Moving On!

“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world” ~ C.S. Lewis

The new name of my family's blog "Boulders Into Blessings" is from a devotion I was fortunate enough to hear at just the right time. It was the story of Aron Ralston, a climber who had to cut off his own arm to save his life. He was on a solo hiking and climbing trip when his arm became trapped in a boulder, he realized that the only way to save his life was to cut off his own arm. He had to use the pressure and weight of the boulder and a pocket knife to remove his arm and that's just what he did. 

Sometimes life can become so painful that it seems as if the only way to save ourselves, our spirits, is to be forced to confront the "boulders" in our lives, free ourselves from them and let those stumbling blocks become blessings. Aron says that he is so thankful for the experience with the boulder, no matter how painful, he wouldn't change it if he could. It gave him an entirely new perspective on life... for him the boulder was a blessing. For the kids & I, the boulders have become blessings as well, navigating and discerning truth from lies has been painful to say the least. Despite it all, we get a new beginning, no matter how complicated and tangled and painful our boulders have been. 

The boys 4 wheeling at camp!

Yes, the girls have helmets too, we were just posing for a pic!

So what did we do? We've gone country. Seriously, we packed it up and moved out of the city to the middle of NOWHERE! I took a job at a camp that I grew up playing at, I have childhood memories of playing in the same spots my kids now call home. The boys call it the "bermuda triangle" because once you are on camp property you lose cell phone service and the internet is spotty, oh the tragedy! They are doing great at their new (much smaller!!!) school, their number one reason for liking it better here = less homework. It's the little things. 

Not too long ago, one of them came home from school and said that people are just less "judgy" here. What they have all picked up on is that there is less concern for material things here... kids don't have to have the most expensive clothes, game system, cell phone. They are kids! They just need a safe place to call home and room to play. Yesterday consisted of new friends coming over to play, 4 wheeling, hiking, climbing rocks and sunset canoeing on the lake thanks to the awesome summer staff kids who are here on the weekends. How cool is it that they get to play with their summer camp counselors all year long!? Last night ended with having to force them off the trampoline after giggly wrestling matches with the summer staffers and all I could think was Thank You God for giggles instead of tears tonight. 

We'll take giggles over tears any night...  but when the tears resurface, and they do ~ it's just part of the process ~ we will listen God when you shout through our pain.