So, you might ask: what's the inspiration behind this sporadic post? Well... two things, really. No, three: Moving, Saying Goodbye, and Jury Duty.
In case you haven't heard, Mac and I feel the Lord is calling us back to Oregon, so we took a step of faith, and decided to move to Corvallis at the end of the month! This was before we found a place to live or jobs, or confirmed Mac's acceptance at OSU... and things are slowly falling into place, in God's own perfect timing. Last weekend, we took the trek down and found a beautiful little house to rent from an amazing couple! Now, we are just waiting on jobs and our decision about Mac's going to school. Trusting the Lord is a hard, but rewarding thing, and I highly recommend risking it all to follow him! It's exhilarating, really.
Somehow, I managed to get randomly selected for Spokane County's jury duty the last two weeks of work. Luckily, I think I've been dismissed early. Through my couple days of experience, though, I just realized how completely and utterly selfish humankind is. As I sat in the jury lounge for hours upon hours, leisurely reading my favorite novel, I found myself complaining and griping about the fact that I had to be there rather than at home or at work. When, in reality, all I had to do was sit there and wait... and read, or check my email, or whatever it is that I wanted to do, as long as I stayed in the building. I think the Lord was trying to get my attention; trying to get me to slow down in life, just for a minute... to stop and thank him for the perfectly comfortable life he's given me!
And lastly, saying goodbye... today, I began training my "replacement" at work; spending 7 hours showing her how I run programs with my client, how to do his paperwork, and explaining the ups and downs of the job. And in it all, I realized first of all, how much I'm really going to miss my little guy... well, all of them really, but especially little J-man. I taught the kid how to walk, helped him learn how to communicate, and now I'm saying goodbye. I hope he continues to succeed, and I know he will. It's just hard to let go, to trust others, and believe I've done just as much as the Lord had purposed for me to do in this little boy's life.
Then, there's my dear friends who have made my time in Spokane just completely, 100% amazing and completely, 100% difficult to leave. One texted me today with a question making me laugh out loud, while working, and I almost cried when I realized I would get to make funny comments and ask advice from in person anymore. The other friend happened to see my car on her drive to the store, and left a note on the windshield, praying the storm wouldn't take it out, just to say "hi" and she missed me since we haven't seen each other for a few days. I'm not even going to go into what that did to my heart... I miss them after not talking to them for a few days, and now I'm considering going MONTHS without seeing them. Of course, I'm going home to old and wonderful friends, but it's still going to leave a hole in my heart to leave these two in particular behind!
Okay, well, I guess the whole point in this novel is that the Lord asks us to trust Him, and when we do, he opens our ears and hearts to hear and feel his truth. Loudly.
