Cherishing The Seasons

The leaves are beginning to fall and change color, signaling the season changing.  It is also a visual reflection and reminder of a seasonal change in our life right now. 

It's the endings and beginnings I've talked about before. A time to cherish the days gone by and with anticipation look forward to what the new season may offer.

Much activity has been going on at the Deakins' homestead.  These past two weeks have been filled to the brim....and in them have been numerous moments I've wanted to capture to show you but they were simply too sacred.

To pull out a phone to take a snap shot would have ruined the moment and just be plain disrespectful. 

The sacred moments were not captured by my phone's camera, but by the lens of my eye and the snapshot in my memory.  Memories I will cherish forever.  Words that I will hang onto for life!

Days have been filled with hard conversations with ones we love, and yet the hard conversation only revealed what we already knew about our Georgia family - they are a beautiful reflection of Christ Himself. 

God gives us family wherever we go. Surrogate grandparents. Friends who have become lifelong sisters. Brothers who have our back.  Mentors willing to run interference. Children you'd adopt into your family at a moment's notice. Even though none are blood related, the bonds run deep like blood.  

Can I even begin to describe the snapshot moments I wanted to capture?  Let me try... 

Love expressed through locked eyes as we watched tears emerge from each other's eyes. No words are needed. It is felt deep within. Love expressed through the grip of a wrinkled hand who has been where I've been and understands. I wanted to take a picture so badly as she held my hand tightly and bowed her head to pray for me.  

Love expressed through an extended embrace, unstoppable tears, the joy of laughter, and a bear hug that literally lifted me off my feet! 

A pastor, who has walked many more ministry miles than we have, intentionally turned to look us in the face and speak wisdom into us, life giving words over us. He confirmed our calling in ministry.  He built furniture for us and continues to build the Kingdom through his wisdom, words, and generosity. 

They've invested in us, and we in them. They've loved us like family, the unconditional kind. The kind that believes in you and trusts your heart even when they don't have all the details. They don't need to because they know you. 

These relationships are a gift from God and what brings comfort to me is that these gifts are lifelong.  Lasting throughout time and distance.  God placed a precious group of people in our path for a season, for His purposes, to journey with, to sharpen one another, and to grow with.

We've become family!  And it isn't easy to leave one family for another but when God is the One prompting, there is much peace. 

We've been in this place before. In fact, it seems like this is how God usually works in our lives. We've been in many seasons of change and transition without knowing what's to come, without a plan, without jobs....just a word from the Lord..."Go".  Abraham is once again our mentor and example of living in faith. It was Abraham's story of leaving Haran that God opened my heart towards missions.  It was Abraham's willingness to give up his son that convicted me of an idol in my life.  And now it is Abraham once again being told to "Go" but not specifically where that God has prepared us to venture on to unknown territories.  

God simply said, "I will show you."

The changing of seasons can be beautiful as displayed in the trees all around me, the anticipation of cool evenings, warm drinks, and the holidays approaching. The new season brings excitement yet provides a meaningful time to pause and cherish the days gone by and the approaching end of a season. 

Something extraordinary happens when you are smack-dab in the middle of two seasons, when you gain the awareness that the season you are in is now temporary....you live differently.  You see it differently, holding on to life as if fragile...

Not wanting to miss an opportunity to be with those God has placed in your life for that particular season...

 You gain a heavenly perspective when uprooted from this earthly life.  A perspective I should have everyday!

I'm writing this on October 21, 2015, the date that Michael J Fox flew in his DeLorean to the future in "Back to the Future 2".  Well, I don't have a flying car nor a real hoverboard like in the movie, and I don't see Doc and Marty McFly around the Alpharetta clock tower. 

It just goes to show you that while we all would like to know what the future looks like, it is still a mystery....unwritten and unknown. And while the future is unknown to me, it's not for Him.  He knows.  He's got it.  He is trustworthy.  He created the seasons for His purpose and our good, and we "GO" knowing that we have family here and there whom we love deeply.

God has lead us through this before...

It should not surprise us that God will surprise us! 

              

From Old To New

When my girls were young, I would pick up their toys at the end of the day after they were tucked into bed. You are going to think I'm a mean mom, but those toys then became mine. I would tell them "Feel free to pick up any toys you want to keep, and I will keep the ones I pick up." 

They didn't believe me until they noticed all their toys were picked up the next morning. Yes, I heard moans and groans, but they didn't forget to pick up their toys that next evening.  Some toys they left because they didn't care about the McDonald's toys. That's fine. I just collected them in a bag until a few weeks went by, and I thought, "What should I do with all these toys now?  They don't seem to care about these or miss them."

I heard an idea from a parent in one of my first parenting classes. She told me she had a garage sale with her kids' toys. Now, before you think I'm a really mean mom, let me explain. 

I had a garage sale for my girls. I laid out all the unwanted toys on the dining room table, put up price signs, and told the girls they could shop at my sale.  Surprisingly, they ran to their rooms to grab their purse and any loose change they could find to purchase their own items. You should have seen the looks on their faces as they began to shop, hunt for the right items and figure out what was worth their small allowance. You know I always gave good deals, and sometimes they would combine their money to buy a bigger item together. It was like magic. We had so much fun with it, and guess what? Mom was the best that day!

These old toys became the highlight of the day. The girls took all their purchases down to their rooms and played all afternoon together with their once old, but now fun new toys. The old had become new! The once taken for granted became cherish possessions.  The ones left behind and unwanted were worth buying back. The ordinary became of value with a little absence.

A couple Saturdays ago, I decided to clean the garage. As I was pulling everything out, Ava saw all the paint cans and asked if we could clean up and paint the shed. 

We started to pull things out of the little red barn. It was full of old paints left from the previous owner, broken pieces of shelving, cobwebs galore. You name it...it was in there. We even enjoyed taking a sledge hammer to an old broken cabinet. 

Once cleaned out and dusted, we used leftover paint from the garage to touch up the room a bit and bring in some color.

As we painted, Ava asked me questions about my old playhouse on the Enzminger ranch on the Bluff.  It was a place where my imagination grew. It was where I mimicked my mom's cooking and served my family (aka stuffed animals). It was where I developed the art of organizing and arranging. I was a mom. I was an explorer. I was an interior decorator. I was a pet owner. I was grocery shopper.  I was not a wife because boys were gross at that time in my life, and I couldn't imagine being married to a weird boy.

It was small, but to me it was MY home. This is the only picture I could find of it in my photos...I was a bit too big for it when this picture was taken. After I left home, it became the dog house.

Yes, I'm wearing wranglers and cowboy boots. I sometimes dress the part of the country in me.

So compared to my little playhouse, Ava and I were cleaning out a mansion. After all our hard preparations were done, the interior decorator showed up....sister Austyn. She was so excited by the transformation of the little red barn that her creative juices began to flow...adding flowers, lights, and furniture. I could see my job was done, and the project had a new manager. The old shed given a facelift was ripe ground for imagination and new sister fun.

I didn't see them for several hours that evening other than passing me by in the garage with armfuls of school supplies from their rooms. At one point I decided to check things out. 

Right after school on Monday, Ava disappeared. I found her doing her homework in the little red barn. We just added square footage to our home; it's just a detached room.

With a little transformation, old became new. With a little determination and work, unused space became a fun space to do life. With a vision, new activity and life formed. Sometimes we miss the value of the old, worn out, and dirty, but Jesus didn't.  Sometimes we forget what we have because we are looking for something better with not as much maintenance. Jesus doesn't shy away from maintenance.  I'm thankful for that.  Jesus loved to turn the old into new, to clean up and sweep out the dirty, to breathe life into death, and I'm so glad He still does.

What's old in my life that He wants to make new? What "old" in my life do I now see as valuable? What area in my life do I need a clean sweep and dusting?

I'm sensing God has picked up some of my old toys that I've left behind, items that didn't seem as valuable to me at the time, but now He is holding a garage sale and showing me newness in the old. I'm finding even more value in them now in this season of my life, and I'm grateful He is offering them back to me.