Today Christian and I picked up Lindsay at the airport.
She came with a smile and a playlist of
upbeat music to play while we packed.
A few days ago, Lindsay and I were talking on the phone, and she said to me,
"I'm coming to help you move."
Of course, I was like, "No, I'm fine (sobbing). I can do this."
"Stephanie, I can come. I want to come.
I will help you get everything packed up.
It will go so much faster, plus a plane ride by myself sounds lovely."
Everything she said was true, and the spirit told me
to let her help me. We will all be in positions as the helper or
the one who needs help. And no one wants to be the one
who needs help, especially me,
because I feel like I've lived a lot of my life as the one needing the help.
Our family is doing so good. We're close, happy, and healthy,
but our plans are not what we had hoped and prayed for them to be.
Our dreams are not yet realized, and the direction we thought we were going in
has taken a different path.
The faith part comes in when I realize that
that doesn't mean it's a wrong path; it just means we are being rerouted
to the way the Lord wants us to be on.
Sometimes it doesn't make sense.
Linda Reeves gives a wonderful talk where she describes a time
in her life when she was confused and worried about a situation.
"I am ashamed to say that I pulled away from my Heavenly Father.
For days I quit praying; I quit planning; I cried.
I finally came to the realization that I could not do this alone.
For the first time in many days, I knelt down and poured out my
heart to my Father in Heaven,
pleading for forgiveness for turning away from Him,
telling Him all of my deepest feelings, and finally crying out
that if this was what He really wanted me to do, I would do it.
I knew He must have a plan for our lives.
As I continued on my knees to pour out my heart, the sweetest,
most peaceful, loving feeling came over me.
It was as if a blanket of love was flowing over me.
It was as if I could feel Heavenly Father saying,
"That was all I needed to know."
I am amazed Lindsay took the time out of her life back in Arizona to rescue me.
She's the best friend I will ever have and has been by my side for FIFTEEN years!
We got to The White House and hit the ground running (packing).
She's very efficient and fast, and we laugh a lot.
She constantly tells me that good things will come my way.
She tells me to hang in there and that the Lord knows what He is doing
with our family because sometimes I wonder why things are hard.
That's why I love her so much.
Today we packed up most of the bedrooms, dining room,
and even started in the kitchen.
Lindsay and I agreed working in the kitchen is fun because we like
to pretend that we work at Anthropologie, wrapping up cute plates and goblets.
If only!
A few times during the day, we stopped to sit on the floor to talk and compress.
We found a stash of candy that Claire was keeping under her bed
and we ate that, too.
Christian made a customized box for all of Lottie's dollhouses.
It was very impressive.
In the evening, I made a big pot of beans and
we made burritos and ate standing up
since our chairs were packed away.
The sky got dark, and before it started to rain and blow, we took a walk
around the neighborhood, enjoying the glow of the magical fireflies.
Man, I am going to miss this house!
I think we stayed up until 2:00 a.m. working, thanks to Lindsay's
excellent playlists and a few stiff Dr. Peppers!
