Back to a beginning

My mom and I recently took the kids to the annual Hadfield Family Reunion. This reunion is held in Logan Utah every July, the weekend of the 13th, as that is the birthdate of my Grandfather's father. My 90 year old Grandpa and his remaining siblings spent a day with us in their place of birth; Grouse Creek Utah. I won't spend too much time here telling you about getting lost in the back woods of Northern Utah-that is an entry all on its own. But I will say that going back to those beginnings was so significant for me at this time in my life.


Grouse Creek is exactly what you see in this picture, accept for a few homesteads which still remain. It was in this small area of the world that my grandfather and his 9 brothers and sisters worked with their widowed mother and stuck through thick and thin. Grandpa eventually ended up, during wartime, a merchant marine in the middle of the ocean. He had to set his back to the valley and face a world of unknowns in places he'd hardly even read about. Then, after starting a family Grandpa would eventually move them across the ocean to Australia, where they hopped from city to city as he was an engineer for a mining company there. From what you see in this picture, a little lonely valley, my grandpa left to see the world. And while the adventures he encountered out there were defining and amazing it is these roots my grandpa returns to, roots that go down deep and ground him as a man of faith and hard work. A man who believes that family should stick together and that where we come from makes such an impact on where we go and who we become.
The very day we drove the 4 hours to Grouse Creek my partner in crime and parenting called to let me know he'd been given an assignment in Johhannessberg South Africa. We already knew we were moving to Texas, and we were in the throws of preparing another house to sell, another group of friends to separate from and another goodbye and farewell from our family. But this call meant that instead of flying down to Dallas and buying a house, setting up shop and laying groundwork for a happy school year we were instead going to fly into the wild blue yonder and land with 6 kids in the middle of South Africa; what an adventure indeed. The assignment is short; 3-6 months, but the task daunting and the distance looming as we try and help our kids wrap their minds and hearts around a new place and another new beginning.
Now John is gone, flew to Jo-Berg on Saturday. While that country is a world away for me, I know I belong there with our children because where ever John is I am home. So, we go. And I'll try to do it with a smile. Wondering how a girl like me ended up in a place like this...
Maybe I have some of my grandpa in me somewhere; a person who isn't afraid of the big world and who is willing to trade it for the little valley where she is surrounded by siblings who will work through thick and thin to keep it all together. Maybe somehow in galavanting our crew of 6 around the planet like this we will instill in them a sense of purpose, a sense of family togetherness and perhaps even a longing for roots that go deep and a belief that family is everything and that where we come from will make an impact on who we will become.
So I set my back to this valley, and face the adventure ahead, hoping it will be all that it could be for me and mine. Hope you'll come along on the adventure. We'll keep our blog and even be better at keeping you informed as to what we are up to on our new side of the world.
Here we go!