Anniversary!!

And it's not a wedding anniversary either--yet! Twenty three years ago on the 18th of September, we arrived at Fairwood, kit and kaboodle. Kendra was 8, Chad 5 and Craig 2. I thought I'd jumped off a cliff and landed into the middle of the hugest fish bowl imaginable--Fairwood! Yuk. I was not particularly happy. I loved Florida and everything about it and the only thing that made the whole move at all palatable was that God had convinced me Himself that He wanted us to move to Fairwood.

For 2 years I floundered with my roots dangling and my heart torn by the upheaval. So many things were so different. . .Within a day or so Chad jumped off his uncle's shoulders and ended up with a mouthful of loose or broken teeth and we ended up in the office of the local pediatric dentist because all oral surgeons had gone out of town for the weekend. Chad threw up on the dentist's couch, I cried and was miserable, but we stayed with that dentist for 20 years for all our kids. He was a true God-send to us--cheap enough so we could afford to have their teeth cleaned twice a year!

After a couple of years, our roots started to grow downward again and the pain of uprooting became less raw. I gradually adjusted to the fish bowl, to running to keep up with the demands of all the women's work at Fairwood--canning, cleaning, meetings, plus care for our family etc. etc. I learned how to put the children to bed all by myself and be all by myself with them night after night after night as Neil ran around Fairwood implementing all the bright ideas that popped out of his head left and right for the Bible School to try. He did sports in the gym, mentoring, evening classes, morning classes, held occasional meetings, decathlons, and on and on and on and on and on. It's been quite the ride! but because God has been with us and directed us, our family has flourished and not lanquished. Would I do it all over again? Absolutely!

I must also hasten to add that in retrospect all these many years later, Fairwood has been the most ideal place in all the world for us to raise our children. When we began home educating 17 years ago, our children had built in role models right in front of them in the Bible School students, or at least in some of the students! They had friends in the other families who lived at Fairwood, they had endless space in which to run and explore and have fun, and as they got older and older they were able to join in with Bible School sports and activities and broaden their horizons in many different ways as they interacted with the students in their activities from time to time. One time when Kendra was a junior in high school we considered making a move away and she begged us to please, please, please just hang on until she got into the Bible School and then we could move and she could stay at Fairwood forever! Instead, she left and we stayed!

Soooo, when we lead where He follows and respond to what He calls us to do we never quite know where we might go or where we'll end up. But His grace is sufficient and He knows what is best and it is good!

PS We have returned to FL numerous times since moving to NH and I have been sooo thankful that we did not have to raise our family there. See? God gets things right. Surprise, surprise!