"The Time Has Come"

Our family has always loved to watch the old "I Love Lucy" shows.  Even though they are in black and white and even though they were originally made back in 1950 we have always found them to be relaxing, very funny and they just plain made us feel good.  I watched them growing up, my kids have watched them, my nieces and now my granddaughters are watching "I Love Lucy".  One of our favorite episodes is when Lucy Ricardo is about to have her baby.  Her husband Ricky and their best friends Fred and Ethel Mertz "practice" leaving the house for the hospital.  They want to be prepared, calm and have everything planned out so when Lucy says "the time has come" they will all have their assigned duties and the leaving for the hospital will take place without any confusion.  Of course, as they are practicing, "the time" really does come, and of course no one follows their assigned rolls, and of course instead of no confusion there is complete chaos.  Fred, Ethel and Ricky even leave for the hospital without remembering to take Lucy along!! It is one of our family's favorite scenes and we have watched it a zillion times. 

I have thought of this "I Love Lucy" episdoe a zillion times over the last month.  Why? Because "the time has come".  I keep saying that over and over again in my mind...."the time has come".  The time really has come for us to leave for Colorado.  All the anticipation, planning, thinking and wondering is over.  The time has come and we really are on our way.  Tomorrow at 10:00 am we will be leaving our house here in New Hampshire and begin the journey to Colorado to launch Soaring Wings Ministries.  As with Lucy, Ricky, Fred and Ethel, our leaving for Colorado has not quite gone as we had expected.  As I write this it is 11:30 pm at night.  I am taking a break from cleaning out house and Ed is out in the garage building a crate that will fit in the back of our pick-up truck for our 4 dogs.  We have been cleaning, painting, making to do lists, completing the to do list and then starting another to do list.  We have had all of our things packed up and moved out to Colorado and we have flown out to Fort Collins to secure all of our things in a storage unit and then we have flown back home.  We have squeezed in camping trips, afternoon teas, dinner dates with friends in Connecticut, lunches dates with friends in New Hampshire, trips to Massachusetts to see our family....all because we wanted to spend as much time as we possibly could with our family and friends before we left.  Some how when I imagined our leaving for Colorado I didn't picture us staying up till 1 a.m. the night before we were to leave. I didn't picture us being bone tired for weeks because there was so much we needed and wanted to do before we left. I didn't picture me just grabbing anything to wear, whether it matched or not and just being thankful that I had clean clothes to wear.  I didn't picture us eating off paper plates for 3 weeks before we left because all of our dishes are in a storage unit in Colorado.  I didn't picture us using our camping chairs for living room furniture.    Just like Ricardos and the Mertzes anticipated that the arrival of the Ricardo's baby would be calm and orderly, I thought our leaving for Colorado would be calm and orderly. Thankfully, we aren't quite as bad as the Ricardos and the Mertzes.  We aren't bumping into each other, falling down, and I don't think we will leave someone behind when we leave.  Leaving for Colorado has been very different than what I pictured and imagined in my mind but one thing has been just as I expected it would be and that is that I have NO DOUBT WHATSOEVER THAT WE SHOULD BE GOING!!!!! Yes, it is crazy around our house, yes we are tired of cleaning and painting,  yes we are bone tired, yes we will miss our family and friends terribly and yes we will miss our home and beautiful New Hampshire but we are suppose to be in Colorado and "the time has come".  Tomorrow we are leaving for Colorado, "the time has come" to say good-bye to New Hampshire and to begin our journey out west to start our new life at Soaring Wings Ministries and to help homeless families have a better life.  Somehow, I think all the very busy days, inconveniences, and bone tiredness will all be worth it when we have the very first family move into a cabin at Soaring Wings Ministries.  We still have much to do before that first family moves in, but we are taking a HUGE step in the right direction and I am so very thankful that we have gotten this far and that God has given us strength during very busy days. Our days have been full and hectic and I think it would be so nice to sit down and relax and watch that silly episode of "I Love Lucy".  One small problem,  my "I Love Lucy" DVD's are buried somewhere in a storage unit in Fort Collins, Colorado, but that is ok, because when I finally do get to watch "I Love Lucy" I will be watching them with a family who is living at Soaring Wings instead of living in a car or on the street, and I think that the very first episode I will want to watch with them will be the one where Lucy is having her baby and "the time has come".  Won't that be nice to watch that episdoe with our very first Soaring Wings family and to say "the time has come"!!!!!