Jeep rc rock crawler
KJ's Jeep, dug a little mud pit in back yard to play with the old JEEP !
Our Not-So-Empty “Empty Nest”
The epiphany came to me one day, while I was chatting with a woman by the beautiful Deschutes River in downtown Bend, Oregon. Her two boys were grown and she lived nearby within a block of both sons. She remarked on the joy she found in her grandchildren as well as the immense fulfillment she gained in remaining actively involved with their families. I, on the other hand, had naively assumed that our three kids would likely move away someday leaving Glen and I to live out retirement apart from them. Wasn’t that the common American way?
New thoughts flickered within me that day igniting into a hopeful dream, one that I now see as the path God had designed for our family, and He orchestrated this “chat” down by the river to bring me into the loop! Could we – would we- remain close knit and possibly even live near all of our kids when they married and had their own families? The prevailing culture promoted the idea that healthy families keep a “safe” distance from each other in adult life, that an “empty nest” was something to look forward to. Yet, I was well aware that other cultures held to an entirely different idea of family – a wider concept that included grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins – one that assumed ongoing closeness and interdependence.
I started to pray differently. Our kids did move out of Oregon and we found ourselves separated by distance from them for a season. But by God’s grace, and a few crazy circumstances, we ALL became Oregonian transplants living in Austin, Texas- in very close proximity to each other. And many common threads now knit us together on a daily basis. Our family is the “village” in which the cousins are raised and trained. We value time together and enjoy each other. Our kids are best of friends and accountability partners and they definitely keep “Oma and Opa” ( German names for grandma and pa) accountable as well. How great is that!
Perhaps you come from a close knit family and plan for it to continue with your children. Or perhaps you come from a family marked by splintered and broken relationships, and you long for- yet don’t know how to seek after- lasting family closeness. Regardless of how your life has played out thus far, boldly seek after the desires God has placed in your heart. Be intentional and PRAY! I started to actually believe and act as if this dream could happen after “the divinely appointed chat”. And our family is a living testimony of how God answers prayers and how quickly life can change!
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