May 2012

I want to share a story of how we, as a family, are taking a "Walk of Faith."
It all began at the beginning of May this year when my husband came home with flowers and said..."We need to talk."

See in my language that means a MOVE is coming. We have a time frame of about three years in each town and then OFF we go. It has been four years since I last heard those words and I just had this feeling something was up when he kept telling me to hold off on making any drastic changes to any additions that I wanted to make on the house.

So in May he comes home with five options as to where we may be placed next. Now I say PLACED because let me tell you I DO NOT like change nor do I PICK it out of the selections. The five options are all over the United States with one option being in Scotland! Can I just tell you, I didn't even know where that was on the MAP! I am a Texas girl and I'm pretty sure I can tell you ANYTHING you want to know about Texas and NOTHING about the rest of the world. For some reason I decided to ignore that part during my educational career.

So of course, I ignore what "MIGHT" happen, and I go with the flow and move on about my busy days. I am a mother of two who keeps every day filled with plans of playdates, volunteer work, spending time with friends, and just about anything except staying at home unless the playdate is at MY house.

Until the BOMB is dropped. It is down to two places Aberdeen, Scotland, or Atlanta, Georgia. Seriously...lets make the choices a little more drastic! As I still ignore the information that I have received, I make a few phone calls just in case this craziness comes true. Everyone I call react the same way as me..yeah yeah..let me know what happens.

Then one day as I head into our MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) meeting, I get a text from my husband. I'm headed into the meeting to get their offer. So, I laugh and decide to share this information with my MOPS family. Now, I was the coordinator at the time and had NO intentions of stepping down so sharing this information was really hard for me. As I am walking up to make the announcement, I am stopped by the most precious woman named Angela. She is visiting MOPS for the first time and is having her second baby on Monday and would really like some support and prayers for her before her big day. I stop and talk to her for a while and get to know her. She is just a little light that shines sooo bright. We talk for a while and she tells me that she just moved to the area from Scotland. AND I JUST ABOUT FELL OVER!!! Right then and there I knew exactly was about to happen. The new location was Scotland!!!!

I go on about the meeting and then finally find the time and courage to make it back to my phone to check my text. I am shaking as I type this just as I shook that day. It said...pack your bags...it's SCOTLAND!! Chills ran all the way through my body and I went straight to Angela hugged her and got all of her information because I knew right then God sent her to me to help me through this.

Now at the time..it was just going to be my husband moving to Scotland while we stay in Houston and visit when we could and he come home every few weeks. As the longest week of my life went by, the decisions had to be made. Were we going to go with him? Were we going to stay in Houston? Was I strong enough to do any of this? Will our marriage survive either decision? The anxiety and fear began to take over!

Then, one night after dinner, I took a deep breath and told my husband. We are going with you! See, all week I opened my ears and my eyes to EVERYTHING around me. Every sermon I heard over that month was about being strong and supporting your family. Every conversation that came up ended with would your spouse be ok with that? Every problem that came up with the kids, I had to talk to him before I made the decision. When I got scared or lonely...I couldn't wait for him to get home to tell me everything will be ok. I can do just about anything with him right next to me, but going five weeks without him would DESTROY me! It also didn't help that the ONLY song that I could hear in my head for the ENTIRE month was "STAND BY YOUR MAN" by Tammy Wynette. I now have that song on my ipod to keep me focused. :)

Now I know all of these things seem like they could be all coincedence, but I have a name for all of these things now thanks to Becky Carpenter. I call all of these things... God Winks! See God places everything in your life for a reason and I know he placed my husband into my life to help me be the woman He created me to be. I know that with every decision we made this month, HE was standing right there letting us know it was the right one. I know this move is absolutely what we are suppose to do "NEXT" with our lives. I just pray every second of every day that I will be able to do what He is calling me to do.

So I'm starting a blog that will hopefully help me make it through the next year as well as prepare me for what is coming up"NEXT". We had family pictures taken a few months ago and I think this picture is a great description of what is happening in our lives. Please keep us in your prayers as we take this "Walk of Faith!"