Those weren’t the only answered prayers I saw in action. After nine years of estrangement, imagine my joy at seeing both my kids and their families working together in this move, joking around and acting like friends. God’s work in reuniting our family after so many years is miraculous. And even more than I had expected. He's like that.
Waiting for answers is hard, but I have looked for God’s hand at work along the way—celebrating each move forward. When the answer comes, it often looks different from what I had envisioned, but it’s important to visualize it anyway to pray toward that. We don’t want to pray the problem, but the answer.
What answers to prayer are you waiting for? God is faithful, and while His timing is hard to understand at times, hindsight reveals His wisdom. Keep going, keep praying. Keep believing and looking for the answers on their way during your waiting season. He truly loves you and has good plans for you.
And enjoy the flowers along the way.
