In early February we got away as a couple for a night. It was a Christmas gift and was a sweet time of refreshing. While away we talked about priorities for our family, wiping the slate clean and adding in the most important priorities for our family and then the remaining daily life stuff around those priorities. We dreamed about possibilities and talked about future potentials. We considered remodeling some space in our home to make it more functional. We entertained that lingering desire to return to farm life. Time to get away is great for entertaining thoughts like that. In the past we had always concluded that returning to farm life just wouldn't be feasible, especially as our family grew larger and our support system grew in the city. But this weekend was different. We prayed asking God to make a way for three specific things in order go forward with moving back to farm life. God answered quickly and in ways we hadn't expected.
In six weeks we prepared our home to be on the market, painting almost every room and delivering loads of boxes to the garage of our new farm home. Being able to move most of our stuff into our new home made it so easy to declutter and stage the house. God provided a buyer after just six days on the market. More importantly, God provided a buyer who would love and care for our precious neighbors we were leaving behind. God provided a work arrangement for Nic so that he could keep his current project management job and work from home the much of the time. Because he works with an international team most of their daily interactions are hosted in meeting rooms in cyber space. In the middle of moving we were able to complete the paperwork to get licensed for foster care in our new location so that we could bring a very precious little foster sweetie with us who has been with us her whole life.
So much moving!
By early summer we had moved to our not-so-little house on the prairie and we have been busy settling in ever since. We enjoyed the summer rec baseball season for Noah, spent hours on the road to and from driver's ed for Serena, helped Maria apply and get registered for classes at a local community college, attended a summer dance workshop for Corinn, registered Serena and Aliah at the local high school, delivered Maria to her summer job at Camp Beechpoint in Michigan and had a wonderful family vacation camping trip through Michigan and the UP upon picking her up, enjoyed trips to the beach visiting grandparents and the benefit of being closer to all the grandparents, added three dearly loved (and spoiled!) barn kittens to our farm, repaired the pasture fence so we could add two beautiful horses to the farm. It has been a full summer and we are still not all unpacked! There has been so much outdoor farm life to enjoy that we have not gotten fully settled yet.
Back in February at our little overnight get-away we never imagined that this was how God would move in our family this year. It has all happened so quickly and we are in awe of all that He has done. Of course, moving can be hard on a family. Physically it is just hard work. Emotionally it is a lot of change and transitions can be hard for kids (and adults). We still feel like we are losing our minds when we can't seem to find certain items, even the ones we carefully packed in boxes that were marked *Do Not Lose. Overall it has been a wonderful move to a wonderful place. We miss our dear friends and neighbors in the city and are thankful we can remain connected with technology and we are so thankful to live in this beautiful, peaceful place.
Eventually we all get settled in. For now we will enjoy the rest of summer on the farm because summer is quickly coming to an end.
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