Beginnings and Endings

The past few weeks have contained many beginnings and ends:

Last and 10^th annual Masterpiece Theater at Intermountain.

• End of 13 years as Chaplain at Intermountain.
• Beginning of my confusion as to how to introduce myself.  Stay at home mom?  Unemployed?  Carpool driver? Or the über-cool title, missionary?
• End of blissful no rush mornings.  Jammies for kiddos at 10 am…no problem, no more.
• Beginning of school clothes laid out, double checking that the kids have actually brushed their teeth for over 9 seconds.
• End of quarterly search for our next babysitter for the kids while I work.
• Beginning of my helping Quinn more on raising funds to ship off for Bolivia.  

• End of 13 years of chapel service on Monday nights. So Mondays is reserved for praying for Intermountain.

First day of school.

It can be a struggle to begin and end well.  Case in point:   Kellton was physically peeled off me in front of his class Friday.  Poor guy, on day 2 of Kindergarten, he was so nervous he ran out of the classroom thinking he was going to vomit (he didn’t, but beginnings can be rough).  Astoria on the other hand, ended time as “mommy’s shadow” very well.  Her first day of Preschool, she asked me to leave (however I couldn’t as I was the mandated teacher’s helper).

As emotional as leaving Intermountain will be more for me in the coming weeks, I felt a certain undeniable blessing from one of the residential girls with whom I was the closest.  She was my right hand gal during our Easter service last spring, and had a lead role in our Masterpiece Theater production of the life of Joseph.  

No one gave me more or tighter hugs than this girl, and yet she said, “It’s good for you to go so you can help poor people in Bolivia.”  What more could I ask for in a sendoff?

Astoria's model for our housing in Bolivia.  
Note the 4 beds and "people" in the beds.

Intermountain planned several surprise thank yous, send off, and gifts.  I was tongue tied as I know Intermountain had given me more than I could certainly have repaid, professionally and personally.

And yet, that’s just like God.  He sends us His grace, that unmerited favor that we can never repay.  And He sends us out to begin a new life of faith, and end our destructive flirting with sin.  We begin and end in Him, from our very conception to the end of our days.  He's our beautiful beginning and end.