~and it was the year of changes for us~

     And so dear 2015, you are just about to leave us.  Two days more remain.  In lightning speed it came and went.  If that doesn't remind you about the fragility of life, then nothing does I suppose.  For the Renfro family, it has been quite a year to behold.

     Last year just about this time we had no earthly idea where the 365 days ahead would take us.  We were hunkered down into the Rocky Mountains of southwestern Colorado where Mike had been living for over 20 years.  I was well into my second year there and was teaching first graders just up the road about 10 miles in the beautiful little town of Olathe.  Were were set there or at least we thought so.  Our year of change was about to begin.

     On January 1st this year, Mike's step-mom Maggie died out in California.  She had been ill but we really didn't expect to lose her so quickly.  She was the most dear, kind, and loving woman.  I got the chance to meet her in March of 2014 when Mike and I spent several days with her during spring break from school.  When we say our good-byes it was with a promise that we would meet again later on in the fall of that year.  Maggie got sick soon after and we didn't get the chance to go back.  My one opportunity to meet her proved to be the only one and even if I received just that one chance, at least I had that one.

Maggie Renfro was a very special lady and I loved her from the moment I met her.  (March of 2014)

     When March came along, Mike and I began to have this feeling that it was time to make a change in life.  We started to believe that God was leading us to a different place and it ended up being a community far away from the mountains that we were living in.  Neither of us were sure at the time exactly where that place was going to be.  We only knew that the time was coming.  

     The place ended up being the great state of Texas.

     As I look back upon it now, we really did come in faith.  After looking at the atlas to determine what area we'd try to settle in, we came up with north central Texas.  In particular, we were interested in the Wichita Falls area.  Coming to that spot of the state would put us close to my sister and brother-in-law in Altus and Mike's sweet Aunt Margaret who lived in Olney.  It would be wonderful to have family members only a short drive away.

     Neither of us had the promise of a job but we went ahead to resign our positions back in Colorado.  When school dismissed for the final day of the year, I said a sad farewell to "the 22" and all of the wonderful folks who had become my family at Olathe Elementary.  I only stayed there for two years as a teacher but at least I had two years.  Those kind souls will always be close to my heart.

 I smile to see this picture once again.  Several of the little first grade girls were going to the basketball camp that the high school was hosting.  The next day, four of them brought their basketballs to school.  Looking at those basketballs was like seeing a glimpse into their very bright futures.

     The changes continued for us in Texas but Mike and I survived them all.  Many of those changes were challenges but it didn't deter us from making our way here.  As a matter of fact, those "bumps in the road" that we encountered only pointed us in the right direction.  It was the direction that we were to follow in the first place.  We just didn't know it at the time.

     We had a lovely summer of being close to Aunt Margaret.  Each weekend Mike and I would make the 45 minute drive to Olney to visit her where she was living at a nursing home.  We loved getting to see her and to learn more about Mike's family.  She was so grateful that we would make the long drive there and still was amazed that we lived so close to her now.  Our time together would prove to be very short.  5 months after we arrived here in her part of the world, Aunt Margaret passed away at the age of 91.  We didn't have much time with her but at least we had the summer.  

We loved her and she loved us.  I'm glad to have known her, if even for such a very short while.

     God has been good to us here in the state of Texas.  Mike found a job that he really loves as the manager of a hardware store in our community.  I found a teaching position at a wonderful school about 25 miles away and to think that half of year #38 is now complete is hard to imagine.  We believed there would be a spot for us somewhere and how glad I am that we patiently (ok, sometimes we weren't all that patient) waited.  In the right time, the real reason for our coming here was shown to us.  Kansas is just up the road a bit, a couple of houses down from the end in the Great Plains neighborhood.  I can get home to Reno County in about 5 hours or so and as much as I miss those dear people in the Colorado Rockies, it definitely beats a 12-hour journey over Monarch Pass.

     We are packing our things for one final move here to a home that we are buying on the other side of town.  Both of us are grateful that it is only 4 miles away and hopefully this move will be a piece of cake when compared to the 18-hour journey that we had to move here in late May.  It will be nice to really considered ourselves settled soon.
     
    And so what will 2016 bring for us?  I have absolutely no idea but that won't stop me from getting out of bed on Friday morning to find out.  Whatever it might be, the good or the not so good, we will embrace it.  I wish for all of you a most Happy New Year in 2016.  May it be full of goodness and grace for each of us.