"the end"

This post is the end. It is also the beginning. It is the end of almost a month of living apart from Rich. He moved to Bloomington, Illinois last month to begin teaching, but the kids and I have been on our own back here in Pennsylvania waiting on a few tiny logistical details such as where would we all live in Illinois? It has taken this entire time to sort out living arrangements, nail down a moving truck, pack up the house, get our current home on the market, etc....  But now, finally, with 9 weeks left until the next Sealy is due to be born, our family is at the end of this season of separation and poised at the very beginning of a new life together in the midwest. We're moving into a rental house this coming week and then hopefully over the month or two that follow, our house here will sell and we'll find a house out there to buy. The Lord will do all things well.

This post is the end of my occasional daydreams about how much more efficiently and smoothly I could run a household without the interference - pardon me, I meant INPUT - of my husband. This month has been an exhausting and eye-opening experience of what my life would be like without Richard and I have grown immensely in a mature appreciation of not only what he does for us but more importantly who he is to us. Yes, he takes out the trash and cuts the grass and squashes bugs and frees me to go to the grocery store without dragging three highly needy individuals along - but truly I have not missed him primarily because of his usefulness. I've missed him as my best friend, companion, soul mate and sounding board. I've missed him as the father to my children. I've missed the person of Richard - and so have the kids (particularly Bernadette. Joseph, I think, has mostly forgotten that such a person as "Papa" exists).  But I confess I have also missed his usefulness. Tremendously. It turns out he is far more useful than I was giving him credit for. Praise be to God.

This post is also the final, last, true end of our Mission to New Zealand. We are beginning our next mission - after a three month mission-recovery-respite, the Lord has finally moved all the pieces and placed them just so and by next week the whole family will be inserted into this next chapter in our communal life. I call this mission "The Mission of Everyday Life" and actually, we are all living out a mission of the same title, all the time, in New Zealand, or in America, or anywhere else.

Since this post marks the end of our Mission to New Zealand, it seems apparent to me that it is now time to end this blog as well. I have lots of mixed feelings about signing off, but with two moves on the horizon, a fourth baby coming in a few weeks and the part-time research project that Rich and I are collaborating on, I'm not sure the months to come will hold many hours for blogging anyway. And if I should change my mind down the line, I already have set up my next blog. A few months before leaving NZ, I played around and set up my post-New Zealand blog. Once life settles down a bit, if I feel prompted to begin blogging again, here's where you'll find me:

www.tinyheroicmoments.blogspot.com 

Many thanks to all who have read along with us and who have supported and cared and encouraged us. May the Lord bless you with His reckless generosity, may He give you every needed grace in His perfect timing and may your hearts find deep and abiding peace in Him.

The End.