Thoughts on moving...

For most of my life I lived in one place.  We moved to my hometown when I was almost five and I lived there until I graduated from high school.  My parents still live there so it really does feel like going "home" when we visit.  I'm not someone who is used to moving alot.  I like to let my roots go down deep and let a place become home and the people there, family.

Since graduating from high school, I have moved alot.  Or at least it feels like alot.  Bible college for two years, southern Manitoba for four, California for one, now Saskatchewan for another.  And we're still not "home", at least not by the definition above.  There is another move coming, and it's coming far more quickly than I care to admit.

We moved here seven/eight months ago knowing that we would only be here for a year.  But now that the job hunt is on and the year is rapidly coming to a close, the impending move is starting to seem more real.  Some aspects of a move are exciting to me, while others I could do without.  I always love settling into a new place, working hard to make it home for however long we'll be there.  I don't really enjoy meeting the new people that come with a new place, but the thought of adding friends to our life is a good thought.  I enjoy the excitement that a big change like that brings, but also feel displaced as I slowly find my way into a new community, church, and social group.

This move will be different from any other I've ever made.  With this move, we hope to find a home for a while.  We have no more schooling in the foreseeable future that may uproot us.  And as long as we can find a good job, we intend to make this next move a "permanent" one.

Yikes.

Now, don't get me wrong.  Part of me loves the idea of this.  I love the possibility of being in one place for more than just a couple years.  I love that we'll be able to put down roots and call our friends, "family".  I love that we'll be able to buy a home (hopefully) and be able to pay down it's mortgage significantly before we have to sell again.  I love that our kids will grow up knowing where home is.

The "yikes" part is wondering where this will be.  Having been so close to our families this year has been a blessing.  To stay in Saskatchewan with parents only a few hours' drive would be ideal.  But we are open to where God is calling us, not to mention where there are available jobs, and that may not be here.  That scares me just a little.  Will our parents be able to see Levi (and his siblings, if there ever are any) more than once a year?  Will our kids know their grandparents and uncles, aunts, and cousins?  Will we get homesick if we can't see our family at least once every year?  We may end up close to family when this year is up, but the fact that we may not is starting to sink in. 

Moving a day's drive from our families to Manitoba was no big deal when we were first married.  We wanted space to become our own family and we got it.  Even moving to California was relatively simple.  But kids change things.  They change things alot.  Physical distance within families seems to be almost a fact of life these days.  Jobs move people all over the world and many people don't even think twice about living across the world from their family.  But I do.

And so we job hunt.  And we pray.  And we prepare ourselves for the fact that we may be moving a great distance from the people we love.  But people have done it.  Families survive and stay close.  And grandparents can watch grandchildren grow up from a distance like never before. 

If you think of us, please pray that God will lead us to the place he is preparing for us.  Please pray that he will prepare our new home for us and that it will wonderful.  And pray for our families, as I'm sure the possibility of being far away from their children/grandchildren isn't a fun thought for them either.