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Our 2014 Move: The Great Silence is Over

I can’t write while I’m moving.

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I can surf Zillow for our future, sketch plans of backyard gardens, move furniture in my mind. I jot down new recipes and pin color schemes. Before I can make sense of the rest of life, I have to know where I will slide my children between clean sheets at night, spoon up apple cinnamon oatmeal for their breakfast.  As soon as the newly-elected Anglican Church of North America Archbishop answered THAT question in front of the thousands at Provincial Assembly, the one about where the Province office would be located now that he was in charge, I could no longer scratch down words on paper. The plates underneath me shifted. My husband is blessed to be his Canon for Communications.

 

I could pray, plan, lament, and dream, but I could not write.

 

I was already creating. I was creating home.

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Madeleine L’Engle shared in a magazine article I no longer remember the name of, that she could not write while she was pregnant. She was already creating, a mass of twisting, brilliant cells becoming a person. It was like that.

 

We moved to a yellow house owned by a Vietnamese landlord in Loganville, GA. Yellow painted on the outside. Five shades of yellow on the inside: pale buttercream to mustard. Yellow everywhere. My mother’s vietnamese friend said that yellow makes them feel at home, where the sunshine was spread thick over their days.

 

It makes me feel at home too. Yellow makes me dream of hillside towns in Italy on the riviera where I was born. I’ve never been bold enough to fill a roller with liquid sunshine, paint the interior of my life pure light.

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Last year we moved from our Michigan parish of ten years the very same weekend as this year’s move, Labor Day. Last year I walked around Sewickley, PA off-center for months like I had an inner ear infection. The boxes stayed piled up in the basement unopened and I forgot to feed my children vegetables. This year I bought bottles of Green Goodness to pour into paper cups.

 

This move has been different.  This year I’ve learned to fall on Jesus. I’ve learned to lean back and ride the turbulence (more on that later). I’ve learned to ask for what I need. A friend. A prayer. An exercise center. I’ve learned that although I may still hear my voice echo in the emptiness of a life less full, He is faithful and He is ALWAYS GOOD. I was a witness. I watched Him rebuild a life, mine.

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Hi friends, I’m finally looking to the future. My dad and I have a book proposal sitting on an agent’s desk. Lord have mercy! Please pray with us? For a champion…for patience.

There will be an e-book coming out soon.

I need your help. I’m also looking to October and 31 Days to write on a single subject. Here are the two possibilities: The Kingdom of God in our home: House of Bread or 31 Days to Fall in Love with your Hometown. What do you think? Want to vote? The Kingdom of God at Home (This post fleshed out) or Loving Wildly Right Where You are (This post fleshed out).

 

Come along? Slip your email in the “connect” box on the front page and we’ll continue to journey together. 

 

Anglican priest, spiritual director, homeschool mom of three and still in love with my high school sweetheart. I love listening to your hard and holy stories and setting the table for you to spend time in the Presence of God. My mission? Giving you tools to go from anxious to resting in God.

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This Post Has 11 Comments

  1. Dear Summer – so good to see your post about your new home. The “yellow” story is so interesting! What a great analogy of sunshine by your landlord! This move is a better one for you (But not for us…) because it brings more stability than Pittsburgh did, since Bob had only one year left as Archbishop when you arrived. The boxes that remained unpacked in Sewickley speak to that. I am happy that you are settling in and back to writing. Blessings in abundance, each day! Love to you and all the family

    1. Thank you sweet Fran! Yes, we will get to root here in the Southern sunshine and see what God ends up blooming. Enjoy your glorious church plant. Love you dearly!

  2. Thank you for sharing. I enjoyed reading that. So glad to have you and your family here with us. Hoping it begins to feel like home very very soon.

    1. Aimee, you have been such a lovely find here in Atlanta. I’m enjoying so many new people, but you are fully Aimee, unmasked…and I love you for it. Thank you for your generous friendship.

  3. Hi dear Summer,

    Great post – as always – and I’ve been waiting for your update. I follow Fr. Andrew’s posts on FB -ACNA, but you share in-depth about all of you in a more intimate way (of course) and I love that. (BTW, do we call him Cn. Andrew now?) It is SO great to see pictures of both of you and the children. On another subject… I have that set of Leanne Payne tapes sitting here for you. Good thing I didn’t get them sent to PA as it would have been another box to tote! You can send me your new address through e-mail whenever you like. Promise not to ship them down until later in the fall. Love to all of you.

    1. Merlena, we are drinking clean filtered drinking water in our new yellow house because of you. So many boxes went unopened when we arrived in Pittsburgh and now…we can spread out and enjoy the gifts of our friends. Thank you! And LeAnne Payne tapes? Yes, please. Send them down!

  4. I vote for House of Bread. Missed hearing from you lately. May you be amazed as you watch His goodness unfold in this new season.

  5. Miss you–so sorry we didn’t have the opportunity to get to know each other better. I will never forget the Freedom in Christ retreat where we met. God’s blessings on you as you journey into book writing and continue to write these pieces. Keep writing. Keep on keeping on. It is so good to hear that you are applying what you learned with your last move to this move. God always teaches us and it is up to us to remember and use what we have learned. Keep your eyes and ears opened. Keep your heart soft. Many blessings. In his love always.

    1. Thank you so much Diana! I treasure your encouragement and blessing. You generously love all of us so well. Thank you, sweet Diana.

  6. Beautiful Summer! Always enjoy your writing. Hard to choose which subject…..maybe 31 days to fall in love with your hometown would minister to you as you get used to your new surroundings? Either way, I look forward to it.

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