Against the Flow

Dan recently read that chances are whenever a person is moving out of the state they currently live in, 16% of the time he or she is moving to Texas. However, we have decided to be numbered with the very few moving out of Texas.

That's right! Dan has been looking around for jobs up north ever since we took Aiden and Seth back "home" for the first time last July. It really hit us then how much our boys would miss out on if they were only able to see family once or twice a year. We've been praying since last summer that God would open the door if He had it in His plan for us to move, and our prayers have been answered in the affirmative. A manufacturing engineering position has been offered to Dan at a medical company in upstate New York, where he will be starting around the end of April/beginning of May. After the move, we will be located less than 2 hours from Dan's parents, less than 3 from his brother and wife (and our adorable niece!) and my father and his wife (at least during the half of year when they're not in Florida) and only about 4 hours from my sister and her husband. The company that will be hiring Dan has a great relocation package and though we will be getting everything orderly here and making the house ready to sell, we won't have to worry about much else. We even have a "relocation manager" who will be picking a realtor to sell our house here, hiring a moving company and organizing all the other various details that this cross-country move encompasses. What a huge relief for me!

The first of the Texas bluebonnets have just stretched upwards towards the sun this past week and I am glad that we get to see them one more time (although they aren't out as much as they were last year). Along with our church family, our friends and our first house, I will miss the bluebonnets as well. I also know that I will be fondly remembering the 50-degrees Texas winters next January when I'm bundled up in three layers and still shivering under a blanket. But I am very thankful that God saw fit for us to move now and not last fall! I am especially excited about moving in the spring... we will be in New York just as the lilacs are coming into bloom! I can smell them already!

One of my favorite books, God Works the Night Shift by Ron Mehl, has a chapter in it about how God goes ahead of us. The following is a quote from that chapter, which I had to pull out and read tonight and smile over how perfectly everything has already been laid out for us. I have no doubt that God will continue to pave the way over the next month and longer as we situate our family once again in New York.

"While you sleep, the God who works the night shift goes on ahead to scout the road ahead and prepare the way for you. As the Living Bible renders Psalm 139:3: 'You chart the path ahead of me, and tell me where to stop and rest.' ...Somehow, He'll mark the way. It may not be a pillar of cloud or a pillar of fire, as He used to direct the Israelites through the wilderness, but He'll think of something. He'll let you know He's been there.

You'll see something. You'll hear something. You'll be reminded of something. You'll catch a sweet fragrance. You'll get an unexpected call or experience an unusual turn of circumstances or receive an unlooked-for check in the mail. You'll get a hug from a smiling sister or brother where you'd never expect to meet one. And you will nod and say, 'Ah, that's from my Father. He's already been here and left a note. He's going to meet all my needs. I don't have to worry about a thing.' "