Knowing myself to be incredibly nostalgic, I am tempted to feel discouraged about this move. An analogy that has continued to emerge in my mind is that of a plant that has generously spread out its roots over the course of some incredibly significant and important years. But the time had come for the plant to be pulled from the soil. It’s as though each of our roots have been removed one by one, in rapid succession, from this life. I have been much too aware of the many “lasts” that we have had to face recently. We experienced our last U.P. fall. I distinctly recall mowing the lawn and thinking about how this was the last time. The boys had their last trip to Portage Hospital to see Dr. Rajanee. I stopped by to drop off mail at our Chassell post office and chatted with the post lady for the last time. We had our teeth cleaned for the last time by Dr. Richards. We had our last Sabbath here in Houghton. Our snow plow guys came for the last time. We had our last Thanksgiving. I just now heard a pack of coyotes howling, perhaps for the last time. We attended our last Yooper Task Force meeting. Our trash pick-up man, Greg, came to our house to pick up our trash for the last time. This past Tuesday morning, we loaded up all of our belongings in the conference semi-truck and they left the U.P. at last.  And tonight, we had our last family evening worship in this home.  We spent it sharing special memories that we’ve spent here.  For the boys, it mainly involved swimming and biking and playing with their friends.  🙂

Now the family is asleep on the floor of an empty house and when we wake up, it will be our last day before we leave the U.P.  I never imagined it would be this hard to move. I never thought I’d make such strong attachments to a place and a church family. But I praise the Lord for this thing called faith. Faith has helped me remember that when He calls us to move, it is always to something better to bring us to someplace higher in our experience. As in the words of a rad Christian artist, “God’s gonna do a new thang”. I feel as though I am being uprooted, but by faith, I know it is to new soil that will enable me and my family to grow.  I also realized that it is time for a new pastor to come in and minister to our churches in a way that we never could.  It goes both ways.  As Christians, we get potted and re-potted several times. Otherwise, our growth will get stunted or we may even die. So, beyond the tears and heartache and lost memories, I can look with hope to the future. It is hard to imagine a better place for our boys to grow up, but I trust that God has a master plan. I know He is preparing us to bring us home, to our final destination, where we can grow indefinitely in the earth made new.

Intently watching all of our belongings being loaded into the truck.

Big Mac & our moving crew on Tuesday, November 29th, 2011.  It was done in 3 hours.

What the last couple of days in the Yoop looked like.

Last day with Grandma Karen – one of the main reasons why leaving is so hard.

Tomorrow morning, once we cross Big Mac, we will officially turn from being Yoopers to Trolls.  That’s basically like changing our citizenship.  Please pray that we aren’t too affected by culture shock.