[I tricked you, this isn't about global warming or climate change!] I'm thinking about the trip to Taiwan I'm making next week, as well as the adjustments we're making as we transition to life without Bob.
One thing hasn't changed--we're still not really "empty nesters." Instead we're something like "family extenders!" Which is to say, our daily life involves an extended family, not just Laura and me by ourselves. I just looked back and realized the last email update I sent was just before Bob died, which was on August 23. The journey was long, but at the end, suddenly it was over.
Us "family extenders" welcomed all of Bob's children and their spouses, and all of his grandchildren (short just one spouse, in Europe,) so we had quite the clan, and our remembering culminated in a well-attended memorial service on a weekday at Martha's church, Front Range Alliance Church. Many cards were received, as well as memorial gifts to ministries dear to Martha and Bob. Thank you for your prayers and remembering. We all appreciated the care and encouragement.
As well, there has been much to do, and ministry is going on also. Things have gone well, but not without complications. For instance, there was the new stove that we purchased and installed on the day Bob died, just in time for all the people, just after the old one irreparably quit. And there was the load of trash we hauled across town to the transfer station in a Uhaul trailer, to be greeted by a sign "We are closing at 1230pm today. Pardon any inconvenience." This week we finally found time for another, more successful trip :-), just before we're supposed to get a big snowstorm. These are just some of the funnier moments. Really all has gone well.
Of course, Martha misses Bob and so do we all. Grief is not something we manage, rather it is something we recognize and respond to. We know it is a long journey, one we have taken before, but one that is different every time and for every person impacted. Of course, it's also different from moment to moment. A common feeling is just an elusive fatigue.
I've gone on a bit about this because for me it is also a pattern for how we deal with international ministry. If births and losses are the changing weather in our lives, moving internationally is like changing climates. Both matter, perhaps one is more personal and the other is more communal.
As we come alongside others, we also want to welcome others to come alongside us, so that we can share our journeys with each other. Thank you for being part of the far flung community God has gathered around us.
As I head to Taiwan and Laura stays behind, please remember us--for good conversations, for appropriate recognition and responding, and for much love, starting first from above, and then passed back and forth, round and round. Also remember the details--with so many, it can feel overwhelming, but details matter too, both in ministry and in family.
In the God who keeps us, wherever we wander, Steve and Laura
Steve and Laura Spinella
US: 1930 Springcrest Rd, CO Springs 80920
mail: 9685 Otero Ave, Colorado Springs, CO 80920
Steve cell 719.355.4809, Laura cell 832.755.4261
<spinella@alumni.rice.edu> <lauraspinella@gmail.com>
<spinella@alumni.rice.edu> <lauraspinella@gmail.com>
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