Upon Leaving Grand Junction

Our home is almost all packed, and we're in the final days of living in Grand Junction. I couldn't help but think today about our house, and that I will miss it. The memorable events that happened in our home over the past two years are what I'm thankful for today.

Here are just a few:

1. The fact that it is the first home that we have owned. And that is because of the generosity and help of my husband's parents. So we were able to put our own mark on it in a way we have never been able to. Painting, and other home improvements are things that we have never been able to do before.

2. Haddon took his first steps in this home.

3. Norah learned how to ride a bike in the driveway.

4. Youth barbecues, game nights and Bible studies were held in this house.

5. I hosted a bridal shower in this house, and other friends for dinner. Our home was a blessing to allow us to host members of the body for fellowship.

6. Family dinners and story times were in this house. It was in this house that our dinner table became a centerpiece of our family because before moving here, we were in someone else's home. Before that, our oldest was very young to establish family dinners and such.

7. The Christmases spent in our home here were the first celebrated on our own. Every year before, we were staying with family from out of town or living with family. So we made some of our own traditions.

8. There were some hard things that happened in this place. One was being unrightly rebuked by a respected woman in the church (she was simply wrong in handling and applying Scripture). That was hurtful and hard to handle at times. Church leaders sat in our living room and rebuked my husband in front of me. That was hard too. They were misinformed.

9. My husband and I have had movie nights, or like one week in particular, we spent a few nights in a row watching all the of the Lord of the Rings movies back-to-back. Those are sweet times.

10. This house is the house that our children most associate as home. It is where we have lived the longest. Haddon has been here a majority of his life, and Norah thinks of Colorado as her home more than anywhere else we've been.

I could go on and in more detail, but I will not. God has graciously cared for us in providing this shelter. Though we are saying good-bye to a loved place, we look to the future that God has already prepared for the Lute Family. He alone knows the days ahead. As we move ahead, may it be said of me:

"Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come."

Proverbs 31:25