Surrounded by boxen.

Well, we made it, and we brought the rain with us! It's starting to feel like the Rands have the gift of rain since both our long-distance trips this summer have been to places that don't get all that much and it starts raining as soon as we get there... Red Lodge, Montana, and Littleton, Colorado. We got here Friday and got our first glimpse of blue sky & mountains this morning! Since the weather's been nice this afternoon, we unloaded the POD... now we're surrounded by boxen. Boxen upon boxen upon boxen.

(Translation: Boxes. Boxes here, boxes there, boxes freakin' everywhere!)

Since arriving, I've been downright giddy. I love the couple we're living with, I love the town we're living in. I love the bike trails that criss-cross the city. I love the mountains outside the front door. I love the cool, dry air. I love the fact that our housemates (who own the place) have an incredible garden in the backyard - an itty-bitty corner that produces a whole lot of stuff! (Maybe Cori's green thumb will rub off on me!) Most of the time, I feel like I'm home... but there's still a lingering feeling of having been uprooted. This uprooted feeling hit me like a train (even though I saw it coming) this morning at church. I realized that as much as I love it here, what's missing is deep-rooted community: the kind that comes from wrestling and discussing and playing and being together, the kind that comes from being real and open and honest, the kind that loves unashamedly, the kind that comes from fighting for each other, the kind that takes time. The kind that doesn't happen in a weekend. :-)

I miss my DCF family, scattered as it now is. I miss the pilgrims I walked with there. But at the same time, I look forward eagerly to the time I will spend here - wrestling and discussing and playing and being together in a new (to me) community, being real and open and honest, loving unashamedly, fighting for the family I will soon join, for as long as God sees fit for us to dwell in this place.

* * * * * * *
P.S. I hope to get the boxen under control by the end of the week, at which time I'll draw a name and having a special block-printing party just for that person!

Bike vs. Car: 8.7mi / 2.7mi :-)

Day 8 - Rollin', rollin', rollin'... in!

So, today's our final day of travel. Somewhere around 5pm mountain time, we should be rolling into our new town. Heh. "Town." Don't know if Littleton/Denver qualifies as a town. :-)

Here's the route:


View Larger Map


On tap for today:

- delicious breakfast at the Parkview House B&B
- adios Amarillo!
- hola pseudo-backroad that will take us through part of NM
- maybe a small-town antique store or two?
- ugh... hola interstate...
- COLORADO!!!!
- shenanigans of some sort, mixed with driving driving driving
- arrive in Littleton & meet our housemates, the Hamiltons!!

Day 7 - Dallas to Amarillo... still in TX

Today, we'll venture "onward and upward, whichever way that may be-" to quote my Grandy. In this case, it means heading out of Dallas in a generally northwestish direction toward Amarillo:


View Larger Map

On tap for today:
- stockpiling a bit of Dublin Dr. Pepper
- lots of Texas
- finding a good place to picnic, since my grandmother (who we call Mom-Pat) packed us an incredible lunch
- consuming some yummy Dublin Dr. Pepper
- more Texas
- stopping for the night at a bed & breakfast Jeromie found in Amarillo

Off we go!

Days 4, 5, and 6 - Messing with Texas

We've been in Dallas for the past couple of days hanging out with my family (mom, grandparents, aunt). We had trouble connecting to the internet initially, and decided not to bother with it until last night, so I'll edit this post later to add pictures & details of the fun.

Messing with Texas included:
- Dallas traffic
- expanding my mental map
- lots of outings with my mom
- a trip to the Dallas Museum of Art (Pigeon got attacked by an old Japanese warrior!)
- dinner with Leafy (Adam Green Grace)
- messing with the lifeguards at my mom's YMCA
- yummy Einstein Bros. bagels
- lots of monkey-doodles and merry-sunshines
- Dublin Dr. Pepper

Check back in a week, and I will have (hopefully) updated the post to include pictures.

Denver-bound, Day 3 - Mobile, AL to Dallas, TX

View Larger MapDay 3: Mobile, AL to Dallas, TX

On tap for today:
- early morning walk with Darla (hopefully!)
- drink some coffee
- drive a lot
- take pictures of Pigeon at every state line
- sing along to a lot of songs
- probably cry some more when we think of the incredible people we've left
- drive a lot
- drive a lot
- collapse on my grandparents' floor in Dallas!


Anyone know of any interesting stops on this route??

Denver-bound, Day 2 - Rockin' out in Mobile, AL

You know, sleeping in is awesome. Today has been the first day in weeks that I had the option to, and boy did I ever need to and take advantage of it. Just thought I'd share that. I don't prefer to sleep in, but sometimes it's a necessity.

So... today is a non-travelling day. We're in Mobile hanging out with the Rand side of the family and I *love* it. I am definitely a Rand at heart... no less a Goudelock, but definitely a Rand. Twas a perfect day to be here too... it's Darla's birthday and the weather played nice! We slept in, bummed around the house, and then went golfing at a local Par 3 course. I've never played golf before, so it was pretty amusing.

My impression of me golfing:
- 25% of the time - wind up, swing, keep swinging in a circle without hitting the ball
- 25% of the time - wind up, swing, dig a hole to China
- 40% of the time - wind up, actually hit the ball and make it go about 10 feet
- 10% of the time - wind up, actually hit the ball and get it actually kinda near the green!!!

All in all, twas a fun time though. Pigeon came along and elicited a chuckle from the golf course guy, who said he was the hugest club cover he'd ever seen. Pigeon also managed to keep his mouth shut for the most part, til the end when he begged for a picture with the Noodle ball & pouted when he didn't get it. :-)

Don't worry, he's been in plenty though:

Eating cars in Georgia


Signing the guest book in Alabama


Celebrating Darla's birthday in Mobile

Denver-bound

Well, we're officially en route to our new home.




View Larger Map

Day 1: Clemson, SC to Mobile, AL with a stopover in Atlanta!


On tap for today:
* breakfast with Kalbaughs
* little bit of driving
* lunch with the most awesome Diane and Drew
* good bit of driving
* 2 nights & a day with the Original Random Rands


We've made this trip many times before, so we're not in new territory yet... but I'm curious - does anyone have any interesting stops or stories along this route?? :-D

Take Me Home...

Well, the move's starting to sink in. Before the POD arrived this morning, it didn't take too much of a stretch to imagine that, perhaps, we were re-arranging the house. The normal person doesn't pack things up in boxes for a simple re-arrangement, but, hey, we're not exactly normal people here in the Rand house, so it could happen. This definite sign of uprooting has brought tears to my eyes much more easily than before. (For example: turning onto the campus that I once hated but now love to meet someone for lunch, hearing the first few notes of a song that I love sung by a favoritest musician.) I suspect this may continue for a while after we've moved too, especially when remembering the folks I'll miss & the unique places I've dwelled these past many years.

You know, I've called these places home because they are what I know of home:
- little house, large yard, plenty of trees (until I went off to college)
- a dorm room or apartment shared with a variety of fun characters (myself included!)
- the forests of my fluffy Blue Ridge Mountains
- the high limbs of favorite trees
- a cabin full of excited girls
- a tent miles from the nearest road
- a room full of truth-telling, BS-detecting family known collectively as house church
- a house in Greenville, an apartment in Clemson with my dear husband
- a basement full of folding chairs and leaks, surrounded by fellow children of an incredible, merciful Father
- eyes closed, lost in the music of the DCF band
- a deserted road on an early morning, by bike or running shoes
- a green lake surrounded by old peaks, history speaking from its depths
- deepening friendships with grace-giving fellow pilgrims

I could go on for a very long time.

I was reminded this morning (as I drove in to meet my beautiful friend Rachael for lunch) that these are only previews of home. Surprisingly, the song that usually reminds me of this is not a typical worship song... it's my favorite cover of any song ever: Genesis' "Take Me Home" as done by Dave & Co. Singing along (in the car... yes, I am one of *those* people), I remember that I am a pilgrim on a journey to the home God created us for. This doesn't mean I should disconnect from this world I'm in, but rather engage - love deeply, serve joyfully, persevere purposefully, ask meaningful questions, give meaningful answers, think bigger, believe even bigger than that, because God is beyond what I can fathom, and He's made a way to live and breathe and dwell with Him, wretched as I am.

That might be the longest run-on sentence ever. Or not. I don't care. :-)

The countdown stands at ~3 days now, but it's ticking onward. I will not coast through them, as I am prone to do, but live awake and aware as I'm called to. I'll probably cry some, but I really do welcome that now. :-)


* * * * * * *


P.S. This just happens to be my 100th post as the Prodigal Pilgrim. I feel like that (and so many other things) might just call for some celebration.

So. I'm giving away something handmade!

Set of 5 hand-printed cards,
which are also available in my Etsy shop

When I arrive in Denver, I'll do a random drawing to figure out who gets them. In the meantime, leave me a comment that includes your name and how you found the blog! If you pass it along to another friend who enters, I'll stick your name in again just for kicks. I'm a little curious to find out how people get here. :-)

We roll into Denver on the 15th, so sometime that weekend, I'll post the winner.

Introducing...

Pigeon!

* * * * * * *

Pigeon is the awesome main character of Mo Willems' illustrated children's books. Pigeon is also a puppet that's been living at the Open Book until this past Thursday. Pigeon now lives with the Rands. He thoroughly understands that he is in no way a replacement for Molly. Molly is irreplaceable. But he also thoroughly understands that living with the Rands means shenanigans... and a move to Denver. In classic pigeon style, he's been begging to drive the moving truck. The jury's still out on that one.

So here are some pictures of Pigeon's life so far with the Rands:


After his last day at the Bookedy, Pigeon eyes the hummus & pita at the Rands' favorite Greenville restaurant, The Bohemian!


Pigeon promptly selects a choice pita and... NOM!


Pigeon jams out with his flamingo friend at Horizon Records
(which is the awesome)


Pigeon participates in the tired & slightly blurry reading of a very good bedtime story for his new family


And now... on to the packing!

Resolutions

Well, I'd resolved to be a bit better about updating, and then I promptly got a whole lot worse. I think I have a tendency to behave that way when attempting to make a change in habits, or at least small ones. I suppose finishing up work and preparing to move could be a bit of an excuse, but I don't much like excuses. I would like my blog to be a bit more of a priority in the coming months as Jeromie and I move away from the people that have been our family and the places that have been our home for the better part of the past ten years. I've found that it is so incredibly easy to lose touch with the people that matter to me. Having been a loner most of my life, I lean a bit much toward letting life get in the way of the relationships that matter to me.

I don't want to do that anymore.

But that may be a post for another day. Right now, I'm taking a breather from a mass amount of sorting and a lesser amount of packing. Moving across the country seems like a great opportunity to get rid of some things I've been toting around for a long time. A little-used guitar, a picnic basket, a microwave-cooking dish from the 80's, some old books, old toys, old perspectives, old habits. Two weekends ago, we had a yard-sale to get rid of some of these things... quiet moments and long, lonely Monday commutes have given space to work on discarding others.

Moving across the country also requires good-byes, and it just so happens that some of our friends are moving to other states at the same time so this isn't a unique good-bye time for the Rand family. Dubbed Blubberfest 2008 by one friend, the past week has brought many tears and I am grateful for each one. It's been a long time since I could cry freely, and it's freeing to be able to now. This past weekend, we did the hard thing of taking our good dog-friend, Molly, to a new home. While I truly believe that she will be happier with the Moores (who have a good, semi-rural 10 acres for her to roam on) than she would be in the *tiny* dog-friendly apartment we'd be able to afford in Denver, it was still hard to settle her there and then just leave. It was hard on Sunday to look Ed in his tear-filled eyes and exchange the peace of Christ in the middle of so much tension, to realize that there were some folks I was seeing for the last time and love them well. It will be hard tomorrow to load up a moving van with the Colliers and realize how much the boys will grow before we get to hug them again. But hard is not bad, and the peace of Jesus is not dependent on emotion, but is rather so much more.

A week and a half or more of Blubberfest to go. Bring it on. :-)

I don't feel like I've done justice to the events of the past few weeks... and the ones that are coming in the next few... but at this moment in time that is not necessarily my blog's purpose. :-) In all likelihood, it will remain a window into my continuing journey with and towards God. I like the thought of a blog as a window: you can open it and share a moment with your neighbor even if you can't get to their house at just that moment. Or you could stick a pie in it... um... figuratively speaking? I just have random retro-image-moments of little boys sneaking fresh-baked pies out of windows.

Here I go rambling again. Oh well... back to this:

photo courtesy of the fantastic Jer

Movin'

Shenanigans

* * * * * * *

Where are all the days going?! In less than a month, Jeromie and I will be filling up another one of these crazy trucks, this time to head across the country. I suppose the swift current of days may indicate some coasting on my part... some dozing off, some drifting along. It happens more than I'd like. I either get super-busy or just worn out, and this time I think it's busy-ness. However, Jeromie and I have both been challenged lately to live and think and pray more alertly. Part of that is just the nature of change: there's work to do in finding a place to live and getting the move on, but I believe that God is stirring things up in our hearts and preparing us for something big. He's called us to listen and obey, and as we have taken each step, He's been providing. It looks like He intends that for where we physically live as well, but not without some difficult questions - one of which being: "What is your life centered around?"

As Jeromie and I have wrestled with that question, we've found too many things vying for the center. Work, creative projects, relationships, books, appetites, the comfort and ease of a car... a furry, yellow ball of energy and affection. In preparing for the move, that furry yellow ball (my awesome Molly-dog) has come to occupy more and more of our thoughts and emotions and wrestling... eventually to the exclusion of much else. You know what that makes? A dog-centered universe. A bit dyslexic of us, don't you think?

We've had to ask some hard questions in response, and consider more than just our desire to have this beautiful creature in our lives. To go where Jesus is often means leaving people, places, creatures and things behind - often much-loved - and we are not exempt from this. So, we're examining what this means in our lives and trying to discern what we must leave behind. Who knows, it may mean selling all we have and heading to Denver with what fits in/on our car. Right now, it seems that it will mean parting, at least for a time, with a very dear, six-and-a-half-year friend.

All I know is that I want to go where God is, and I want to live how He calls me to - whatever that entails. I want to ask and be asked the hard questions of what that really means in practice. I want to live generously and out of the sheer, life-giving love that Jesus embodied, embodies, and will ever continue to.

Tall order. Need grace.

Blue Ridge Farewell Tour

So, it looks like we're off to Denver in approximately two months.

I've spent much of my life wanting to move away, though I've realized lately that there are a lot of things I love about this section of the country. The farewell tour started as a half-joke, but I think I'm gonna do it. If anyone wants to join me or add to the list, go for it! I hope I get to all of them, but I doubt it; the list is kinda long.


Liz's Blue Ridge Farewell Tour
(in no particular order)

Sunset from the roof at Dad & Amy's
Reading in the Centennial Oak
Visit the house I grew up in
Trail Running at Issaqueena
Sunrise at Pretty Place, or at least go there
Pisgah swimming holes!
Favorite Hikes ~ (or at least visits to)
* Black Balsam
* Cedar Rock
* Table Rock
* Horsepasture River waterfalls
* Mountain Bridge to Jones Gap
Bouldering @ Rumbling Bald
At least one short backpacking trip - I'm not picky
Coffee at 'the drip' in Black Mountain (Dripolator!)
Something on Jocassee, preferably kayaking, but picnics are good!
Dinner at the Bohemian
Oconee thrift store/antiquey goodness!
McClures, cause I love 'em
A movie at the 'Stro
Backroads bike rides (#10)
Bamboo teepees & gully clay!!
Fiber Fun @ Main Street as many times as I can make it! (#1)
Upstate Ravelers at Brew & Ewe??
Berry- or veggie-picking at Robertsons Farm
Giving at least one more nerd call from house church
Jones Floats, quiet & good company @ Main Street (#1)
More carpool sing-alongs! (#2)
Anderson Jockey Lot


I will probably update this list several more times to add more items & cross off the ones I do.

(Update on 6/15: The list is growing... perhaps beyond my ability to complete! The things I don't get to before I leave, I shall attempt on any & every trip back!)



Any fellow upstate folks have something to add?

and

If you had a farewell tour, what would you be sure to include?

Moving

So. As I mentioned in my last post, we've done some moving. Casa del Rand is no longer in Greenville, it's in Central, and it's pretty sweet. This whole weekend has been momentous for me in more ways than I first realized. I never thought I'd be excited to call the Clemson area home, but my heart settles into a beautiful calm now as I near our new home because I know that God has done this.

Several weeks ago, after church, Jeromie and I drove by the new Kalbaugh pad (pre-lease-signing) on our way to meet folks for running... just to check out their new location. Little did I know what this would stir in me. Running = thinking & praying time for me, and by the time we got back I decided to voice what was percolating: could we move back??

We joked about it a little bit... and then... we got down to some serious praying & consideration. And then... we hit an obstacle (65lb lab is not compatible with an absolutely-no-dogs rule). And then... we kept praying about it. And then... God made not just one, but two ways! And then... we signed a lease! And then... and then... and then! (I know, I know - I sound like a very excited 6 year old!)

Things weren't all smooth sailing during the process. I think Jeromie and I both encountered a good bit of spiritual warfare - his in the form of doubts, mine in the form of a seething apathy (oxymoron? I beg to differ...), but God faithfully broke through these, too, in His time.

So... the past week has been full of working and packing and packing and working and working and not running like we should and packing. With the help of some incredible friends, we got everything moved on Saturday and started the process of settling in.

I feel like God has answered a lot of prayers through all this. Long-time prayers, and not remotely in any way we expected. He is bringing us both back to life, and it's beautiful.



Perhaps what describes it best was the outcome of yesterday's listening at DCF. My reflections as I listened to Winn speak took the form of a poem... something that doesn't happen very often, so I'm pretty sure God had something to do with it. :-)

* * * * * * *



Home

We are here.
dcf.
Central.
Unsettled, but at rest
because You are our Refuge.
Your body our community,
Our community Your body.

From everlasting to everlasting.
From dust to dust.
As far as the heavens are above the earth
so are Your thoughts above our own.
We pass away, but You remain.

"Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom." (Psalm 90:12)

Teach us to seek You.
Teach us to pray.
Teach us to hope, to surrender, to obey.
Our lives are not limitless,
Our knowledge is not wisdom.

We have frittered away Your precious gift
of a redeemed life.
We withdrew.
We withheld.
We grasped at and horded
moments of life
instead of entering in.

But You enter in.
You pursue.
You forgive.
With sure strokes, You carve out a home
in our hearts, and channels of hope,
and You pour
Your life
into us.

Father God, please forgive me for how I have made myself the center. Of this moment, of this day, of my life. My sins are countless. When left alone, I take every breath as an opportunity to run away. But You enter in.

Thank You.

iRead: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

(Part of this post is from a note I wrote on Facebook last week... I figured I'd just go ahead and post it here.)

So I've been a bit quiet lately. It started with being knocked out with a cold for the better part of a week... and the two weeks since then have been full of work & praying about moving & deciding to move & packing... and Saturday will be full of MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVING.

Not much time to think about books, other than at work where I get to help people find good ones! This morning I was puttering along, unsuspecting, shelving books, when I stumbled across one that's held my attention ever since:

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
by Carson McCullers

As I understand so far, the story follows a deaf man by the name of John Singer and the lives some of the people he interacts with. I haven't gotten very far yet... gotta work, you know... but so far, I'm thoroughly enjoying it. It seems very well written.

* * * * * * *

Now, a few days later, I'm about a 3rd of the way through the book, and it's only gotten better. The way the author develops the characters draws you in & makes you curious. Books are great for different reasons - with this one, I feel like I've gained at least 3 new friends! :-)

I'd be done by now if it weren't for moving, but we've still got a ton of boxes to unpack, so I'll just have to wait.

(But I *really* don't want to! :-D )