On the Road Again....

Like the Willie Nelson song states:

On the road again

Goin' places that I've never been

Seein' things that I may never see again

And I can't wait to get on the road again

Our lives at this point are "on the road again". 

The Departure:

The first part of our journey toward Perth Australia has been amazingly exciting, strenuous, insightful, and heart wrenching. The beginning of our travels began with the unanticipated farewell of our first home. The welcoming, charming, and steeply staired home that resides in Wrightstown Wisconsin, has experienced its fair share of new beginnings and was now about to experience a farewell. This quaint home witnessed the love of two souls’ and their marriage in its infancy, the feet of many amazing and soon to be missed brethren coming over for Bible studies, prayer, as well as the occasional game of Settlers of Catan, and the amazing addition to our family of our daugthter Madilyn Elizabeth. As Melissa and I sat watching, a now two year old Madilyn, run never ending circles around where her bed once was constructed, we took the opportunity to open our eyes to the reality of our presently vacant home, and we took shelter in each others arms for the Noah’s Ark sized flood of memories that were about to rush through our heads. To be completely honest with you, it hit me much harder than I expected. As I had fumbled with words to describe how much this “home” had done for our family at a church potluck a few weeks back, I am confident I will do the same again here. But here it goes…

It’s more than a home. It is more than siding and shingles. It is a place where God blessed us tremendously with innumerable opportunities to serve Him. This is a place that God gave us an incredible environment for us to put our faith into action. It is a place where forgiveness was truly experienced. It is a place where my incredible wife and I laid the foundation for our marriage with God being at the very center of it. It is the place where coffee was to be had over long spiritual conversations early Tuesday mornings. It is place that, by its original design, was intended to be a safe haven for those needing a place to “be”. Welcome was the floor mats name, and if you didn’t mind a little dog hair, the couch was a nice place to sleep. This “place” was more than siding and shingles; it was a fresh start. It was a clean slate. The home embodied everything that we have experienced through real Christian love over the last 5 years. The home encompassed unselfish friendships, growing pains, hours of laughter, painful goodbye’s, and an honest inward look at our relationship with God our Father and His son Jesus Christ. As Melissa and I sat in our empty upstairs under the waves of incredible memories now flooding our home, we realized this house was a representation of all of this. It was more than siding and shingles.

At this point you might be asking yourself “Why then are you On the Road Again? Why are you …Going places that you’ve never been?”

As hard as it is to leave these wonderful memories for uncertainty and new challenges, the simple answer is this: God.

Just as He has done in our home the last five years, He now has presented and made it possible for our family to spend time in His service in different way/ways. Melissa and I’s desire is to spread His word as much as we can: The gospel of His son Jesus Christ, which is Him crucified for the sin that separates us from God the Father. This has been a constant prayer in our lives for some time, and this move allows us more time at this or at least the chance at it. With prayer, our family has made the decision that this chance is worth taking, even if it means giving up what is comfortable and familiar. God deserves thanks and glory for this.

So that’s where we are! We bid farewell to the siding and shingles, but we agreed as a family that the memories the house embodied were going to be granted permanent residency in our minds. They will be stored there in lock-tight safekeeping, in which we are able to visit them at our beckon call. Agreed? Agreed.

We are “on the road again” visiting family and friends before we leave, and thus far it has been AWESOME! So many hilarious happenings have transpired in the first five days that have left us speechless and utterly full (chik-fil a 3 times in 3 days and zaxby’s for the winner chicken dinner).

We would like to exchange them here with you (My deepest apologies for the horrible pun on our lacking blog title. (****Additional note to readers****: The blog title is subject to change weekly). So we hope you are able stay tuned to hear about our adventures moving forward, and feel free to  grab any available encouragement and laughs from this.  

The Rosengartens