Our time in Maine is coming to a close. In less than a week, Roger will be here to help us empty out our storage unit, pack the u-haul truck and head to North Carolina. It’s hard to believe that it’s really almost here! For so long, moving has felt like a distant dream but it’s quickly becoming a reality. We’ve spent this last week packing, packing, cleaning, fishing, packing, fishing, cleaning, packing…see a pattern here?! We’ve also have spend some time with friends for the last time, and we’ve said good by to a few people that we know we won’t see again.
I’ve felt extremely fatigued and to be honest, a bit depressed over the last week. While I am very much looking forward to being together again as a family, transitions are challenging…finding a new church home, new friends, a new school, all those things are very daunting for myself but especially for our children. Emma has been excited to move to Michigan and now North Carolina, but now that the time has arrived, she’s been emotional and a little distraught about leaving her school and friends. I get it. We long to be together as a family again, and I am certainly not cut out to be a single parent to five kids! When we moved here almost six years ago, we didn’t know a single person in the area, but God provided a Christian school and a church family. He slowly provided friendships (some of them deep enough to last for a lifetime) and we built relationships with people. We set down roots, and we expected to be here for a long time.
However, when Roger’s boss died in 2020, God began to slowly reveal that He had another plan in mind for our family- we just did not know what that plan looked like! As we prayed and pondered, God continued to work in our hearts that change was coming. We knew that we were asking God to provide Roger with a job that would allow him to be home every night. As we prayed for that, God opened the doors for a job for Roger in Michigan. Roger was able to complete his multi-engine rating, and he started that job in October. We put our house on the market, and it sold in five days. Roger started the job in Michigan, but there was not a house/property to be found that would meet our needs. Meanwhile, God provided an apartment here in Maine that the kids and I could live in for the school year. Roger flew to Maine every month, and the kids and I went out to Michigan for Christmas. We were excited about being closer to my parents, but still there were no properties to buy. At Christmas time, Roger spoke to me about the possibility that this job in Michigan might not be a good long-term fit for our family. Say what?! Roger was concerned about some changes that were coming down the pike, as well as several other factors. We didn’t say anything to anyone for a while, but just kept praying and asking God to make His plan clear to us. As soon as we told the kids that we weren’t moving to Michigan, Emma announced it to the world! So we weren’t moving to Michigan, but where were we moving?! Roger made plans to return to Maine to get a local job while we continued to pray. However, in the middle of March, Roger had a phone call with a friend that suggested a job in North Carolina. North Carolina?! He had a phone interview and they asked him to come down the next weekend. Roger drove down to North Carolina at the end of March, and I flew down for three days. It was a quick trip, but it was clear that God was on the move! We drove all around the area (that was when gas was quite a bit cheaper!) and began to explore housing options. Roger drove back to Michigan to give his two week notice, and I came back to Maine to keep teaching. Roger started the job right after Easter, and we put an offer in on a house a week later. God’s timing is always on time. We’ve now closed on our property, and in a little over a week we should be arriving at that property as a family of seven. We are excited about that!
This week:
We spent Monday morning at the Smith’s house. The boys and Emma played in the yard and in the pool while Bethany and I visited together. On Monday evening the boys went fishing, while Emma and I sat on the bank, got eaten by mosquitoes and read books. Tuesday evening found us at church for a wiffle ball game. The boys have really enjoyed that. Wyatt has learned to bat and catch with his left hand while wearing his cast. He also rides his bike, and he still manages to go fishing…no wonder the doctor wanted him to put it in a cast instead of a brace! We are praying that he will be able to have it removed this coming Friday.
We’ve also spent some time with a classmate of Garett’s. It was raining, so we went bowling. Wyatt also managed to bowl with his left hand! This particular friend seemed to need some extra encouragement, and I pray that we were able to do that for him. We have the opportunities to be the hands and feet of Jesus in this fallen world around us, and I certainly don’t want to waste these moments. We took a drive out to see our old neighbors this past week, and we had a good visit with them. I don’t think they know Jesus as their Savior, but they know that we love them and Jesus. The boys had the opportunity to cut their grass for them, and show them Christ’s love through serving.
Travis and Emma had a play date with their friends, Abel and Lucy. Emma and Lucy have been friends since 3 year old preschool, and Emma has said often that she is going to miss Lucy. Travis is not much of a talker, but he and Abel are good friends, and we’ve been blessed by their friendship to our children. Emma and Travis enjoyed a whole day walking, eating, playing, and making memories with their friends. I’m thankful that Claire (Abel and Lucy’s mom) invited Travis and Emma over this week. It’s important that our children also get to say good-by to their friends.
Because the boys have been doing a lot of fishing, I’ve been doing a lot of reading! Normally, I’d drop the boys off and then go home and come back and pick them up. However, we’ve been trying to cut some expenses (we have an unexpected expense on our new property) so I’ve just been sitting while the boys have been fishing. I finished two books this past week, and I’m almost done with the third. The first book I read was “For the Love”. She made some really good points about discipleship and ministries. She asked her readers the questions “What does ministry look like?” Is ministry having something for the church people to come to every night of the week? Awana, small group, visitation, etc. or is ministry more about the “church” going to the community? Is it having dinners with our neighbors, helping out a soup kitchen, playing with our children and engaging in lives around us? I’m not saying that Awana is not good or that we shouldn’t have church functions. However, balance anyone?! (I do have some convictions and feelings on both, but here is not the time or place or space!) Anyways, I was going along reading the book, agreeing with much of what the author was saying about raising kids, loving Jesus, and the church, but then I looked up the author. Let’s just say that the person who wrote the book seven years ago, and the person she is now are not even close! What a disappointment! Thankfully, I was able to “chew the meat and spit the bones” so to speak, but wow! The amount of people/authors/pastors/ that are “deconstructing their faith” and walking away is overwhelming at times! We need to take God at His Word which means that at times I don’t understand His master plan, but I trust my Heavenly Father! Yes, bad things do happen to good people. God allows things that we do not understand, and we may NOT ever understand! But we can trust that God is working out things for His glory. Anyways, that was the first book.
The second book I read was kinda an autobiography about Laura Story. She wrote the song “Blessings”, and it’s become a very popular song. However, she wrote it at a time when she could not see the Master’s plan but she had to trust Him. Her husband had a brain tumor, almost died, has had to overcome several handicaps, and yet Laura and her husband continue to praise and serve God. It was a good read and my struggles seem to pale in comparison to what they’ve gone through. Yet the good news is that God cares just as much about my struggles as He does those that are struggling with cancer, infertility, death, overwhelming burdens.etc.
The third book (one that I haven’t quite finished) is “Mama Bear Apologetics”. This one is a good book, but it definitely requires a bit more thinking. However, we cannot skip over the fact that we live in a different world than we did 30 years ago. It is my (and Roger’s) responsibility to raise our sons and daughter to thrive in the gender that God CREATED them with. We cannot bury our heads in the sand and pretend that there is not an agenda to demoralize boys (girls too). It’s a crisis in our nation and world, and we need to equip our children to understand God’s design for them. We need to be prepared to speak the truth in love, but yet we cannot just sit by and pretend that it’s okay for everyone to choose their gender as that is not the Master’s Plan.
We are tired of packing, cleaning, and repeating! However, we are getting closer! This morning we went out to our friends (Allison and Jason) cabin on the lake. Emma went swimming while the boys fished. I have to say having Wyatt sit in a kayak with a paddle and a fishing pole in the same hand has made me nervous! I’ll be thankful to get that cast off, and I pray that we can make it another five days without getting it wet!
Through it all, God has been so faithful to us. We are anxiously counting down the days until we move together to North Carolina. I’ve been in touch with a Christian school in the area, and we have plans to tour the school the last week in June. Christian school is expensive!-very! We took a pay cut when Roger took the job in North Carolina (but firmly believe that this was exactly what God wanted for us), and I won’t be teaching this fall. Please pray that we will have great wisdom to know what we should/could do.
We want the very best for our children, so if that’s homeschooling then I want to do it well. If it’s Christian school, then God will make that clear to us. If we do decide to put them in a Christian school there are a few very specific things that we would be looking for in a school. 1) An environment where our children can grow in their walk with the Lord through discipleship, mentorship, and opportunities to put their faith into practice. 2) We are looking for a school to partner with us in training our children. While we are ultimately responsible for them, it is important to have a school that will help us in that goal of raising them for God’s glory. 3) Communication- we will be new to the area and the school so communication is going to be very important. It’s sometimes easy to assume that people/parents/students/ know the rules, but not everyone has grown up in that particular school. No school will be perfect as it’s made of imperfect people, and we would certainly add to the equation of imperfectness! I did have a discussion with the administrator of a school in the area that we will be living in, and we are looking forward to meeting in person. I am so very thankful that God has a plan. He is not surprised at any moment in time, and He wants what is best for me, Roger and our children. He is at work, even when I can’t see His plan.
God is so good. I hope that you can see Him at work in our lives as well as your own. We appreciate your love and prayers as we enter our last week in Maine.
I’m including a link to the song Blessings. Sometimes when we know the story behind the song, the lyrics become even more meaningful. I know that I’ve been blessed by this song- enjoy. God loves you so much!
