The Privilege of Loving
We are enjoying life while recognizing that we have more physical limitations than we used to. We live in Apopka, Florida, and have the privilege of having Josh and Jordan, Nora, Millie, and Wallace living on the property near us.
In some ways, our lives are more full than ever. We are very thankful to be healthy, and Roger has recovered from back surgery last May. We love our ministry with Florida Counseling Foundation. Roger continues to work full-time and I continue to work part time. Roger has rearranged his schedule so that we have free time to do some traveling to visit our children in Missouri and South Carolina. Roger and I also serve on the elder board at our church, which takes more time than we really realized it would. We love the people we serve with on the elder board and so it is very hard to think about possibly moving off of the board at some point. One of the highlights of our lives is continuing to work with couples. We have a young, very young, married couples group that meets every Thursday night and a middle-age couples group that meets on Sunday morning during the second service. Those groups are truly a highlight each week. One of the things we feel most passionate about is helping marriages grow in true intimacy and honest communication. One of the things that happened this year is that Roger moved his office where he had been for 34 years into a larger space with more opportunity for not only counseling but group meetings. We share the building with several other ministries.
Roger and Josh are still working on the wedding venue and we have had several weddings in the barn and on the property.
Our grandchildren, all 13 of them, bring us so much joy. Robyn is the oldest at 19 and Zélie is the youngest at almost 2. In between we have Madelyn, 16, Sophie and Finley, both 14, John William, almost 13, Carolina, 10, David and Nora, both 8, Mary,almost 6, Millie, almost 5, Teresa, 3, Wallace, almost 3. They have our hearts.
The challenges we face at this point in our lives are getting older and learning how to conserve our energy for the things that matter most.
Spiritually, we are more and more aware that Jesus truly is the joy of our life. We are also aware that we are continuing to grow in our understanding of what it means to live like Jesus and love like Jesus. Very gradually we are learning to give up “certainty” for a tender faith that gives us the freedom to enjoy the lives God is giving us. We no longer feel compelled to fix our fellow humans. Instead, we are more and more finding ourselves having the privilege of loving them where they are.
We are beyond grateful that God allowed us to be born into families that lived their lives for a greater purpose than just themselves.