One Year in Texas

It's hard to believe, but this week marks the one year anniversary of our move to Texas.  There are days when it feels like we've been here for a lifetime and other days when it feels like we're still the new kids on the block.  I struggle to comprehend this milestone in part because the memories I have from our move still feel vivid and fresh.

I remember almost every detail of the day our movers came to pack up our Minnesota house.  They weren't coming until 10am so Shawn and I had the entire morning to finish gathering the things we were going to put in our car.   I had started a tucking various items we wanted to have in our vehicle in the corner of the kitchen.   Sleeping bags, clothes, diapers and baby food, a crock pot and our camping utensils.  Each item stacked in that tidy pile in the corner of the kitchen made me feel planned and prepared in the midst of all of the unknowns that surrounded us.  I took great care creating our packing list and thoughtfully went through our belongings while I did my best to anticipate what our needs would be in the pivotal days ahead.   I thought my pile would be perfectly complete and neatly loaded into Shawn's Subaru long before the movers showed up at 10am.    As it turned out, the kind of thoughtfulness I was using to corral our things was slow and hard to delegate so I found myself trying to grab various items out of the hands of our very efficient movers well past 10am.  My father-in-law came to hang out with Nicole and he gently carried her around the house and the yard to fill her in on what was going on.   I tried to get her to take naps in the midst of the commotion but the day was busy and the atmosphere was filled with energy, adrenaline and grief.

After all of our belongings were packed in the moving van, Shawn and I made one last walk through of the house to make sure that we had everything.   I grabbed our soap dispensers as we said a somber goodbye to our empty house in Minnesota.  Locking the front door for the last time felt final and heavy.   The drive to Shawn's dads house was surreal.  We had two and a half days left in Minnesota at that point.  We would close on our Minnesota house the next day and then on our Texas house the day after that before beginning our journey south.   Those two days and a half days were like living in a twilight zone.  We watched as Nicole happily played with her Grandpa but couldn't avoid the sadness in everyone's eyes as the weight of the move settled in.  We took the steps we needed to take to start something completely new and unchartered.  We didn't know what we were getting into but the calling was clear.  A new job, a new house, a new state, a new climate.

Now, one year later we've replaced the newness of it all with familiarity.  We're adjusting, settling, learning and growing.  We're doing our best to make the most of where God has us and we're thankful every single day for His nearness in our transition.  Thanks for the ways you've walked with us through it all!

Love,
Erica