A change of plans.

The summer after Chris and I got married, Chris took an internship with a company in New Jersey. I had no idea how much of a Midwestern I was until I tried living in the East. Those three months spent in Jersey were the most miserable months of my life. I don't write that dramatically, I write that as a true statement. Never was I more happy to be back in Michigan than the day we moved home. Until, maybe now.

10 months ago Chris came home from work with news of a great opportunity on the horizon. I have always said that I would support and follow him wherever we needed to go. Well, this great opportunity involved moving to Texas. Texas? Texas. It was so easy to say "I'll go wherever we need to" before we needed to. Especially since the wherever now had a name and it was Texas.

2 years ago we had the amazing God led opportunity to move back to our hometown. This was especially exciting for me. My Dad had died one year earlier, and I hated that my Mom was here alone. The thought of being close to her again was such a comfort to both her and me. An added bonus was that Chris' parents also live here and so Alyssa would be growing up with all of her Grandparents 7 minutes away. I wish I could say that I once I was here I was all smiles, no regrets, but that simply wasn't true. I ached for our old house, our old friends, our old neighbors, our old church, our old restaurants and our old shopping. Suddenly the life I had in Ohio looked so much better than life I had in Michigan. I struggled with being content here in our house, at our church and with our restaurants and shopping or lack thereof for over a year. I think that most of those months if I could have had an undo button, I would have pushed it. So while the thought of moving to Texas was terrifying , I was going to be near a big city. I could have my shopping, and restaurants, and big church and new house.

Since that October day, unbeknowst to me, God has been working in my heart. At some point during the last 10 months my perspective began to change. I started falling in love with our house. I stopped wrestling with every little thing about our church I didn't like, and began enjoying the things I really do like. I have watched Alyssa bond so deeply with Grandma and Nana and Papa and wait expectantly for the same thing to happen with Evan. I've come to realize how much I love that we can see Chris in the middle of the day for lunch. And the list goes on and on. Suddenly the things that I would gain by moving to Texas did not even come close to the things that I was going to lose. But, that was neither here nor there, Chris was already in his new role and we were Texas bound.

One night at our Oasis Group (small group), our Pastor, and friend admitted that he was praying that we would stay. I heard him say it, but didn't really think too much of it. That is until, night after night Chris would come home with news of the project that no longer sounded so favorable. We both recalled what Mike had said, and I began to see that God is so much bigger than all of this.

The chances of us actually moving to Texas today are extremely small. I can't say impossible because well, there's that whole God thing, but it's not looking likely. But I am so thankful for the "scare." I am the most content that I can ever remember being. I guess sometimes it really is about the journey, not the destination.

Home sweet home to stay, I hope!