The Phone Call

We got the phone call the day before yesterday. It was actually a little earlier than I expected. Normally it goes something like this, "We have a job in (fill in random remote city) and we need your crew there in about 3 weeks. Close out your leases and start loading up."

After 2 years and 2 months in cowboy country Texas, our water pipeline crew that my husband heads up is heading back across the country to the exact same city we lived in 2 years and 2 months ago; Land O' Lakes, FL (no they don't make butter there, I asked the same question).  This is the first time we're moving back to the same location and the first time I'm excited about moving! Well, I take part of that back... I hate packing and unpacking and cleaning and closing out utility accounts and filling out the USPS change of address forms which always ends up in us losing mail for 2 months... and more than anything I HATE saying goodbye to friends we've made (even Ellia has a bff to miss now).  BUT this time is different because we're moving somewhere familiar! And that's exciting.

We have a week or two after we get back from our Christmas vacation with my family in NY to pack it up and move it out of Lubbock, which in my calculations is just about perfect. I've got the timing down to a science at this point and 2 whole weeks means I get to take my sweet time pulling down my wall decor (which Thad will inevitably ask "are you sure we need to bring that?") and throwing all 10 of my kitchen utensils in a box.  I also COULD start packing now and technically have like 3 weeks....nahhhhh.

Thad and I have the same 3 epiphanies with every single move we make  "Why do we have so much stuff? We're giving it all away. How do we have so many boxes when there's 3 of us?!"  So we get a little move happy and start chucking stuff and taking trips to goodwill... and then when we get to our new location realize that we don't have a couch. Or a dresser. And so I visit my favorite website in the world (Craigslist) and thus the epiphanies repeat themselves. My husband even told me this morning that we need to sell our dresser...again.

So as I sit here on my couch looking around the room wondering what we can get rid of this time, I can feel a little bubble of excitement knowing that we're going to be living near old friends again soon. And I'm not gonna lie, we're going to be in florida, aka sun and beach and warmth and green, versus a billion degrees and sand and prickly cactus.

People always ask me "how do you do it?" And ya know, 6 years ago I would have had a very different answer to that question.  I remember bawling my eyes out at night missing my family and friends when Thad was working crazy long hours and I didn't know anyone in the area. My life revolved around trying to keep myself occupied with something, anything (that's also how we got our dog...terrible idea when you move all the time) to stay happy until he got home.  I didn't feel like I had a purpose besides cooking him burned macaroni and cheese and making sure his work clothes were clean. 

But in the past 6 years I've changed, I think because I have a little bit of a different outlook. Not to say the moves aren't still hard... they are. But rather than trying to figure out how to make myself happy, I try to figure out what my purpose is in that new location.  I'm not saying I'm a super influential person or anything. But there are reasons in our lives that are bigger than us for the why's and the who's and the when's in our lives.  It's not all about me. There's a reason I worked at a fishing warehouse (when I know nothing about fish), there's a reason I ended up living in the texas countryside after miscarrying my baby. There's a reason we were put in the desert for us to have friends in the same stage of life as us. And now there's a reason for us to move back near that fishing warehouse.

A lot of times I don't know the reason right away; most times it's not until much later, often years.  And sometimes I don't ever figure out the reason behind it. But I can have confidence knowing that the Maker of this Universe does have a reason and I'm privileged when He shows me what it is.  When I recognize that as part of my purpose... then happiness follows naturally (for the most part... that happiness often disappears when I'm frantically scrubbing the toilets and scraping baby boogers off the walls).

This has been my life verse for the past 6 years of our crazy life. One of these days I need to make it into like a 6 foot canvas or tattoo it to my forehead cause I tend to forget it when our going get's tough (ha, get it..."going?")

"The Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” Ex. 31:8

Waiting for THE email to load showing us where our next home was going to be when we got transferred out here to Lubbock, TX.

Also, FYI, there is still a good chance my next blog post will be about how the company has changed their minds and we're heading somewhere else... story of this life!