Journey of a Thousand Miles

Friday, January 28, 2011

Taa daa! Last night I took all our games to the new house and cleaned the 'game closet.' So this is the first part of our home that looks like home.

Tonight Eli and Kendall put all the outlets together. Eli was excited to help.

I've been feeling overwhelmed by the work to come. So I finally decided it's time to call some friends. I'm blessed to have 2 friends joining me at the new house tomorrow to clean. I think that will be the emotional boost I need. (Not to mention all the work we can get done!)

Leonard and Twila are coming Monday. They are bringing Leonard's uncle and aunt with them. I know lots of help is on the way, so I'm trying to keep all of that in mind. I'm excited to be in the new house, I just get buried in the work that's ahead. But today I realized that it's crazy right now, but in just 2 weeks the craziness will have passed. Reminds me of finals in college... Except I get a new house out of the deal!

5 comments:

Jen Bontrager said...: Wow! That looks amazing!; January 29, 2011 at 8:19 AM
Kirst said...: the game closet makes it look so homey! :) and i keep being amazed in pictures at how OLD and TALL eli is! :); January 29, 2011 at 5:08 PM
Dave & Gloria said...: I love the photo of those 2 electricians! Things are looking really good. Mom; January 30, 2011 at 6:39 PM
Matt said...: It's looking great guys! Do you guys play games much?; January 31, 2011 at 8:54 AM
Jodi said...: That is such a typical Miller game closet! Ha! The Miller's are always the families to "borrow" games from! Love it...your new home has come together so fast. (at least for those of us far away); January 31, 2011 at 6:41 PM

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"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Lao-tzu

July 1, 2008
This journey so far has taken me one thousand and four miles from my hometown, but I’m having trouble putting my finger on the single step that began it all. Was it Monday afternoon at the border when they gave me my official document allowing me to pass? Was it Saturday morning when we started the car and drove out of Goshen in our funny little caravan? Was it in February when we came up to Red Lake for a job interview at the hospital? Was it two Christmases ago being up here with Kendall’s family and all of us rating our desire to live up here? (I can’t say my number on a scale of 1 – 100 was high, but it was the highest of all the in-laws, so I guess I’m the chosen one.) Was it three years ago almost to the day that Kendall first said, “What if we’d move up here?” (I tried to ignore that one for several months, thinking surely it would go away.) Or was it June 10, 2000 when I married Kendall and made some solemn promises before God and all these witnesses? Was it a night before Kendall and I were married when we talked about moving to Red Lake? (It was a far off and romantic possibility at that time.) Or was it living in and visiting different cultures at different times in my life? Could the first step have been when my parents brought me as a baby to this same area for a year of voluntary service? (Kendall wasn’t born yet, but I surely saw his parents as they chatted with mine from time to time.) What about when my dad lived on a nearby reserve for two years before he was married? Or when my mom visited this town with her family as a teenager? Or maybe it had something to do with choices my grandparents made? Or other ancestors farther back?

At any rate, moving into this house where I slept for a few weeks as a baby and where my dad stayed as a teenager, has made me very aware of roots. And how they affect our lives and choices and passions.

I suspect there is no single step that began our move a thousand miles away from Indiana. It seems, rather, to be a coming together of so many different factors. (Not the least of which is marrying a man who has taken this land as a very part of his being. And for all the ways I can tease him and get annoyed at some of his woodsman ways, I really do mean that in a reverent and respectful way.)

So here we are, a thousand miles from nowhere. (Oops…I meant a thousand miles from Goshen.) I know that we safely made the journey here, but mostly our journey is just beginning. And mostly I’m excited.

Journey of a Thousand Miles

Friday, January 28, 2011

5 comments:

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Lao-tzu

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