Sunday, January 23, 2011

Three Princesses Go to Church

We have lived in our new town for a little over a year. It has had it's ups and downs. One of the ups is our new church. The girls started going to children and youth groups. I went every once in awhile, especially if a princess had something going on like choir or Upward cheerleading. This morning, I got up and decided that it was time to join the church. I sent text messages to my two oldest princesses, and told them that when the pastor gave the invitation, I was going to go up and tell him that we wanted to become members, and that I wanted them to go up with me. When the time came, I took my shy, eleven year old princess by the hand, and my oldest met us at the altar. What is the significance of this?

We moved to this town two years after seeing my beloved Mama off to heaven by way of cancer. Moving here forced us to leave behind a baton twirling corps that I founded, and a thriving Girl Scout unit that I managed, as well as a growing homeschool group. We went from being leaders, to being new faces in a new, bigger town.

Before we got all of our things moved, our new home was burglarized, and we lost some very important things such as our entire collection of batons that we used for performances. This would lead to a year off from twirling.

My husband had to change jobs twice.

We went from being a two car family, to one, which meant that after school activities would be greatly limited. No more Girl Scouts, no parade corps, no joining other homeschoolers to play.

It's been a long, frustrating journey.

So what does the church have to do with all of this?

It came to me not long ago, that our entire lives have changed. The changes may seem insignificant to those on the outside, but they were very profound for us. However, it's all coming back to us. We are equipped and ready to start twirling classes next March. We have a new homeschool group forming, and even though we aren't involved in the same activities, our schedule is starting to be packed once again. In fact, I have joined the church choir so that I, too, can enjoy an extra curricular activity that is all my own.

The fact of the matter is that the people of this church have treated us very nicely. They act like we are family, even though they admit to not knowing us very well. It seems as if we were led to our new church family via our personal "trail of tears". Tonight, I write with a humble and grateful heart. We have made our membership official, and two princesses are going to be baptized. The long, emotional, and painful road has led us to a new life, new friends, new church. I'm looking forward to looking forward.

Giving all the Glory to God,
Laurel Santiago

4 comments:

  1. This is wonderful Laurel!! God is good.

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  2. I am so glad that you have found a second home where you belong. I am sure this brings with it some peace as well as some fun chaos!

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  3. That is so great! Finding a church family is so important to our "survival." It is hard moving to a different/bigger area in which you are no longer as involved as you were before. That was very hard for me, but God is good.

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