Autumn comes to the South (in the Winter)

how we feel about Autumn leaving...

Here is a belated post on my sister Autumn's recent move to Chattanooga.

She moved the same weekend we went to Pheonix- in fact she spent one night with us in Pheonix, which is where the pictures were taken. In her usual hillarious way she drove off into the sunset with her rusty old car Stella packed to the gills. She had it pretty well organized but the month before she left her car doors started having all kinds of problems so she had to pop her trunk open with a file and flashlight (pictured above)... and by the time she had driven half way to Tennesee her driver's side door stopped opening. It was a true adventure including a whole day of driving 25 miles per hour through Arizona and New Mexico in the ice and snow and sliding off the road into an imbankment of snow. She made it safe and sound to her new home, her new roommate, and the new job she got within a few days of arriving. God has taken great care with her! When asked why she moved, the answer may not always be clear, a need for a change, a dream, an adventure, a feeling, but I think all who know her well support the decision even if it means she will be apart from us. God has really provided for every need and has prepared her for this new time in her life.

Having lived in Chattanooga myself I have to say that hearing her talk about the people and places there has put an aching in my chest for my old Chatt-town connections. After getting off the phone with her I find myself wanting to pick up and move there- but I can't of course. My connections to that place have been stirred again. Covenant College and Chattanooga was such a huge part of my growth into an adult but the last few years have been so focused on my California life that I almost forgot. Hearing Autumn's adventures reminds me of all that I love there. I am so thankful for my life there and my life here but the struggle between the two always makes me long for heaven when we will no longer be a pilgrim, when we will finally be home.