January 2, 2012

• home sweet cottage.

   

  we’ve returned!

  the long journey is over.
  the last boxes are unpacked and thrown away.
  the suitcases are stowed up in the attic.
  the little cottage sweet and cozy and drafty as ever.
  the memories of traveling over 6000 miles in the last 3 months very real.
  the question of “what world are we in now??” by a certain 4-year old is over.
  the time at ellerslie so precious and treasured.
  the christmas season is experienced and past.
  the new year was brought in with a strep-throat child
     [not even a sniffle for three months, now southern allergies strike hard].

  it’s so wonderful to be back.
  hellos are being said to friends and family and neighbors.
  “new” toys are being discovered by the girls – ones they forgot they had.
  corners are being organized and cleaned – ones that were abandoned in pregnancy illness.
  the lovely christmas pictures mailed to us are hung on our refrigerator and we smile back daily at these celebrities.
  goodness, it was fun to have so much lovely mail!

  the past three months have been some of the richest of our lives.
  such deepening of our faith, strengthening and fortifying of our souls,
  enrichment of our marriage, bonding of our family,
  making of many new sweet friendships.
  we loved every day spent there.
  i think we could have stayed forever
  but the Lord has called us home and that is where we gladly return.

  it’s so hard to describe our past season in a nutshell.
  perhaps a few quotes would sum it up better than i can:

  “The Christian life can only  be explained in terms of Jesus Christ,
  and if your life as a Christian can still be explained in terms of you –
  your personality, your willpower, your gifts, your talent, your money,
  your courage,, your scholarship, your dedication, your sacrifice,
  or your anything, – then although you may have the Christian life,
  you are not yet living it.”
  [major ian thomas]

  “To believe in Jesus Christ is not just a mental acknowledgement,
  but a disbelief in all other systems on earth,
  a repentence and a turning unto God,
  and a literal giving of our lives and everything we are to Him.”
  [eric ludy]

  it was just so full of Jesus.
  and although i leave and am in a different place,
  i still want my life to just be full of Jesus.
  that’s all that matters.
  what a high, unattainable impossible desire.
  possible only through His enablement and Spirit.

  i am really looking forward to reconnecting with many of you, now that we have internet once again. it was a positive thing, to have a season of being removed from so many distractions with online things, but i was ready to connect socially again, since in some ways we felt like we dropped off the planet! and i am looking forward to connection again through this little bit of online space. thanks so much for those of you who thought of us and prayed, send notes and messages and cards and packages… it really was so special to us!

  our tradition of sending out christmas pictures was held off this year. our money allotment went toward schooling instead.

  but for those of you who want a picture, here’s a happy new year greeting from the little clan at the cottage!

  [north carolina / september, 2011]

   

  Happy New Year!

  ~ clarita

   

  • 4:21 pm
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