So, big news.
We're moving to Michigan in about a year.
Michigan
because Calvin Theological Seminary is in Grand Rapids, and Seth just
transferred his studies to Calvin. Moving because studying at Calvin
will be the most efficient way for him to finish his studies and get
ordained as a chaplain. In about a year because moving there at the
end of this year would have been crazy, and a year should give us the
time to transfer the pertinent parts of our lives, like teaching
certificates and bank accounts.
I'm not sure how I feel about this. This is the fourth time I've rewritten this blog post as I try to diagnose my feelings.
I've
got no issue with Michigan in itself. The one time I was there, it was
a little bit cloudy, a little bit sunny. No mountains in the distance,
but a nice hilly landscape in places. Snow will be nice. I remember
how to drive on snow, and right now, the only use our toboggan gets is
as a swimming pool for Boogaloo's toys.
The thought
of leaving friends and family for two years is not appealing, and moving
will put Boogaloo in her fifth school in five years, due mostly to
circumstances beyond our control. I was beginning to get a reputation
as an awesome substitute teacher, and I'm going to have to build that up
all over again, but hey, God has provided this far. Maybe this
pending move is the reason I didn't get any interviews this summer. God
wants to keep us flexible.
No, the real question is
one of anticipation, realization, and release. We anticipated building a
certain kind of life here, a permanent home where we built a little
refuge in an herbal wonderland and taught ourselves the joys of
developing what God has given us. We have just begun making friends
outside of church and seeing progress in our yard. We haven't even
started on half our plans for the house. Just as we are starting to
realize what we anticipated, we are being called to box it up and put it
away, maybe even sell it for the kingdom. We have no certainty that
God will bring us back to Oregon, even though our plans and fondest
hopes picture us here indefinitely.
So we are
embarking on a year of tidying up. New gutters and windows on the
house. Painting the house. (After all, the yard is almost where we
want it.) Sorting and throwing out/ giving away stuff we don't need or
don't want to store for a couple of years. Finding ways to make an
ergonomic computer desk without spending $3000. Generally, at this time
next year, or probably a little earlier, we'd like to be in a place
where we can go where we need to go.
And that's probably why I'm excited, ambivalent, and nervous, all at the same time.
