Endless roads...

25 hours. wow. wow. wow.

Over the last two days, we have driven over 25 hours and we are still going. I can now say that I have visited gas stations in Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and Kansas. Awesome.

Yesterday, our night ended at midnight as we pulled into the hotel in St. Louis... Josh's car barely making it! as you can see to the left, we pretty much packed it to the max (yes, those are duct tape wrapped box springs on top of our trailer... do what you gotta do.)

His car decided to punish us for embarrassing it with the box springs and started shaking as soon as we hit the city. Thankfully, our hotel was pretty close by and we were able to make it there without having to call AAA. Thank you, Jesus!

Luckily, my hubby and two dads are mechanical geniuses and fixed the problem the next morning. The girls (me+kinny) stayed back and had a photo shoot. This photo took 14 tries and trust me, this was the best one. I wanted to document her first night in a hotel but she was having a temper tantrum- bummer! she's so spoiled.

Other excited events of the day included Josh's car running out of gas in Kansas and the door to my gas tank mysteriously locking shut so that we couldn't get gas. Do you know that in some parts of Kansas, gas stations are 50 miles apart? we did not.

Overall, the trip has been great... you have to keep things interesting! we are about to stop for the night right outside of Colorado and plan on driving the remaining 3 hours in the morning.. where I will see our apartment for the first time, ever. (ahhhh!)

My dad is currently singing 80's hair band music and I am going to join him.. until tomorrow :)

And we're off!...

well folks,

3 months of preparation and 2 hours of sleep later- we are on our way to Colorado. Both Dads volunteered to make the 27 hour drive with us so that we didn't have to drive two cars on our own. We have the best parents!

Secretly I am most thankful they are coming because I am so not ready to say goodbye yet :) I can only handle so many goodbyes in one day.. it's nice to stagger them a bit.

We left at 7am this morning and are now in Kentucky.. which means only 20 more hours left in the car! crazy. What's even more amazing is the fact that I am blogging this from the road thanks to my super tech savvy pops. Can't believe this is really happening- I keep thinking we're just going on vacation, despite the fact that we have a 5x8 trailer worth of our belongings attached to the back of the car.

A lot of people have asked for more details about how we got to this place because it all seemed so sudden.. so I will be filling everyone in over the next few posts. I covered it pretty broadly in one of my last posts, but there are so many things God did to get us here, it will take me awhile! for now, I just have to say that God is awesome! His plans are always so much better than limited dreams.

For now, I leave you this picture of one of the many random sphinx statues i've seen driving through the state of Kentucky. Anyone know the story behind these??

The home stretch...

eek! we have less than 48 hours left in North Carolina and the house is abuzz with lots of moving related activity. Have I told you yet that this whole thing doesn't feel real to me?

getting laid off from your job gifts you with lots of free time, something that was much needed in preparation for the move. There is so much to do when you try and move across the country- looking back, I can't believe it all got accomplished! I have officially crossed off the following on my relocation task list:

• Find job (check.)
• Find apartment (check.)
• Rent out our house (check.)
• Move out of our house and in with our parents (ahh, check.)
• Enroll Josh in school (check.)
• Get financial aid set (biggest headache ever! check.)
• Sell/give away 3/4ths of our belongings and all of our furniture (check.)
• Get josh's transfer set with UPS (actually, this was the biggest headache ever. check.)
• Make sure Kinny isn't a pit bull (check! woohoo.)
• Drive 1600 miles across the country. awesome.

There are about 25 million more things that just aren't coming to mind right now, but with as many variables as we had floating around over the last month- there is no doubt in my mind that God has worked out every detail for us. There were so many things that could have gone wrong and kept us from taking this leap.. but they didn't. Glad God is in control and not me :)

Off to do more packing :)

...the way things change.

Well my friends, 11 months can bring a lot of changes. Has it really been almost a year since my last post? wow.

Some highlights to catch you up to speed:

• I am still married to the love of my life. Marriage is not always easy, but it's always worth the battle.
• I am officially an aunt! actually, I awarded myself the title of "best aunt ever."
• I got promoted to Operations Manager.. then I got laid off :)
• and probably the most drastic change of them all:

In two days, Josh and I will uproot our comfortable lives in North Carolina and travel 1600 miles with nothing but our bed and a few boxes, to our new home in... (drum roll, please.)

DENVER, COLORADO!!

Oh my lands. We are really doing it. It all started with a conversation between Joshua and I that went a little something like this:

"If you could pick one place to live- anywhere- where would you choose?"
"Colorado!"
"Me too."
"Wish it could happen..."
"Me too."
"Is there any reason it can't happen?!"
(All of my responses are the ones ending in exclamation points because I get easily excited.)

...the conversation turned into my blanketing the state of Colorado with my resume (can we say 105 emails and resumes later??) and ended with interviews and an amazing job offer from a great company.

If you would have told me last year that this is where we would be, I probably would have laughed at you. When we began the Colorado discussion, I was in a comfortable job with a company I loved working for. I was totally torn between the location of my dreams and staying comfortably put close to family and friends.

After praying and praying and praying and praying for confirmation.. it came in the form of a pink slip from my comfortable job. God knows that subtle hints don't really work with me- awesome.

I know no one reads this, but it's nice to have a record of where my life has gone.. so I will try to keep writing :) I have to run to bed.. more later!

between happiness and holiness.

The Lord has said: "These people praise me with their words, but they never really think about me. They worship me by repeating rules made up by humans. So once again I will do things that shock and amaze them, and I will destroy the wisdom of those who claim to know and understand.”

Isaiah 29:13-14

have you ever been given advice by a fellow christian that, although makes it common sense, doesn’t feel right in your spirit?

for instance, they sees you in a situation that is painful…maybe a job that is extremely stressful or a relationship that isn’t ideal.  The common sense solution would be to get out as fast as possible and not look back. The world says that happiness should be placed at the top of our priority list, so anything that doesn’t make you happy should be thrown out the window.

along the same line, I think that sometimes I get tempted to associate God’s will with happiness.. so the natural line of thinking would be to assume that if something doesn’t make you happy, it isn’t in God’s will.  the problem with that is that God never said that happiness was the most important thing.. instead of happiness, holiness should be at the top of our priority list. 

and look at what the Bible says about our journey to holiness, the refining process:

“Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.”

James 1:2-3

I think a lot times, we skip over the last part of that verse :) I’m guilty! but isn’t it encouraging to know that even when things are hard, God is using it as part of his plan, to refine us into who he wants us to be? he truly does work all things together for the good of those who trust in Him.

just a thought :) have a great night!

extROCKate hate.

 

 

• WHEN: 
• Feb. 7th, 6pm-10pm
• WHERE:
• iCoffee in Summerfield/Greensboro (corner of 150 and Lake Brandt)  (click for directions)
• WHAT:
• a benefit concert to support the World Vision project to raise awareness and combat the sexual exploitation of children around the world.
• there will be an opportunity to make donations and a portion of the proceeds from all coffee sold will go to the cause.
• WHO: 
• Acoustic Artists from 6-9pm: (click to hear music)
• David Wilson, Jr.
• Meryl Angelicola
• Phil Wagoner (RITK)
• Joshua Ling
• Bands from 9pm-on
• Rich Little Poor Kids
• WHY:
• An estimated 2 million children are enslaved in the global commercial sex trade. Most are girls, but a significant number are boys.
• What are the manifestations of child sexual exploitation?
• Prostitution
• Sex tourism
• Child pornography
• Trafficking and sale of children for sexual purposes
• Sexual abuse of girls or boys by family and community members
• Forced marriage
• In countries such as Lithuania, children as young as 11 are sold into prostitution.   Children are taken from children’s homes as young as 10 years old and forced to make pornographic movies. 
• In Asia and Europe, children as young as 13 are sold as mail order brides.
• everyday, children are raped and abused by people they once trusted, adults who are supposed to care for their well being.
• World Vision has started an initiative to fight the sexual exploitation of children by lobbying government organizations to tighten laws and make consequences more severe.
• we can make a difference!

repunzel.

brokenness embodied, the pain was so real.
screaming to be heard,
but she wouldn’t let herself feel.
instead she constructed a wall made of stone,
content in her prison, she made it her home
those who loved her saw her tears
but she wouldn’t let them care,
for fear of admitting the pain was really there

Rupunzel, Rupunzel, let down your hair
I've come to save you from your prison of fears
to hide the cracks, you've adorned every wall 
but your prison's on fire,
wont be long until it falls

the dragons in her past were ripping her apart,
trampling without mercy
on her already broken heart
up high on her throne,
she thought she had the world fooled
but soon her pain became their pain too
the enemy set fire to the kingdoms that she made
cant you see you are a princess
and deserve to be saved?

Rupunzel, Rupunzel, let down your hair
I've come to save you from your prison of fears
to hide the cracks, you've adorned every wall
but your prison's on fire,
wont be long until it falls

I wrote this with someone in mind… but I think God is trying to send me the same message :) funny how that works, huh?  the only thing between where I am now and and where I want to be is my ability to admit I can’t do it on my own.