"IT IS WHAT IT IS!" (June 20-July 30, 2024)

We finished up our ten week stay in Indiana on July 30th and began our summer tour to visit friends in Michigan and Ohio. It was wonderful to be close to some family while in Indiana. Sherry's brother and his wife live just down the lane and our daughter, Autumn, and her family live in Avon, Indiana, about an hour away.  One of the drawbacks of our nomadic lifestyle is the distance we find ourselves from family and friends. We enjoyed the solitude of our three-acre piece of Indiana "wilderness" and the abundance of deer in the backyard of our daughter's suburban home in the Indianapolis area. They were days of reconnecting and enjoying quality time with both. We will be back to spend most of September and October, before heading to the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri.

                                      REFLECTIONLives are all lived in segments. Our lives are just an exaggeration of others. Ours just happens to be backwards from most. Most take a "vacation" to relax and unwind before returning home. We return "home" to relax and unwind before heading off to explore interesting places.The last eight years have been a balancing act as we learned how to keep family important and yet be gone so much of the time. I am not saying it is easy, but I am saying it is important! We try to use social media, phone calls, etc. to stay in touch while we are traveling, and when we are "home" we try to spend extended periods of time with our family and friends.Whatever your "lifestyle" is, please remember to cherish and enjoy every moment. Life is way too short to have regrets. Things may not always go the way you had hoped, but that's the way life is. Nothing is perfect. Don't expect it to be! Work at the art of being joyful in spite of circumstances. As a matter of fact, it is the times of imperfection that make life an adventure.When I pastored in Florida I had many "islanders" in my congregation and they had two oft repeated phrases. First, "don't worry, be happy" and second "it is what it is".  Not bad thinking!Now, it's off to Michigan, Ohio, and North Carolina to visit with some longtime friends and make some memories.  Will everything go as planned? Probably not, but the totality of the experience will be amazing.