merry christmas 2012

It's Christmas night and somehow this is the night that I've chosen for another blog update.  Funny how our normal days are so very full, and yet now––Jesus' birthday, the day that we've been preparing for all these weeks––is the time that opens up for a few moments of reflection.  Oh well, I'll take it.

Earlier today I was looking at all the things strewn about and feeling a bit overwhelmed at the work that lies ahead as we prepare for our departure to Tanzania one month from now.  There are baby clothes to be packed, winter clothes to be briefly worn and then stored away, next summer's kids clothing to be gone through, kitchen supplies to be sought out and repacked, not to mention art supplies and homeschool books and solar-powered rechargers and lanterns and mosquito nets and water purifiers and I could absolutely go on and on but I'm guessing that you get the idea...a LOT of stuff.  And then I took a deep breath and decided to, as our friend Kathi has repeatedly admonished, cut myself some slack.  I realized that in the one year since we last celebrated our Savior's birth, the Powers family has gone through more than a few fairly significant transitions.

After packing up just about everything we owned and leaving Greenville in late December last year, we transitioned to a month at my parents' home in south Louisiana.  Though that was certainly a happy time, there was (startling but eventually fantastic) news that brought many new questions to our minds in the early days of 2012.  Then there was the major road trip and move to Los Angeles in late January, where we moved our lives into three small bedrooms and shared a house with 12 others for the following four months.  Following that, there was the early June move to Houston, where our family of five (including a very pregnant me) settled in with dear friends and traveled several times to my parents' home for summer fun as we awaited our sweet little one's arrival.  And finally (for now), we've just transitioned once again back to my parents' home.  Except this time there are six of us, as well as all of our worldly possessions.  So with the gift of perspective, I'm feeling a bit less overwhelmed by all that must get done in the next few weeks.  Because in truth, it's not much compared with all that we've already experienced.  And in even more truth, I know that we are going to get it done, one thing at a time, with lots of graces showing up as we trust and walk and move ahead.

And yes, Christmas 2012 has been a great one.  We've cherished the time to spend with family.  We've indulged the kids a bit with presents, as we know that Christmases for the next few years will be less stuff-filled, yet likely more peace- and joy- and spirit-filled.  We've relaxed and laughed and played and rested.  We've taken a break from homeschooling and just stopped to enjoy one another.  We've sat in wonder at the marvelous and marvelously simple way in which the Lord of the universe decided to come into our world--not as a great commanding warrior, but as a sweet baby, helpless and dependent as our own precious Jacob--and at how His life turned history on its head, not by might and war, but by submission and love.  And we realize anew that this is our call--not to coerce or control (either our lives or the lives of others), but to submit, to serve, and most of all, to love.  And when we simply follow this simple call, we know that our joy will be complete.

Wishing all a most joyous and happy Christmas.