Happy, Yet Bittersweet... and a Request of our WI Community!

Our old house is finally sold as of this morning.  It is a bittersweet day.  A happy day, but a bittersweet one.  It was more than a house for us.  It was a home.  A home that saw birthday parties, Easter egg hunts and holiday dinners.  The home that we brought our beautiful Ethiopian daughters to when they became part of our family.  It is where the girls learned to ride their bikes, tie their shoes and where the twins lost their first teeth.  It has creaky floors, a beautiful stairway and an amazing yard to play in.  It was a home filled with laughter and love.  All of these things and more made it a wonderful home for the Burke family!

Now it belongs to someone else.  I don’t know the people that own it now.  I don’t know if they are from the area or from somewhere completely different.  However, I pray it is more than a house for them as well.  I pray that it will be their home too.  I pray the new family living there will be warm by the wood burning stove.  I pray their holiday celebrations will be filled laughter and love.  I pray that they will enjoy the tree swing as much as my girls did. 

However, it’s more than just the house that I pray for them.  The people of this town welcomed us and enveloped us in their community.  We feel so much love and care from all of them.  We miss them terribly.  What I pray is that all of our friends and community will pray for this new family too.  Welcome them, whether they are people from the area or from far away.  If you see them in the yard when you drive by, wave to them.  If you pass them on your walk greet them and welcome them to the neighborhood.  Offer to help them move in.  Invite them to church.  Have them over for dinner.  Bake cookies for them.  Welcome them into the community just as you did for the Burke family.  Show them the love that will help them feel like this is now their home. 

I pray daily for our friends, family and community up North.  We miss you all beyond measure and look forward when we can visit you all!  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!