Time Travel

So, Facebook does this "thing", where it reminds you of posts that you've shared on the same date in past years.  These memories are a way to mentally travel back in time, and they remind me of how quickly life changes.  Today, this memory popped up on my Facebook feed:

This picture was taken 3 years ago today, on Luke's last day of South Carolina kindergarten.  I dropped him off in the morning carpool line, and before he walked into school, he turned and gave me this cute little wink.  It was a very uncertain time for our family.  Mark's position at GE in SC had been eliminated, and we had gone through several months of soul searching before we decide to relocate to North Carolina, where Mark found a job with a new company.  At the time that this photo was taken, Mark had already started work in NC and I was holding down the fort in Greenville with two young children and a dog, counting the days until Christmas break, when we would join him in temporary corporate housing and begin the next chapter of our lives.  There were tough months ahead of us, in a tiny apartment without the comforts of our belongings, not knowing when our house would sell, unsure of where our new home, community, and school would be, and without the wonderful support system that we had built in South Carolina.  

Traveling back in time to that adorable photo of Luke, I wish I had known what that wink indicated.  It's as if he's saying, "We've GOT THIS, Mommy.  The blessings of the next 3 years will blow your mind!"   

That wink now says to me, "You will find a beautiful new home, Leah and I will go to a wonderful school, and we will live in an amazing community full of people who will become dear friends and family to us.  We will join a church where we will be lifted up in the body of Christ, and there will be so much joy in watching us grow..."    

Leah is now the same age as Luke was when he gave this prophetic wink, which makes it easy for me to recall this period of our lives.  Emotions always seem to be heightened around the holidays, too, and it's a time where it's easy to look back with sentimentality and nostalgia.  I recently peeked at some pictures in our family blog books of the kids decorating our Christmas tree in SC, and they seem so little...  

But, if we travel in time to present day, I see that Luke was right:  Blessings abound, and life is full of darling moments. 

There are letters to Santa that make us smile and school work that makes us giggle:

There are holiday parties to plan, and festive snacks to prepare:

There are field trips, fun with friends, and stars that guide our way and remind us of the true reason for this season: 

Side note:  I had an entire blog post planned about this field trip to Old Salem, where I chaperoned Luke's third grade class. It is a lovely, historic village which depicts the first American Moravian settlement here in the mid 1700's, and a neat way for these kiddos to literally time travel for a day.  There are restored buildings, actors in period costumes, a living history museum, and quaint shops and buildings.  The village was decorated beautifully for Christmas, and Moravian stars illuminate the covered bridge and serve as an important symbol of Advent.  And among all this picturesque beauty, these are the photos that I captured of our day:   

 I chased 8-year olds and took pictures the backs of their heads as they ran with unbridled enthusiasm through the village.  They only sat still to eat the treats that they purchased at the Old Salem Bakery, and then wore off the effects of that sugar high with silly antics such as these for the next few hours: 

 Finally I got smart, and realized that I had a group of bookworms.  I took them into the bookstore, and here is how we spent the last beautiful half hour of our day in Old Salem:

Thank you, God, for peaceful moments and inquisitive minds!

There is so much to celebrate this Christmas season.  If you would have told me three years ago that the little boy who winked at me would wear that same Santa hat as he helped his Daddy make a delicious dinner for the ladies in his life, I would have been amazed.  

So, although it's fun to do a little bit of time traveling this time of year, it's clear that there's no place I'd rather be than the present.  Merry Christmas from our family to yours!