The Move

Those three years were tough and great on our family.  But they were coming to an end.  The troubled church didn't become less troubled and in fact ended up splitting.  I was very involved in this discord and it is one more instance of God's faithfulness to forgive.  There was much behind the back talking, and much ganging up and I was in the thick.  Coming from the church in Drain where everything, as far as a youngster and teen would know, was handled in a loving and mature manner, I was ill equipped to deal with this kind of disunity.  Toward the end of this dividing, Darrin lost his job.  So we left.  

We packed up our little homestead and our kids and headed for home.  Drain.  

I know that most of this is serious stuff, but I have to tell a bit of the craziness of this move.  It came at the height of my animal collecting.  I had five doe goats, two buck goats, five ewes, two rams, one llama and a number of chickens that I can't recall.  And a cat.  And a dog.  And a duck.  The only creatures that didn't make the cut were the two buck goats.  They went to a new home.  

This strange menagerie  needed transported 200 miles south. As well as all of our many household possessions. As well as ourselves and our four young children.  The end of the road was going to be my parents place; a third of an acre and a 1200 square foot house.  

The actual driving was the strangest part.  We borrowed a horse trailer to tow behind our minivan and rented a car dolly to go behind the rented moving truck.  Into the trailer went the five goats and the llama and the chickens (in the little cubby over the tongue) along with the feed for them all. Into the back end of the minivan, on a tarp, because sheep are terribly calm and mellow when in the back of a moving vehicle, went the ewes and their beaus and myself and the children.  Darrin was in charge of the huge truck and the extra-large sized dog crate containing the duck and the cat.  Together.  Quacking and meowing mournfully until the driver stopped for lunch and fed them a cheeseburger. This driver did not stop until we got to Drain because of the reaction that sheep ACTUALLY have to motion,  a smelly, messy, loud reaction.  The carpet would never be the same.  

It was a strange procession we made and a strange transition in our lives.  But it was just what our sad, tired hearts needed.  We needed to be in that church home where we could heal and help and enjoy the people that knew us best.  

As for my closet plainness, it showed me that my convictions were not strong.  I wanted to fit back into the spot that I had claimed as a child.  And because of the closeness of that community, it was easy to do.  My dearest, oldest friend had come home after years away and it just seemed right that we came full circle, even if it was only for a season.