The Big News

Months, I tell you, months of built up information just welling up within me.

There's so much to say.  I'm not even sure where to start.

So - I'll just start with the information.  We're moving, and we're not just moving across town.  We are moving moving.  Hours and hours and hours away.  Away from all of our family (whom you can be praying for - taking grandkids hours and hours and hours away is obviously not the most popular thing to do), away from the only home I've ever really known, away from friends, and away from an abundance of memories.

It's a new journey.  It's a much needed journey, and as scary as the journey is, it's just as exhilarating.  And you know - for such a large change, for such a large move, and somehow, with the foreknowledge that I can expect Bryton to ask time and time again, until he understands, if he can go to Gaga and Papa's house, there's a peace down within me.

And that's a God thing, because, due to the things I listed above, there would, humanly, be no peace.  And there's peace.  A lot of it.

It doesn't make leaving family any easier.  It doesn't make leaving friends any easier.  And, I'll be honest, there will probably be some tears on my part when Bryton asks to go to Gaga's and I have to explain to him that he's too far away.  But there's still peace.

And I'm so thankful that God provides that. 

So, there's the news.  The background:  After many, many, many talks with our pastor, the conclusion was come to that the church was wanting to go one direction with Aaron's position at the church, and Aaron was being led another.  Aaron and I joined together in prayer that God would make clear whether He still desired us here, or elsewhere, and He confirmed time and time again that our time was drawing to a close.  At that point, I vowed to Aaron, "where you go I will go... your people will be my people, your God, my God," and I meant it.

What seemed like no time following that promise, Aaron sent some 'feelers' out to some pastor friends regarding our looking for our next place in ministry, and he received a message back the very next day.

That was in May.  (This is also the reason my blog has been so dry in substance lately.  I tend to blog about what is consuming me, and it's fair to say this has been consuming my thoughts and prayer life for some time.  Yet, ministry is a very difficult place to be able to be open about information like this.  *Sigh*)  Since then, we've been in contact through Skype interviews and phone calls with a church and a pastor whom we have visited and grown to love.  Aaron's vision for his ministry and his calling align perfectly with the direction the church is hiring, and we're excited about the opportunities available for us and our children in fellowship with this church.

So - my motivation Mondays - errr, Tuesdays - really have meant: packing boxes, trying to sell a house, figuring out moving expenses and renting trucks and booking airline tickets, keeping the house cleaned in case anyone comes to look at it, praying my little heart out for it to sell quickly so we can begin building memories in a permanent house there, etc etc etc.  It's been a busy time.  An exciting time.  And an exhausting time.

And I'm so excited to finally be able to share it with my blog family from here on out.

Things are getting ready to become very interesting, and you have my word that I'll fill you in on our journey, the kids' journey, our church's journey.  I'll share our struggles and successes, our joys and our fears.

There are many that I've joked that I'd love to pack up on a bus and take with us... but we know God calls us each, not just those 'in ministry' (though we, who love Him, are all 'in ministry') where we are specifically for a reason.

So - two weeks from today we will have spent our first night in our new state, in the new chapter of our lives, and I pray that God allows it to be a long, long stationary chapter of growth and love and most of all, glory being given to Him.

So - until I'm ready to mentally vomit some more, there's our news.  Lots and lots and lots of change.  I wasn't lying when I said the winds, they are a' changin'.

-A