After a good five years of owning what might have been the oldest pop-up camper, we bought this little gem. We named him Cub Sweetheart, after a little blue velvet crown worn by DH back in his high school days. Well, one of us named him that. For two summers we pulled him behind us, here and there, to the beautiful wooded campgrounds of Pennsylvania. Nights spent seeing the dancing of fireflies through the windows, and hearing crickets and such calling out "Goodnight John Boy". Smelling the campfires and hearing the chatter of little people gathered around, surely roasting marshmallows. Bike rides through the parks, or fishing at the ponds, picnics along the way, curling up at night with a barrel of popcorn and a movie, when sometimes the rain came down so hard on the roof we couldn't even hear the movie, and that was wonderfulness too.

But it's a time of changes. This time next year we hope to be settling in Texas, 1200 miles from here. Since the moving menagerie already includes two dogs, one cat, houseplants and all the other stuff the movers will tell us can't go in the van, or shouldn't go in the van, we decided to lighten our load and not pull this behind us. Sell it now, when camping season is beginning, hoping it would go to a family who would spend a lot of nights in the woods, curled up inside.

One week on Craig's list and it's gone. Six inquiries, some from Ohio and even New York State. Craig's list works! So no more camping trips in our near future, and we're a little sad about that. But I told DH if we can't say goodbye to the camper, then how do we even begin to leave our home, our church family, our friends, his job, and last - and the biggest hurdle - our daughter and her family? The camper is likely the easiest. It's also the first in sure steps toward our next leg of life.

Open hands - empty hands - ready to hold the next thing God has in store for us. Not hands that are white knuckled with gripping what we have in them now. Open hands, one step at a time.

Labels: Glimpse of the Heart