Beginnings & Endings

Advent, my favorite season of the church year, begins November 30, as the secular calendar heads into its final month. One season ends, another begins, all at the same time.
Beginnings and endings. Such is the stuff of life.

The Bostroms' lives are marked by especially poignant beginnings and endings this year. We became grandparents for the first time in February and will become grandparents again before this year is over. At the end of October, Greg retired after faithfully serving God as a pastor for 42 years. It's an ending we foresaw and carefully planned, and when he announced our plans in February, November seemed a long way away. Now, the month itself is nearly gone, and we find ourselves over our head in packing boxes, crazy schedules, and heartfelt good-byes. We try to cherish each moment we still have here in Carlsbad, a place we've come to love, full of people we've also come to love. Tears are commonplace in our home these days.

The tears are not all sadness; they are mingled with gratitude for our time here and joyful thoughts of living closer to our ever growing family. When we moved from Illinois to California 11 years ago, we were a family of 5. Now, we are a family of 9+ (we include our daughter-in-law's mom as family, because she is!). We are grateful and blessed to be able to be near all of our grown children and families, to become a more active part of their lives, especially as the next generation begins.

We're moving into a place half the size of what we now have, so we have had to let go of a significant amount of household items as well as memorabilia we have kept for many years. It has helped us whittle down to what we most treasure; but mostly what we treasure are the memories we carry deep inside our hearts.

The next month will be busy with a new grandbaby, moving, and Christmas. We'll have a new address as of December 3. I'll be a bit quiet online, but will be back early January with news of a new children's book that will arrive on bookshelves (hopefully yours!) in early February. See What God Made: Creation! is my first lift-the-flap storybook in nearly 60 published books. The book is now available for pre-order. 
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As you, too, live through your beginnings and endings and close out one year and welcome another, know that I hold you in my heart. May you find blessings in the ordinary moments as well as the extraordinary. And may the peace of Christ, whose birth we soon celebrate, fill your heart with joy!

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