Packing up your life and overcoming “The Look”

We are in spain and so we thought we would postdate some letters to the blog and backtrack for you....this is from Aug 2010


I have too many pens. Too many lip-gloss containers in weird shades that I would never wear, too much clothing and here I sit helplessly in the sea of it all supposed to sort it out. I am on the floor of our home in Kitchener surrounded by suitcases and well, lip-gloss. My neighbor and dear friend came over to talk and cry and laugh with us one last time on our living room floor with no furniture and for some reason she didn’t want the ‘Essence of Coral’ gloss I so kindly offered.
Saying goodbye to such formative friendships and such a unique neighbourhood community has required a tangible grieving process. From the trivialities of having my last coconut doughnut at Kitchener Market or having to purge my piles of letters and life memorabilia to letting go people who have shaped our early life as a young family.
Then there are the seemingly insurmountable loose-ends to figure out. I can’t answer the doubts and sheer panic that overwhelm me at times, or the biggest difficulty to overcome: “The Look”.
The look people give us when we inform them that we are selling all of our possessions and taking the kids to Europe, biking the Camino de Santiago and hopefully making it to Africa.
“You’re doing what?” Says the Look.
“Why?”
Why? When our neigbourhood is amazing, when Rob’s job was secure, why would we give up my teaching job and Kathryn being accepted into French immersion?
Luckily we have dear friends who don’t give us “The Look”. These friends took us out for dinner before we left and asked Rob what he hoped to find by undertaking this family adventure. Rob paused for a moment and simply said, “I hope to journey with God.”
I believe that this is the heart of what we’re doing and why I can overcome “The look” despite my own better judgment. To be changed by taking a path less travelled is always difficult and always demands that we lift our feed and leave our comforts to find it.
I am praying that after all the “why, what, where and when’s” have been answered by my getting rid of these lip-gloss containers and finding travel insurance that God will show us the “How”.
“God, the Lord, created the heavens and stretched them out. He created the earth and everything in it. He gives breath to everyone, life to everyone who walks the earth. And it is He who says, I the Lord have demonstrated my righteousness. I will take you be the hand and guard you.” (Is. 42 vs. 5-6a)

Travelling isn't Glamorous

k. so my pack weighs....almost 50pds. Kate's about 35. Here we are walking off the ferry onto the Idylic Island of Iona. The place the book of Kells was written. The heart of Celtic Christianity and it is pouring. The kids are in the trailer with the cover on. It is passed supper time and our hostel is not the advertised 500 metres, but more like 1.5 km. The last building on the island-literally.

Travelling with kids is hard. The other day we were late and waiting for a bus and the words, 'i gotta poo.' come off the lips of Sim. The choice-40minute bus ride and wet, poopy kid, or miss the bus and get home in the dark? You choose.

I think the thing this trip has taught us is not that travelling with kids is impossible, but rather are you willing to make the sacrifices to slow down, adjust your expectations, and let your kids help dictate the tempo.

We could have said,' it's too hard', but then we wouldn't have gone to Iona, to Taize, or anywhere else. I think what often the limitation is our willingness to suffer, to endure, to do everything possible to make it happen.

What is your limitation?

I was inspired by Notre Dame which took 200 years to build. What if the members of the church said, enough? Or Edinburgh Castle, 1000 years to build all of it? I have been challenged of how short, and weak my effort often is.

Customizing Gear

You know you are doing something serious once you start to need to design your own equipment. This has been an awesome part of our journey. There just isn't products out there that are designed specifically for what we need.....so I have been making our own.



As an inspirational word to all of you.....Customize. There is no one looking over your shoulder saying do it this way. Some of the best successes in life happen because you customize your tools to do something totally brand new. The hardest part of my customizing has been trying to figure out how to thread a needle on a sewing machine.



Here is what I have been making....


Because we need to travel light to bike in Europe, but the kids may need warm sleeping bags, the run of the mill bed liner that can be purchased for about $60 a piece wouldn't cut it. The kids needed something so that if they were freezing they could get something warm on top. Solution.....create a bed liner that is light cotton on top for warm nights, and quilted on the bottom for cold nights. Basically they fold up to a little larger than a store bought bedliner, but 1/3 of the price. The other thing is....why carry a 6ft bedliner for a kid who is only 3ft long....each of the bed liners is custom length so we don't carry too much fabric and excess weight around.


For inspiration.....customize your own solution for your journey. It will be a lot better in the long run than a on size fits all solution you can buy in a box store.

Cheers.

TEA PROVERBS

'Trust in God and tie up your Camel"

This seems like life right now. Both a mix of embracing the unknown and tieing up all the loose ends like we were really planning for something. If this really is an adventure we ARE going to embark on then make decisions like it is. It's amazing how you can wait to do things, like fix the holes in the wall, paint etc. , but if we believe we have to sell- make the practical plans happen.

Today.

Dealing with Questions

stewing on it..

There are lots of ways to make a decision. If we take the wise words of Treebeard 'don't be hasty Master Pippin, ' it seems inevitable that you will spend time stewing. Waiting for the best plan to emerge. Waiting for ideas to take shape.

Don't get me wrong this isn't a passive thing, waiting is filled with, asking questions, looking at different perspectives, looking for new doors to open. Stew just doesn't sit on a stove it 'gets married' flavors mix together, combine, become one. This is how an idea becomes a plan. Running off and just doing something legitimizes escapism where planning, reflecting, praying, turn an idea, a plan, a dramatic lifechange into something that allows you to pursue the things that God created for you to be and to do. Stewing on an idea, means you mix the idea with the other aspects of your family, of your thinking, of your dreams so they fit together.

We are in that stage now. Dreaming, fitting, piecing things together. We wish we could just...'go', just 'have something drop into our laps' but that only short changes the process.

Stew takes time.


rob