We have mentioned how the Vicarage is going through a lot of transition. Brenda has come home from her mission in The Netherlands at the busiest season of the church year. She hit the ground running even as she was recovering from jetlag and set out to preaching on her first weekend back. that was a hard and a fast transition.

Her dog took two weeks to transition to our time zone. That was a hard transition. My two dogs and he still cannot be left alone in the same room. That has been a hard transition.

Amanda left the day before Brenda came back to take care of some children of a congregant. That sent Flerkin into a tail spin for a few days, a hard transition.

I am getting used to living in a house as the only man among three women. A hard transition.

But none of these things have compared to the transition my mom has been walking through. Her transition began long before Brenda came back. Over the last few years Mom has been slowly losing things to the demon of memory loss. She has lost the ability to drive. She has stepped away from the stove for the most part. She has given up sole ownership of the house and just recently she had to give up the ability to self medicate. she still holds onto her checkbook, but even that she is beginning to accept help with.

The changes in the Vicarage have been huge for all of us but none of us have faced more daunting changes than mom. We have all needed grace for our separate transitions but mom has needed a deeper grace than all of us. We all realize that we are just at the beginning of this journey, but we also know we do not travel it alone. We have each other and we have the God we serve.