Pooch Stitch deeply pondering how crazy his people have become, while on the airport shuttle bus in Frankfurt, Germany.
Merriam-Webster defines Transition as: “passage from one state, stage, subject, or place to another”. I like the use of ‘passage’. It’s not an instant change. I often think this modern world with our airplanes and even our cars have made some transitions much too quick – we no longer have the passage on the ocean liner to adjust or prepare for the changes coming, the days and weeks traveling by carriages or horseback. Sure, it still takes about a day to get from Budapest to Denver, but our souls need much more time to transition. I’ve read it can take two to five years to fully transition and be ‘home’ in a new culture or location, and for some who mix and mesh cultures, there may never be a full sense of ‘home’ as is felt by those only living in one culture or basic location all their lives. Our family is just about one month into our current transition. Our time in Colorado has been bittersweet and sort of confusing, as it’s only a pit-stop and in our old home full of old memories that is also no longer our home, yet needs to be taken care of because it is still our home. Emotionally confusing and hard. And next weekend we prepare for Phase Two as we head out from Colorado and drive to California, arriving at my Grandma’s house on Sunday evening. A crate arrives tomorrow that we’ll fill up with some belongings that have been stored here in CO that we want with us; it’ll follow us to CA. But this is not a ‘full’ move and we’re not bringing nearly as much ‘stuff’ as one would usually move with. Most of that stuff is still in our home in Budapest. It’ll be a season of simplicity. And yet we are all ready to have a real place that will be ‘home’ for this coming season. And for Danny it gets even more complicated, as we’ll also be preparing her first dorm room home! She’ll barely have three weeks with us at Grandma’s before moving into her dorm at Concordia University. Josiah is also making a big step and a big move – he’s been living back in our old house, in his childhood bedroom, for the past almost four years. His transition is different, yet just as real and emotional as for the rest of us.
We’ve not ‘done’ a lot while in Colorado – not the sort of things that make nice Facebook posts in any rate. But if you’re a homeowner, or know someone who is, imagine all those weekend projects that happen….and squish a year’s worth into one month. That’s what we’ve been doing all month. Thankfully our big summer landscaping project from last summer has meant we didn’t have tons of yard upkeep to do, but there was still some. We’ve not seen that many people – we’re entering a new season that is frankly rather unsure and that on top of our emotions has meant that small talk can be exhausting. Thank you for your patience and thank you especially for your prayers and support. We realize this all seems a bit crazy. At the same time, it all seems perfect and just exactly what we’re supposed to do right now. We get to be nearby as Danny begins college, as Josiah pursues his dream of working for Disney, as our granddaughter makes milestones and to be there for my Grandma. And while this initial stage is rather exhausting, we’re also looking forward to a season of rest and chance to really consider where our lives are going – maybe a bit of a mid-life evaluation. The past six years in Hungary was not what we’d imagined, in many ways – better in some, disappointing in some, different and surprising in most ways. Our family was pulled and stretched and we’re all vastly different, as well as exhausted. We’re not sure exactly what that means for our future, but we want some time to ponder, pray and discuss…while floating in Grandma’s pool, eating American foods we’ve missed and enjoying time with our immediate and extended family!
And so, if you think of us in the coming days and weeks – pray for this Transition we’re in. It’s a big summer for our whole family. We’d also greatly appreciate prayers for the practical logistics of the coming weeks – deliveries of some new furniture items, new flooring for our little home at Grandma’s (that is currently ‘expected’ about a week later than we’d hoped), the actual drive to CA through the Rocky Mountains and across the deserts and empty stretches of Utah, Nevada and CA with our dogs next weekend, our little crate and it’s travel, Danny’s move into her dorm not to mention her first weeks of college, Josiah’s job applications at Disney to produce a job (and/or a temporary job until that happens), Josiah’s separate drive out to CA on his own a week after us, and for our brains to keep remembering all we need to, our sense of humor to stay strong (not really hard for our family, but still worth prayer in a stressful season), our patience with each other to exceed our ability and God’s Peace to keep enfolding us as we progress in this passage from one stage to another.
lakatosfamily 