Grandma's House

"Unless the LORD builds a house, the work of the builders is useless."

PSALM 127:1

I have been anticipating for several months my impending retirement (September 1, 2007). I had all along been looking forward to the day when I had more leisure time to give my family, more blocks of time to spend with my sweet grandchildren, without the weariness of returning to work the next day or the next week . . . maybe having sleepovers and cookie baking parties, lazy days of hanging out at grandma's house playing in the backyard with dirt and sand and ants, trips to the beach and playgrounds, quiet reading and cuddling, unhindered by the limitations of a "working woman."

I will tell you that I handed in my resignation this morning and it was rather bittersweet. So much has changed in our family dynamics since I began planning for my retirement. Jesse has enlisted in the Army and now has El Paso, TX as his home base. Diana and Emma, Chris and Matthew are making plans to join Jesse there as soon as they possibly can (1665 miles away -- it feels like the end of the world). Nick and Rachel and Nathan moved down to Houston on very short notice in mid-February! Houston! Adam and Emily have accepted a job in the Twin Cities (Minnesota, don't you know?) and will be moving there by the end of April! We already had three grandchildren in Texas and were resigned to that fact (not happily); but now we find ourselves very shortly with all seven grandchildren (and soon to be eight) in the vast state of Texas. Do you have any idea how far away from Grand Rapids that is? I am grieving all of this. Yes -- grieving.

"Unless the LORD builds a house, the work of the builders is USELESS."

So, Lord -- how do You want to build this house -- how can I serve You with the rest of my life if I am not going to do those things I dreamed of doing? There must be something else He wants me to do when I am not traveling all across America to see our loved ones. And so I am asking Him to show me. I do not want my life for Him to be USELESS. I want to serve Him with everything I have and all that I am. I know He will show me -- and perhaps He will ask me to serve Him out of my comfort zone in a totally different realm than what I could imagine!

I would like to use this blog to journal this past year -- it will be a hodgepodge of stuff -- all in retrospect -- not in any order -- but I hope it will be a place where you come and remember the good times spent together. We will go on making family memories. Journaling these times will be good therapy for a lonely old grandma!