Reality Sets In

We are home from Portland and have only six weeks before we leave Norman and eight before we arrive in Portland as new residents to the state of Oregon. What a journey it has been since last fall when we began praying about moving! Time sure does fly.


Now, we are six weeks out and reality has set in. Garage sale preparation must begin, painting just has to get done, the boxes need to get packed and we need to make some administrative moving decisions. Do we go with U-Haul, ABF, some other company? Do we take it or leave it? Do we really leave from ICON/Lake City or do we come home and leave a week later? What insurance company do we go with? Decisions, decisions, decisions - good thing we both hear God clearly! I mean it. Aside from the PEACE of God in Christian and I, the clarity of His voice, and the fruit of Him in us... we would just be two gigantic stress balls - one frantic - one checked out. Thank you God for You're nature!


Good thing God loves for us to and intends for us to live in REST and despite all those things up there in that paragraph needing to be done - all we've done is rest since we got home from our trip. Rest in inward state - not outward. I mean, you can be laying on the couch stressing yourself into an anxious melt-down or multi-tasking ten things entirely calm on the inside. In this case, it was both inward and physical for us. Both of us came home excited and blessed from our trip. We both came home with colds though too. So, we've been drinking lots of water and tea and physically resting. It has been good. So much for all my ambitions of painting today - they needed to be laid down.


We mentioned that we would be looking for somewhere to live while on our trip. We absolutely looked. We found beautiful homes and apartments, cool parks, the best pizza we've ever had (American Dream). Though we didn't sign a lease due to the timing between now and actually arriving in Portland permanently, we know the neighborhoods much better and feel more knowledgable as we search online between now and then. 


Overall, we had a blast. Our new team feels like family - we love them! And, they love us! It's great. We are thrilled to get to do life with them in Portland.


However, with all the excitement regarding moving comes a sadness as we look toward those we are leaving in Oklahoma. It sure is hard having all these happy, thrilled, exciting emotions mixed with sadness, mourning, and overall sense of bummer you won't be with us feelings.  We do realize though that these are all part of the process and totally normal. We just haven't had them before so its all new! 

Moving Along

Though neither Christian or I are "bloggers" at present, we are making every effort to become that so that you can peer into our life from afar now and when we move to Portland. Here we begin our attempt. 


This week has been filled with, well, boxes - lots of boxes. Though we are not in all-out packing mode, we are definitely in a sort through everything and prepare for garage sale mode. Our hope is to have a garage sale in mid June to raise more funds to help cover the cost of moving in August. We are also in paint the whole house mode which adds an interesting smell and dynamic to the whole, prepare for the garage sale thing. We've laughed a lot, sorted through tons of stuff, remembered much as we've found old pictures and overall made progress toward making this whole thing more simple. I've been working on creating an update email for everyone using mail chimp. If you would like to receive these updates please sign up here: http://us5.campaign-archive1.com/?u=95a0b6367b2b771dab4c6d45f&id=9ec8ee1098.


Next week we will be journeying to Portland to get time with the team and look for somewhere to live. Pray for favor as we look for a house and for friendships to be built as we get to know the team better!