New Everything

"We have a new everything," S announced to an acquaintance at the county fair today. "A new house, new yard, new garage, and my parents got married."

That about sums up our lives over the last few months.

We got married. It was beautiful and poignant and anything I would write here about it would not do it justice. I didn't actually expect to enjoy my wedding--but I did. Every minute of it. Even the days leading up to it, and the days after.

Everybody wrote a message on a rock for us, and we spent the first day of our short honeymoon at a beautiful state park sitting on the floor of our cabin and reading each stone, taking the time to let the messages sink in. Funny and meaningful, spiritual and intellectual, silly and serious--beautiful, all.

And then, we figured out a way to move into a new house and start our Healing Ranch dream--something we didn't think possible for at least five more years. But we took a risk, a big one, and contacted a couple I knew whose house had been for sale for over a year and priced at least twice what we could actually pay. We told them our dream. They were willing to consider a contract for deed. We found renters for our house, then moved--all within five weeks of our wedding.

New everything. And soon we'll be taking in our first resident, an 18-year-old girl who is lost but ready for structure and change and healing. After that, we'll wait awhile before taking in anyone else--we need some time to reflect on our mission, put together our protocols, etc.

It is totally dizzying, but also so incredibly amazing. T makes me braver--but she also, paradoxically, slows me down. If it had been up to me, I never would have made the phone call or figured out a way to buy this house. But, I might, in a desperate moment, done something similar but not quite as well thought out in a big rush. We're moving along at a steady but not too fast pace, and I am feeling more and more sure of the vision of life as I want it to be, a life full of blessing and hope and, yes, challenge.

Life is good.

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