The Front Porch of Folsom

“Nothing is secure but life, transition, the energizing spirit.”

 Ralph Waldo

The eagle has landed and the front porch has a new address.  I sit in my new home watching the sunlight shine through windows that are new to my mind.  I listen to the sound of music in the background and I take a deep breath.  “We finally made it.”

This is it and I did not die.  Even though it felt like it at times as I packed, boxed, and gave away many of our belongings, those days felt like I was highjacking my own life.  There were days when I thought I was going to be lost in the memories of yesterday and swallowed up by the sadness of saying goodbye.

The transition was a success due to the people, family and friends who cheered us on, even when we all felt the lose of the physical location of the relationship.

My faith, family and friends have given me the strength to be bold and brave.  I embraced every emotion, feeling and even the lose.  Tears were shed and goodbyes were said.  Because of these beautiful relationships, our family was able to walk away from the life we had known for 17 years with confidence into the unknown.

Three weeks into the landing and I was able to call a friend and share with her how as a woman of faith, we get a glimpse of the behind the scenes of our stories.  The part of the story that was not given to me when I decided to embrace the change.  A story where one family thanked us for blessing them with an opportunity to live in a home big enough for their family of eight.  A story where less then one week into the move we were able to exercise our prayer request and practice not being our things and stuff.  A story where gratitude became our theme and relationships ones again became our focus.

I am sitting in that gratitude at this very moment, looking back at the short past three weeks and see all the amazing gifts that have already been given because we chose to embrace the change. 

Every time we get the opportunity to spend time with our daughter and her family, cuddle our grandson and walk to the lake, I see the benefit of folding into our future and excepting the change.

I pause in my moment of gratitude and I lift up every person who has played a pivotal role in the process of our move. 

Dear God,

Thank you for the amazing circle of family and friends, those who walk by faith and not by site.  Thank you for placing a dream in our hearts and giving us the faith to walk it out.  I pray that our front porch here in Folsom will be a place where people feel safe to sit, share and celebrate, just like we did before.  I pray that we as a family will always remember that the front porch is more of an attitude then an address. 

Love Your Grateful Girl

Cristina