New Town to Hometown: My Story

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Genesis 2:18 Now the Lord God said, It is not good (sufficient, satisfactory) that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper meet (suitable, adapted, complimentary) for him. (Amplified)

When ever I read the verse above I can’t help but think that God knew from the beginning that we were social creatures  created for friendships and community.

I hear woman all the time say “I don’t have any real life friends” or “I don’t feel like here is home yet” and sadly they have lived in their community for years. This series is for them. I pray that through this series I can provide the courage for women to step out of their comfort zones and do what is necessary to start real life friendships and community bonds.

11 years ago my husband and our 3 young children moved from Western Canada to Midwest America and all I had ever seen of the new town I now call home was pictures off the few internet websites we could find about the area (this was pre-social media and Wi-Fi days).

I arrived knowing no one and knowing very little about the area. My children were 6, 2, and newborn and therefore still at the stage that they required some days more than it seemed I had to give.  My husband was working nights and sleeping days that first year which left me alone with the children for long stretches of time. One month after we moved my mother found out she had cancer and that was my breaking point, I knew if I was going to make it through I was going to have to come out of my introvert shell and create a support group of friends and a sense of community for me and my family fast for my sanity and for my families.

Now 11 years later, I look back and am in awe of what God has done, never have I had friends who so get me. The community around me might not be the ocean front lands I grew up with but I have come to love the site of a sunrise over a full grown corn field. The community around me is my community this is my hometown and has been for several years and will continue to be unless God calls us to another and if He should I now know the steps to making the next new town a hometown.

I hope that if you are new in your town, or perhaps years later still struggling to call your town home, you will join me the next 30 days as I share the steps I discovered to making a new town a hometown, fast.

 (Disclaimer: Although I now know how to make friends I am by no means a perfect friend. I fail daily. Thankfully I have friends who model God’s grace with me and forgive me. Nor have I abandoned my introvert ways. I still prefer one to one conversations over group gatherings, I still retreat to my own little world often, and I still need a certain amount of alone time each day to refuel but I am blessed to have friends who understand that part of me too, or at least pretend to )

This post is part of the New Town to Hometown series. Use the links below to dig into the series.

Introduction: My Story (you are here)

Part One: Becoming Friend Worthy

1. It all begins with fellowship with God
2. The most important lesson in friendship building
3. Are you welcoming?
4. Create mutual bonds
5. Meet a need and make a friend
6. Don’t try to look perfect
7. Not everyone is going to be your friend

Part Two: Places To Find Friends

1. Start the search online
2. Church
3. Community
4. MOPS
5. Homeschooling groups
6. Be the neighbor with the active porch swing
7. Breaking the ice and setting goals

Part Three: Creating Community

1. Research before you leave

2.Visit your new local visitors center

3. Make a to see list

4.Take a Sunday drive

5.Study the areas history

6.Take part in all things local

7.Explore local state parks and playgrounds

Silly Stories Of My Moving Adventure

1. It is going to be a long trip
2. When you give a two year old a marker
3. I was a soap opera star for just one day
4. A sign that the long trip was about to end
5. What happens when your landmarks become cornfields