Cheney.... you better watch out! You have no idea what's just hit you!
After several months of waiting and wondering when and where we'd be moving, we are finally in our new home! Jason's job has relocated us to KS. Not exactly where WE had planned on going originally, but God works in mysterious ways! He has placed us right where we belong. It's going to be different from anything I've ever known, but it's going to be good! There are several great things about our move....
First and foremost, we are only about 45 minutes from my Brother in law and Sister in law and their family. One of their daughters, Jenna. We have never lived close to them before, so we've never played the role of God-parents in her life. But now we are close, and I can't wait to share God's love with her and her brothers and sister, Jason, Ryan, and Emma,(not to mention Mom and Dad, too) What a blessing to have this opportunity!
Second, we are SOOOO much closer to 'home'  than before! In MO, it was about a 6 hour drive to visit our families. Now we are only about 3 hours... that makes for a MUCH easier trip! :)
Finally, can we say culture shock?!?! I grew up in OKC. When we moved to MO, I thought that was a small town. HA! Cheney is a V E R Y small town... 2,000 people small! So small that my nephew, Jason, couldn't believe the one street he had driven down was the ONLY big street in town. Carrie Underwood sings about her "one stoplight town" in Checotah, we don't even have a stoplight at all! There is a pizza shop in the bowling alley, which is apparently the hang out on Friday nights. There's a chicken place in the gas station, and there is a small Chinese/American food place right next to City Hall. Oh yeah, and the burger place that charges you $.25 for lettuce or tomato on your burgers. Our grocery store is the size of my old pharmacy, I don't even know if there is a pharmacy here! But despite all of that, I think we're in a great place! Our house is amazing, the people are SO friendly, and we've already found our home in a church. In fact, 3 days after moving in to the house, Vacation Bible School started, and I was right there volunteering in the preschool room. If I had a dollar for every time somebody told me I was crazy for being there right after moving, I could afford a burger from the burger shack! ;o) But I figure, why wait to volunteer? Serving God is amazing, VBS is only 1 week, and the boxes will still be there waiting to be unpacked next week! All in all, we're where we belong, for now. Where God leads us, only He knows!

Ever feel like something just wasn't right?

Do you ever get that feeling that things just aren't right, no matter how much you try to convince yourself otherwise? That's kind of what we've been struggling with lately. You see, as mentioned in my last post, we found a house for when we move. We've been working on this house since the end of March. Getting inspections, appraisals, and more back and forth's with the sellers than you would believe. It truly was a great place. The land was amazing, and was probably the biggest selling point for the house. The house itself was nice, too, but it was going to need LOTS of updating. The killer wallpaper that covered that house was awful, and was going to be a LOT of work for me. Not that I couldn't handle a little project... but in choosing this house, we decided to sacrifice a few things. We were good with that. We prayed, talked, and prayed some more about all the changes that would take place with this transition. 
This whole process has been more stress that necessary. Jason and I have questioned many times why things keep backfiring. So many things going wrong with the negotiations, the appraisal, and the seller's agents refusing to budge on anything. Each time something would come back at us from them, we would pray for guidance, for God to lead our family where He sees best for us. And each time we would pray, we would get slammed with bad news from the sellers again. But we kept going with it. Pushing to get what WE wanted from this deal. So after the appraisal came back under contract price, we prayed again. We prayed for guidance, and we prayed for smooth negotiations. Well, once again, bad news. They didn't want to agree to it. How many times do we look past this? After all, we've been waiting for God to show us where we need to go, and these negotiations have been telling us something. This place just is not meant to be. We pray for guidance, yet we fail to see it when it's smacking us in the face. Well, we finally got the memo, God! This house is not our home, it is not what is going to fulfill our family's needs. They refuse to work with us on this deal, so after a lot more praying, we have decided to let it go. 
So after spending the last month + working the deal on that house, and the $$ involved, we are starting back at square one. We were supposed to close on that house on May 18th. 20 days until closing, and we start all over again. The stress I have felt through this whole process has been overwhelming. I felt like I was being suffocated. But  the moment we followed His lead and let this go of this deal, I could breathe. I feel a bit pressed for time now, but I don't feel the stress and negativity that was surrounding that contract. 

So I guess in short, pay attention. When we pray, God answers. He gives us signs,  the tools we need, and the information we need, He tells us things in so many ways that we tend to overlook. All we have to do is open our eyes, hearts, and ears, and then we will realize God is there, walking us through this life. As cliche as it is, God has a plan for everyone. We don't know His plans, and it may be difficult waiting for it to play out, but God is good! The times we wonder why there is "only one set of footprints" in life, just remember that is when God carried you through, he didn't leave you during the hard times! I leave you with the poem "Footprints in the Sand" , just as a friendly reminder :)

One night a man had a dream. He dreamed
he was walking along the beach with the LORD.

Across the sky flashed scenes from his life.
For each scene he noticed two sets of
footprints in the sand: one belonging
to him, and the other to the LORD.

When the last scene of his life flashed before him,
he looked back at the footprints in the sand.

He noticed that many times along the path of
his life there was only one set of footprints.

He also noticed that it happened at the very
lowest and saddest times in his life.

This really bothered him and he
questioned the LORD about it:

"LORD, you said that once I decided to follow
you, you'd walk with me all the way.
But I have noticed that during the most
troublesome times in my life,
there is only one set of footprints.
I don't understand why when
I needed you most you would leave me."

The LORD replied:

"My son, my precious child,
I love you and I would never leave you.
During your times of trial and suffering,
when you see only one set of footprints,
it was then that I carried you."

Changes

Everything changes with Jason's job! These past 3 months have been quite the roller coaster ride... we were originally planning to go to Ponca City, OK where Jason was to manage the Osage wind farm. Well, a few legal battles and delays later (on the company's part, not ours!), that plan fell through. I was SO bummed when I found out we wouldn't be moving back to OK, but I know that God has a plan for us. He will lead us where we need to be.
In March, a few days after Osage fell through, Jason got another opportunity to go to Flat Ridge II near Wichita, KS. It's going to be a HUGE site, and a major challenge for Jason (which he LOVES a challenge!). We prayed about it, a lot. I was very hesitant because it's not what "I" wanted... but then again, life never goes the way "I" plan, it's all about God's plan. Sometimes trusting that plan is hard, but it always works out in the end. After a few days of prayers and careful consideration, and research, we decided we would accept the position.
Making the decision to move when you have children is so much more difficult than if we didn't have children. We have to consider their friends, their school, their activities, their safety.... it's more than just thinking about whether it's what WE want to do. How's it going to affect them? Will they be happy with their new school? Will our new church be as good as the one we are at now? Will there be other activities for the kids to participate in? So many questions... so much time spent researching.
Once we accepted the position, things started happening really fast. It was mid-March by the time we had decided everything, and Jason's start date is May 7, and school ends May 25. That gives us just over 2 months to figure things out. Obviously, we're not going to pull the girls out of school 2 weeks early, so we'll finish out the year here. We immediately began looking for a house and researching the schools/churches. The town we're going to... it's not exactly OKC. It's T I N Y. Very. Tiny. Very.... Very... TINY. It's going to be a culture shock once we move. The closest Wal-Mart is going to be 1/2 hr drive away. There are no *real* restaurants in town, however, there is a Sonic! ;o) We found our house... and we're in love! It's beautiful, on 1.4 acres, each girl gets their own room. I wouldn't say it's our dream home, but the land is gorgeous, and the house is great too. We are currently in the buying process, which is NOT fun at all. We went back and forth with our offer and their counter offer a couple of times. Then the inspection, which was pretty good, then the appraisal.... now to re-negotiate! It appraised a little under our contract price, so the sellers have to make some adjustments. House hunting is SO much fun, but once you pass that point, it's not so fun anymore. The paperwork is extensive, the phone calls seem to never end, it's one inspection after another, one hurdle after another. Eventually it will be over with and we can close the deal.... then I will be able to rest again.
One good thing, we don't have to move ourselves this time! The company is going to move everything for us... AWESOME! Of course, I found this out AFTER I had packed about 20-30 boxes... that they will un-pack and re-pack. Oh well, I don't have to do it. I think I'll be a bit anxious watching these random strangers messing with all my stuff, but from what I've been told, I'll never want to move any other way again.
This move comes with so many mixed emotions. I'm excited for our next phase in our lives, but I am a bit nervous about all the changes to come as well. One of the best things about moving is that we'll be a LOT closer to 'home', and my brother in law and his family will only be about 45-50 minutes away from us!