When things are really good, so many times we have a hard time recognizing how good we really have it until the good changes. We cannot not truly experience happiness or joy without experiencing sadness and pain. This is something I can say for what has happened in our lives over the last six to nine months. And this is only one of the many things we are learning. When we moved to Georgia we expected so much to be the way we idealized it. We dreamed of a house in the country in Georgia with acres of land to roam and play on. And of course a job that would support our family comfortably. Well we got the first dream. We had a house with acres of land in the country in Georgia. But nothing else was really what we expected. Tom didn’t have a job for three months and then the income from the job he got was much less than we were accustomed to living on. Even though we had heard about the weather here in Georgia, we didn’t really know what hot, humid summers felt like until we experienced them without air conditioning in the middle of August. We didn’t know how many bugs thrive in hot humid weather, including lice. And don’t forget spiders. And cockroaches.
We didn’t really know what it was like to be given so much by family and friends because we truly needed it. We didn’t know what is was like to need to ask for help. This has been an incredibly humbling time. We have recognized even more deeply we are being blessed to be given what we really need. We have needed food and we have miraculously been given food in many ways. People have invited us over for dinner. They have given us food from their gardens. We have received food as gift. We have needed money, and miraculously money has been given to us through gifts, opportunities for small odd jobs, and a job.
Especially over the last month we have received such a huge outpouring of love and service and gifts. My family decided that instead of buying for each other this Christmas, they were going to buy for our family. Tom’s sister Carolyn invited and sacrificed so much to have us come to her house in Virginia over Christmas. Before we left for Virginia someone left a huge box of Christmas gifts on our front porch. When we got home, we found two gift cards in the mail for a total of $850 from an anonymous giver. The significance of the timing of this gift is truly a miracle since Taivan broke his leg a month ago and before we get to take his cast off in a few days we have to pay a huge portion of the bill. And I feel like I haven’t mentioned so many other things so many other people have done to bless our lives. Thank you to all of you. That doesn’t even begin to express our gratitude. You know who you are, even if we don’t.
Now we have moved to a much smaller home with a tiny backyard in the middle of the city and we are loving it. We never knew we would love this more than the home with acres of land in the country like we thought. But our Father in Heaven did. He has know what we have truly needed all along and has given us experiences to help us to see more clearly what is truly important to us. He has given us everything we didn’t know we wanted. He has blessed us through so many wonderful people in our lives. He has helped us to feel His love through these many gifts that He has given us and through the gift of His Son Jesus Christ.