A new Chapter

When I brought Kira home to America I set aside the journal I kept during our journey, and started a new one. It wasn’t a step I took consciously; it made as much sense as breathing.  I filled that journal yesterday.  For three months I carried it with me from room to room, in my purse, upstairs, downstairs to the laundry room and beside my bed. I often don’t have time to think complete thoughts but when something occurs or happens I jot it down and think about it later. If I don’t record it, it’s gone.

There’s a big Thing that I have avoided that is happening in our family. I seem to understand it is right to address it now, as I see the symbolism of beginning a new journal/chapter, on the very same day that Craig finishes his last day in his current job. Tomorrow, our lives will be dramatically changed. Ready or not this new chapter is underway.

Three years ago he took a job in a new company that moved us from Scottsdale AZ  to muggy Houston. I came here kicking and screaming. It was our tenth family move, and I’ll spare you the trajectory of our darts and dashes around this country, but suffice to say the only place we haven’t lived is the west coast. I held high hopes we could put down some deep roots that lasted longer than the usual two to three years. However, I knew in two months after arriving here I knew that a move was most likely imminent. I surrendered to it then and there, set the idea on a shelf, and got myself busy with life here. Craig committed to Donny that he could graduate here after we moved him in the middle of his sophomore year of high school. Then during his senior year we began our adoption, and that required us to not change a thing about our living status or our home study would be null.  That’s how we squeaked a full three years out of living here! But really, we knew it wasn’t us who had control. God had a lot for us to learn, and do and give here. And we went all the way in without holding back, even knowing it wasn’t permanent. That’s our way.  And for the record, this is the longest we have ever lived in one place.

If we had not come here I would not have been on a mission trip to Uganda, where I realized God meant for us to adopt. This means I know living here was how we met our God appointment with Kira. There are no regrets in a life that follows God’s leadership.

Daddy and his little girl.

While Craig learned how to cope with being a misfit in his work environment he learned more about himself than he ever could have known, and this is highly valuable, despite the struggle to obtain it. An Amish proverb says, “if you find a pathway with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere”, so it pleased me to see Craig overcome obstacle after obstacle and not deflate professionally.

Mud Mania obstacle course.

While working here he had the great pleasure of working alongside someone he both admired and worked with in perfect sync. When that man left the company to be the CEO of another company it was a great loss for Craig professionally and personally at work. But, later, Craig pursued the opportunity to become be his head of HR, and the timing was perfectly set after our adoption was complete. Thank  you God.

This would all be a dream if the new job were here in Houston, but it’s not, it’s in another city a few hours away. Heavy Sigh. This is the shortest distance we’ve ever moved away, so in many ways, it doesn’t feel like going away. I’m still in the stage of ‘not letting go’ while Craig closes the door today and is sucking in a deep new fresh breath of his future. He is gliding these days, and it gives me so much joy to see him rejuvenated.

he is Happy!

He is taking next week off and then he begins his new job the following Monday. He will commute the weekends home. We plan to stay here through the summer and the boys will begin school in the new place for the new year.  The boys are remarkably positive and open minded about this change. Craig never concealed from them that his job wasn’t a good fit, and so he forecasted they should expect a change in the future. I think the fact that it wasn’t a shocking surprise has helped them accept the new adventure. It is also reassuring for them to know we are close enough to visit often.

I am a seasoned corporate wife. I have been down this road many times. I hope in the next few months I can share my experience of this move in a way that is encouraging for anyone facing a major change and upheaval. Any life stage transition is comparable to a major family move. I hope I can share the bright side with candor and shed some sunshine over anyone going through a difficult change. I have my sleeves pulled up, and I’m ready to go to work on this new “chapter”. I might even put on my cowboy boots since I’m stuck in Texas for good. I’m just not very Texan. I have the hair. Maybe if I wear the boots I can fit.

These bluebonnets grew and bloomed in a crack between the sidewalk and a building. I can bloom anywhere also.

One more Amish saying for today:  “Life is a grindstone. Whether it grinds you down or polishes you up depends on what you are made of.” I can promise you because I have been through this grindstone of moving before, it only polishes up this family. Nothing will turn me to dust because I belong to God and I know that becoming dust is not His will for me. My strength comes from Him.