Guess What?

We’re moving! To the Midwest. Good-bye “Hurricane Alley” and hello “Tornado Alley.” St. Louis, Missouri to be exact. Surprised? No more than we were this past week.

Here’s the scoop: Drew got a call last Thursday that he couldn’t refuse. Let me explain. Almost five years ago when Drew was finishing up his year in Bosnia with the Army National Guard, he entered his packet for a full-time Army Reserve job. The type of position he was looking at is one that seldom comes open but he submitted the paperwork and continued searching for a civilian job, which brought us here to South Carolina. Well, fast-forward to last week, and we had pretty much forgotten about that packet he submitted. Then, out of the blue, he got an e-mail asking if he was still interested in that kind of position. Turns out that when the position he is being asked to fill came open and they ran the qualifications they were looking for, Drew’s name was right at the top of the list, so they called him and asked if he wanted the job. And here we are.

When he first told me about it and we started looking at the pros and cons, it became apparent that the pros far outweighed the cons. Of course, we’ve been praying about all of this and we really want to make a wise decision. The first thing I did was hit the internet and start researching churches in the area, and found that at first glance there are several seemingly good possibilities (anyone know firsthand?). First of all, this will be a 9-5 kind of job, no more weekend drills and no deployment for the next 6 or so years. He will finally be able to be home with the kids and me on a much more regular basis. This one thing alone weighed very heavily in our decision. The boys are really needing Dad to be around more, and this will make that possible. Secondly, it is a job he would love doing, and the pay and benefits are excellent. Third, it is not here! We get to move off ‘the island’! Fourth, the schools, housing market and community have much more to offer than the little town where we have had such a hard time feeling like it is home for the past almost five years though we tried so hard to settle here. Fifth, seasons! Snow! There are other things that have gone into our decision, too.

The downsides, however, are that they need him ASAP. That means we’re looking at moving over the Christmas break. Moving to a snowy place in the middle of winter. And we have no real winter clothes appropriate for a Midwest kind of winter. Looks like I’ll be doing some shopping. We also will have to relocate the kids’ school in the middle of the school year. Not fun. That is one time it would be good to be homeschooling, but we aren’t, so we’ll have to work all that out. Another is that we will be moving even further from my parents and moving away from Drew’s parents, though they are going to be moving into our house here and renting it from us until we can sell it. Also, on Thursday when Drew first started telling me about this opportunity, he told me there was a rather large catch. The move to St. Louis is only for a year and a half. The whole office will be relocating to the Louisville, Kentucky area in a year and a half. I looked at him for a moment and said, “I can do that.” He looked surprised, and said, “Really? I thought you would have a hard time with that.” Well, it isn’t easy. Have I mentioned before how difficult change is for me? But to have him home regularly? No question but that we can do this. And Louisville is nice, too.

So, we’re excited and nervous and busy and a lot of other things I haven’t had time yet to process. The kids are thrilled about the idea of snow this winter and sad about having to say good-bye to friends here. I’m nervous about moving in the middle of the school year (and winter at that!) and selling our house and saying good-bye, too. But we’re all amazed at the providential way this all came about.