FIVE MINUTE FRIDAY

Welcome

We've made it through another week.  A gauntlet week, as my husband termed it.  We enjoyed a fantastic day today at a ceremony related to my husband's work, and now we get a 3 day weekend together.  LOVE.

Time once again for Five Minute Friday, courtesty of Gypsy Mama.  Five minutes of pure, unedited writing.  Just my raw thoughts on a posted word.

This week:  Welcome.

Go

Where to begin?  Welcome is an insanely important word here.  Moving every few years makes it so.  No matter where we live, we do our best to make our home welcoming to others, and ourselves welcome in a new environment.  I want my kids to feel comfortable and welcome in school, so they feel like they are at home.  I want to find a welcoming group of like minded friends that I can spend my time with.  

But where to begin in a new place?  We've done it many times, and we've tried it many ways.  And for us, it always always comes back to 

OHANA.

A Hawaiian word for family.  But not necessarily blood relations, because ohana means so much more than that.  It encompasses whole armies of people, who enjoy each other's company, share each other's beliefs, and support each other through everything.

We find our ohana, our welcome, in a church home.  It's our link, our cord that binds us together and to family, no matter where we find ourselves landing in the world.

It's where we find our welcome.  

We just returned from a weekend of church camp, and I came back with a feeling of welcome-ness that I rarely find.

Stop

Grr.  Very difficult this week to get my thoughts together.  And oh so much more I wanted to say.  But a deal's a deal, so we're posting as is.  

Be sure to click on over to Gypsy Mama to see my link as well as others.  I'm #83, and I particularly enjoyed reading #82, Lucy, as she welcomes us to her mind.  Insightful!  I think if I welcomed you to my mind I would just scare you off.

Have a good weekend...see you soon!