We've Turned the Corner, We Think!

(originally posted on 2017-02-01)

We returned to Canada just about 18 months ago. Considering that on average it takes three years to be settled after a move such as we’ve made, then we are at the halfway point. Thank God for that. Seriously. Thank God that we have made it this far without falling apart. Honestly I feel as though we’ve turned a corner. The indicators are lots of small ones more than they are big things.

Friendships:
While Eli and Ana made friends pretty quickly, Sophia has taken longer but I think she has made some connections in the past couple months. It was actually Jeff and I who took the longest to form some friendships. But we feel we are well on our way largely due to being connected with a small group at our new church.

Church:
We had settled for a time at a church nearby but after several months had to admit that while it was a good fit for some of our family, it was not a good fit for all of us. After a recommendation from our neighbour we tried one about 12 minutes away. It is a medium size church with about 300 members. It has mid-week activities for everyone, small groups for Jeff and I, stuff for each of the kids, and opportunities for both Jeff and I to give back to the church in various ways.

Attitudes:
Attitude is really hard to measure. But overall Jeff and I would say that attitudes have improved. Kids attitudes which were quite negative towards church have slowly, slowly, turned around. They are not where we want them to be yet but they are getting there. At this time I think this would be out greatest prayer request for our family. Pray that our children see the reasons to be excited about kids club, about youth group, about Sunday school, about church and community. And pray that Jeff and I respond appropriately when negativity rears its head. Note: while everyone is grumpy sometimes and Sunday mornings are a rush and often chaotic, we are not equating that with a negative attitude.

We know that we will still have rough days, above and beyond the normal rough days that everybody has. Keeping in mind that it takes on average 3 years to be fully settled again, it is exciting to think that we have less time ahead of us than what we’ve already come through. The days where we feel we are slogging through parenthood, settling, work etc. are less and less, and the days of joy in these things are more and more. Thank God.