That was then...

A lot has changed in a very short amount of time.

My husband went from unemployment to a busy full-time job.
I went from having two great jobs to having none.
We moved from the big city in Minnesota to small-town Iowa.  Goodbye Mall of America, Hello John Deere.
I used to shop at Target all the time.  Waverly is a Wal-Mart town.
We went from a small, "contemporary" style congregation with a piano and 50 attendees each week, to an over 2,000 member church grounded in tradition.

In the midst of all this change, most of which I am excited about, I am finding comfort in the familiar.

My husband.  Although the impetus of all these changes, he remains my rock.  I don't mind all of the changes because we are together.

I may not know about Waverly, but I understand it pretty well.  If my hometown and the town I went to college had a baby, Waverly would be it.

The people at church.  I've only met a few here, and God knows I don't remember any of their names, but I know that in their hearts they are loving, compassionate, and generous people.

Nothing has felt more like home to me here than singing the liturgy of my childhood and years at St. Olaf again.  I am so thankful that we are here, and that I already feel like I belong.

There is still some unfinished business: finding a job to pay the bills, discerning what I am really supposed to do with my life, figuring out my place in the church and community, but there's always something that's changing, or incomplete.  Tomorrow will bring its own worries.  This is now.