I have left a lot of you in the dark about our upcoming move to Colorado. I have not done this on purpose but more because of the lack of information there has been to share. The past 4 more months leading up to this move have been quite a roller coaster and now that all the puzzle pieces are fitting together I am super excited to share the journey!
In early February, after much prayer and discussion, Joel applied to separate from the Air Force through a "buy out" program. That decision alone was one of agony as it is all we have known since we got married in 2001. We didn't find out until March 6 that Joel's application was accepted with official separation happening in September. There was no turning back! We felt like the whole world was at our fingertips. For 12 years the Air Force has told us where and when to go. Now we could go wherever we wanted! But where was that? We weighed areas we had always wanted to live, areas that were familiar, areas where our families lived, areas with the best job opportunities for him, and settled on a few choices. I wanted to head to Seattle (I think Joel was game with this) and then our back up was to stay with the familiar here in Virginia. But we stayed on our knees talking to the Lord about His will for our lives, asking for wisdom and His blessing. Every time I was deep in prayer over where to go I felt the Lord gently say to me "I already told you where you were going". Now I get to back up a little, but maybe a year ago when Joel and I were discussing whether or not to buy a house in Virginia, I had a dream that we were moving to Colorado this summer (summer of 2014). At that time I interpreted it as a sign that this was not our final home, and we decided not to buy a house. But now as I am praying, this dream vividly came back to me and I heard His urging. So then I finally get the guts up to go to Joel and say "Joel I want to move to Seattle but I believe the Lord has told me we are moving to Colorado....so if you see any job opportunity that way and in any way have a desire to look there, I am OK with it". Joel turns to me slack jawed and said "Oh my gosh Mary, I think God told me the same thing!". So then all efforts were put towards job hunting in Colorado with the prayer that if we were hearing wrong, then the Lord would make it clear. This whole process has kept us truly truly on our knees. At one point we finally decided that job or no job, we were moving to Colorado in August trusting in His provision. That is how confident we were in this calling. Every move we have made in the past 5 months has been a step in faith and the Lord fills in behind us as go. It has been weeks of waiting and preparing and uncertainty. Joel landed a job interview for the one job he was the most excited about in late June and then had days and days of silence. July 10th comes around, and Joel and I head to Denver on an "area scouting" trip for 6 days without the kids. I had always prayed that this trip would end up being a house hunting trip but without a job, there was no way we would put an offer on a house. As we packed up the car, I was frustrated and wondering why we even going. Joel was very excited to pray over the area and decide at least what neighborhood of Denver we actually wanted to end up in. On the drive over (on his birthday), Joel got a job offer for the only job he has seriously interviewed for and had his heart set on. Then we entered the "negotiation" phase which still left us unable to put an offer on a house. We did have a wonderful kid free time exploring our new home, falling in love with it more every day, but it was a time filled with a lot of anxiety as we waited every minute for the offer to be finalized. After looking at 20 houses, we decided on the neighborhood we wanted, fell in love with 2, and were still waiting. As we were sitting in the airport to come back to Virginia, Joel got the final job offer from Lockheed Martin, accepted, and we put an offer on our #1 house (with they accepted right away). I can't even explain the relief that has flooded over our lives having these giant pieces in place. But it has not been an easy process by any means! I can't recall any other time in our married life that we have made decisions like this, stepping out in faith, being filled with His peace knowing we were going the right direction, but still having so much unknown! We are so excited to see what blessings He has in store for us in Denver, a move orchestrated by His amazing grace and provision. We pray that this is our final home and will be a place of stability for our family. We are so grateful (but now I have to learn what the word deductible means!!!). The movers arrive tomorrow and we plan to arrive in Denver on August 6th (school starts on August 12...yikes). Bon Voyage!
In early February, after much prayer and discussion, Joel applied to separate from the Air Force through a "buy out" program. That decision alone was one of agony as it is all we have known since we got married in 2001. We didn't find out until March 6 that Joel's application was accepted with official separation happening in September. There was no turning back! We felt like the whole world was at our fingertips. For 12 years the Air Force has told us where and when to go. Now we could go wherever we wanted! But where was that? We weighed areas we had always wanted to live, areas that were familiar, areas where our families lived, areas with the best job opportunities for him, and settled on a few choices. I wanted to head to Seattle (I think Joel was game with this) and then our back up was to stay with the familiar here in Virginia. But we stayed on our knees talking to the Lord about His will for our lives, asking for wisdom and His blessing. Every time I was deep in prayer over where to go I felt the Lord gently say to me "I already told you where you were going". Now I get to back up a little, but maybe a year ago when Joel and I were discussing whether or not to buy a house in Virginia, I had a dream that we were moving to Colorado this summer (summer of 2014). At that time I interpreted it as a sign that this was not our final home, and we decided not to buy a house. But now as I am praying, this dream vividly came back to me and I heard His urging. So then I finally get the guts up to go to Joel and say "Joel I want to move to Seattle but I believe the Lord has told me we are moving to Colorado....so if you see any job opportunity that way and in any way have a desire to look there, I am OK with it". Joel turns to me slack jawed and said "Oh my gosh Mary, I think God told me the same thing!". So then all efforts were put towards job hunting in Colorado with the prayer that if we were hearing wrong, then the Lord would make it clear. This whole process has kept us truly truly on our knees. At one point we finally decided that job or no job, we were moving to Colorado in August trusting in His provision. That is how confident we were in this calling. Every move we have made in the past 5 months has been a step in faith and the Lord fills in behind us as go. It has been weeks of waiting and preparing and uncertainty. Joel landed a job interview for the one job he was the most excited about in late June and then had days and days of silence. July 10th comes around, and Joel and I head to Denver on an "area scouting" trip for 6 days without the kids. I had always prayed that this trip would end up being a house hunting trip but without a job, there was no way we would put an offer on a house. As we packed up the car, I was frustrated and wondering why we even going. Joel was very excited to pray over the area and decide at least what neighborhood of Denver we actually wanted to end up in. On the drive over (on his birthday), Joel got a job offer for the only job he has seriously interviewed for and had his heart set on. Then we entered the "negotiation" phase which still left us unable to put an offer on a house. We did have a wonderful kid free time exploring our new home, falling in love with it more every day, but it was a time filled with a lot of anxiety as we waited every minute for the offer to be finalized. After looking at 20 houses, we decided on the neighborhood we wanted, fell in love with 2, and were still waiting. As we were sitting in the airport to come back to Virginia, Joel got the final job offer from Lockheed Martin, accepted, and we put an offer on our #1 house (with they accepted right away). I can't even explain the relief that has flooded over our lives having these giant pieces in place. But it has not been an easy process by any means! I can't recall any other time in our married life that we have made decisions like this, stepping out in faith, being filled with His peace knowing we were going the right direction, but still having so much unknown! We are so excited to see what blessings He has in store for us in Denver, a move orchestrated by His amazing grace and provision. We pray that this is our final home and will be a place of stability for our family. We are so grateful (but now I have to learn what the word deductible means!!!). The movers arrive tomorrow and we plan to arrive in Denver on August 6th (school starts on August 12...yikes). Bon Voyage!
Our new home in Castle Rock, CO
(we close on September 9th so fingers crossed the the whole process goes smoothly and it does in fact stay our home!)
OK, so this picture is the day before we left. It has nothing to do with Colorado but it was my birthday on July 9th. I got Georgetown Cupcakes for my birthday and then Joel got a job offer on his birthday (July 10th)-YAY!
Road tripping to Denver. We stopped in St. Louis for some amazing BBQ at Pappy's Smokehouse. Joel LOVES road tripping. Let's just say I was a little less than enthusiastic about 28 hours in the car over a 2 day time frame.
Eating at the Cherry Cricket in Denver, CO-ranked one of the top 10 burger places in the US. We LOVE our burgers and it lived up to its name! Joel and I had a great time having "dates" every day without worrying about finding a sitter. Thank you Mom and Aunt Priscilla, Uncle Pat, and Alyson for taking care of the troops for us!
I enjoyed a few runs while we were there, but running at 5,000 feet is NO JOKE! I was sucking wind bad. At one point during a run on the hotel treadmill I started feeling light headed and I though "how bad will it hurt to fall on a treadmill? What will these people around me do if I pass out?". But I didn't! It will definitely take some time to adjust to running there but I hear it will make me faster!!
We went to a concert at the Red Rocks Amphitheater.
We saw the Goo Goo Dolls, Daughtry, and Plain White T's. I will not reveal how many songs we knew...we were totally there for the scenery! A truly breathtaking place.
I fell in love with it while we were there. I can't wait to enjoy it with my family!
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