The Road Less Traveled

     Forehead pressed against the car window, my eyes gazed wistfully at the rolling green fields of corn and sprawling farmhouses as my family's minivan sped home. I caught fleeting glimpses of farmers maneuvering tractors through the fields, of Amish fathers and sons plowing the rich soil with a team of mules. With each passing mile, an inexplicable lump grew in my throat until to my consternation, tears began rolling down my cheeks! My sisters were preoccupied with their side of the road, until an involuntary sniff betrayed my tears. "You're crying?!" one of my sisters asked in bewilderment. My mother turned around in her seat, concerned. "I don't know why!" I laughed a little hysterically through my tears as I caught dad's eyes observing me through the rear view mirror with a look of complete bewilderment. "It's just so beautiful, and I've always loved the country. This is how life is supposed to be lived!" I fumbled.

     Four years ago, my family and I visited Lancaster, PA to celebrate my little sister's birthday. After arriving home in New Jersey, I attempted to sort out my jumbled emotions on paper. The other day, as I paged through some of my old journals, I came upon that specific entry and, like so many times during the past two years, marveled at the clear hand of God on my family's life and on my own. My entry ended, "I haven't fully sorted out my deep feelings toward that countryside. I've been all over the U.S. and nothing has called to me with such intensity as P.A. has. NOTHING." Was this God's voice calling us to Pennsylvania even then? That I should feel such a part of that land when we hadn't even thought of moving! 

     As of today, our house is officially on the market. I think this year's house cleaning will go down in our family history as The Epic Spring Cleaning. The siding has been scrubbed free of mold, the basement - a refuge for unused or forgotten items - has been organized, windows have been cleaned, walls repainted. With each swish of a soapy rag accompanied by Vivaldi's "Spring" or other inspiring music, my sense of adventure and excitement mounts ever higher. I'm not exactly sure where God is leading in all this. But if I've learned anything through the past two years of my mother's cancer it is that I serve a God who can be trusted with every ounce of my being. It isn't easy. Sometimes it is heart-wrenching work, raw duty carried on only by the realization that we have nowhere else to go. As the beaver told Lucy in "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" God is not safe! Oh, no! If you are truly His child, He will bring you by perilous paths, mountains of impossible difficulty, sometimes even into the shadows of Death itself. But...He is good. If I’m awed by His Fatherly care now, how much more when in Glory He shows me how this little event turned the course of a life, or that decision caused a chain of events which God used in a specific way.

     Anyway, my main objective in starting this blog is to keep family and friends up to date on our lives. Enjoy following my family's adventures as we abandon life in the suburbs of New Jersey and set out into the wilds of Pennsylvania! :D  Riveting pictures of Corinne and I prepping the house will be posted soon. :P