Update on the Move and Things

I was reminded today by a friend in our church family, that some people actually do like reading my posts if I could just keep up with doing them.  I do ENJOY doing them, but I am just not good at posting a quick little thing for each day, so then I have these huge chunks in time where I say nothing at all (except what I put on Instagram).  Then I bombard you with an epic tale of our lives lately.

Well, something is better than nothing.  While I'm in this season of sporadic blogging, feel free to parcel out sections of my longer posts into daily portions.  I'll never know.

So an amazing thing happened after our trip to Texas in April: that meet and greet turned job interview C had, was turned into a job offer just a couple days after we got back to New Mexico.  The following Monday, in fact.

I had prayed throughout our trip that God would line up open doors (WIDE OPEN) and close doors on all the extra "maybe" paths we had going on in our minds.  This job offer was one of the ways the Lord revealed His plan for us.  We would have been fools to pray so boldly for open doors and closed doors and then take all He showed us and go another way.  So we did our due diligence in praying about the offer and discussing details, but we knew fairly quickly that we would accept.

C starts work on June 2.

This week marks our last few days of "regular" life in New Mexico.  Until our house sells, we will still be residents here, but our Texas adventure begins on June 1, the morning we wake up in our hotel and we think about next steps.  We'll begin looking (more seriously and in person) for a home to move into, we will try to meet up with the handful of Instagram friends we have out that way to feel less isolated as quickly as possible and on Monday, C will go to work and I'll be with the kids and our Sequoia, figuring out the region.

It's one of my favorite things about moving to a new city: getting lost.  I love just "going for a drive" so that I can find my way back again.  Houston's size intimidates me!  It's the fourth largest city in the country, but Albuquerque intimidated me when we first arrived here.  I have faith that the Lord (and my GPS) will show me the way, keep us safe on our exploratory trips and bring us back to our "home," each day.  I figured out the highway system in ABQ, so I'll figure it out in H-town.  It might take a little longer, but I feel confident that I can do it.

So back to the New Mexico part of life right now...

We have four more full days here.  We are living in a staged-to-sell home (please don't look too deeply in our drawers and closets where a bunch of stuff is hiding) and doing the best we can to keep it looking nice while not completely confining our kids to absolute boredom or TV.  NOT EASY.  Though, I'm so proud of our kids because considering the slobs our family is as a whole usually, everyone is doing quite well pulling their own weight to keep things in place.

Meanwhile, there have been no showings or recognizable interest in our property.  I refuse to let that get me down.  I know God has got this and it will sell in His timing, set for our best interests.  Please, Lord, let there be a huge outpouring of interest the day after we leave for Texas and a quick and solid offer -- maybe even a bidding war... but of course, YOUR will be done.  If my idea of perfect timing isn't the same as the Lord's, I trust His timing is better for us.  Mine is only a suggestion.

Also in the meantime, my sister D got remarried to a terrific, godly man.  I am thrilled for her.  Right now, she's on a cruise in the Caribbean enjoying her honeymoon.  My mom is here in town, keeping watch over my nieces and it's been fun to get together with all of them a little each day so we can be out of the house messing up other parts of this world.

Yesterday, we rode the Railrunner for a couple hours.  It was fun till the kids got bored and hungry, but it was fun.  It was out of the house.  It was out of the rain.  There was a lot of that.

Today, we'll go see the new Muppet movie at the cheap theater.  Tomorrow, we'll probably barbecue in the afternoon (isn't that what is supposed to happen on Memorial Day? besides honoring the fallen, of course, who would probably rather have been eating some good barbecue over dying in a war any day).  A couple years ago, we spent Memorial Day up in the National Cemetery in Santa Fe.  Part of the day, anyway.  If your family has never visited a National Cemetery, I definitely recommend it.

We found that walking through rows and rows of white headstones really gets us reflecting on all that has been lost for the families of these soldiers for our gain.  These were our protectors, sent to fight and to die for us so that we might remain free in the country.  I am forever grateful for their sacrifices.  I'm especially in awe of the parents and spouses of those we memorialize on this holiday, who -- like Mary at the foot of the cross -- found freedom with all of us at the cost of their loved one.  Very bittersweet. 

And that is how I feel about this upcoming move of ours.  Bittersweet.

I am thrilled to have this opportunity to go someplace new.  I am excited to be back by some saltwater (and plenty of fresh and brackish water, too) and to ease the pain of terribly hot, humid days with hours at a local beach.  The Lord knows my love for the water and He is blessing me with an abundance of it in close proximity.  I can't wait to find out what this next chapter in our faith walk brings.

On the other hand, there are many we love here in New Mexico and it is so hard to say goodbye and to know that for some of these friends, we might not see them again on this side of heaven.  I know we'll visit my sister's family here and of course, we'll be back for closing on the house and one or two other things, I'm sure, but it will not be the same after this.  We'll not be part of the daily lives of these people we love so much.  They will not be part of ours (unless they follow me on Instagram - ha!).

We know though, that the Lord has connected us to these people for eternity.  We feel the same about our friends in New Hampshire and those we left behind in California, before that.  "Parting is such sweet sorrow..." as William Shakespeare is quoted as writing in his famous play, Romeo and Juliet, and there is such truth in those words.  In spite of all the good things God has planned for us in Texas, it's hard to say goodbye to the people (and some of the "things") we love in New Mexico, but as believers in our One True God, we know that it is not really goodbye, but "until next time."

Let our new adventure begin...