It's NOT a Third World Country.....

Today is Jeff's final day of his 6 week training period at the Bozeman Target.  It has gone so fast. Sunday we will be sending him off to Helena to officially start this new journey.

Every time I think about the next 12 weeks I get a lump in my throat, I feel short of breath and an since of being overwhelmed. I find my self making list after list of things  I need to do over the next 12 weeks and trying to figure out how I am going to get them all done. I am by myself with 3 sometimes 4 kids. I think about the fact that I will be alone in my house with just the kids. I won't be able to touch his leg with my foot to remind myself that he is right next to me. I keep thinking I will need to sleep upstairs where I can "protect my nest" and be able to hear my kids better. I have contemplated getting a gun...For those of you who know me and my fear of gun you would understand that this is a big step just to even think about it. Also please note that I am not against guns and I feel when used to protect and to survive they are good to have around. I think about the fact that since daddy will not be home I don't need to cook a huge meal that I then have to fight with my kids to eat and lose the battle. That will be my highlight of the 12 weeks.:) I worry about the amount of traveling Jeff will have to do to come and see us for a 24 hour period. Yes it is only and hour and half, but It is still time on the road. I worry about my kids and how they will respond to not having daddy home at night. The funny things Jeff will miss Elijah say and the dare devil stuff that Jackson will attempt. BATH TIME and BEDTIME ALONE ARE A NIGHTMARE! ...My list could go on and on about my worry, fear, and uncertainty...BUT I KNOW....

God has a great plan, bigger then the plan I could ever set out for my life. He is faithful and true to his plan and we need Him to see us through this plan.He is always there and faithful. There have been so many times in our 12 years of marriage where we have had to fall back and trust that he was and is always there to catch us and help us. This time is not any different.

We have made several moves in our marriage. Some good and some bad. Some that were defiantly us walking away from God and doing our own plan. Others have been God bring us back to him. Each move has brought us closer to Him.

Moving to Helena is probably one of the hardest moves we will have to make. How could that be possible, when we left MN we left family, and when we left Billings we left family.  Again we are leaving family. We love our church, our neighbors, our friends, our home, Gloria's school and her friends. We have built ties here. Friendships that we have both prayed for, for so many years. We have that here. We love the little life we have created here and don't want to miss out on all the great things happening to the wonderful people around us. Its hard to let go and let God...BUT I KNOW...

 God has a great plan. Are all my questions answered? Does that mean I am not going to cry every time I see someone I will have to say Goodbye to in a few weeks. Probably not. I try to rest my anxious heart on Gods shoulders because I know he can take care of me and all my worldly worries. I remind myself of how God has opened this path for us and how if we would have not moved in this direction Jeff most likely would have been unemployed by the end of this year. I look at the fact that I get to buy a house. I get to go through all my junk and get rid of stuff so that I can make my new home "clutter free"...haha! I get to meet new people that I know will bless myself and my family. Its not like we are moving to a third world country...I mean it is just Helena, MT 90 miles down the road. I try and focus on all the new possibilities for our family and the new things we will get to experience. I think about the excitement that Jeff feels when he comes home from a place he enjoys. I think about the fact that during the next year as we get to know our new home that I will get to spend more quality time with my kids building our relationships and growing with each other. With each step in the journey we are seeing God. In the little and the big things. We are learning to have an open mind and how to be patient with each road block that God knew we would face. We are learning new things and I know in a year we will look back and know that God has us right where he wants us and he will always be faithful.

So it is not a Third World Country, it is Helena Montana. We can do this!!

One Month, Two Month, Three Month!

I really do seem to be bad at this whole blog thing. Its one of those things that you want to be really good at but you find that life is moving at such a fast pace that you really don't have time to really sit down and think about what has happened, because you are too busy, doing!

Well since I made the poor choice of drinking a glass of Pepsi after 10:00 p.m . the night of day lights savings, I guess now is the best time to blog!

Since I wrote on here last things have not really slowed down. Jeff is through his first 4 weeks of training with Target and we are getting closer to our new adventure!

God truly is an amazing God and we have seen time over time him answer prayers that we thought we would never see answered. Not that our faith and trust in Him has ever wavered it just seems like this was all moving so quickly how in the world could this all possibly come together seamlessly. I think my worrying has been more stressful, if I would just keep reminding myself to “Let Go, and Let God” I think life would be a lot easier.

Looking back over the last month or so here are a few of the prayers we have seen answered in such a mighty way.

Jeff's New Job...

He is loving it. He loves that he knows and understand what is needed to be done and he can get it done. He loves the fact that there is such a huge support system behind him and there is no need to create the wheel even though he wants to. He loves that he is apart of something that you can see the finished out come at the end of the day. He loves the fact that there is a huge opportunity for advancement. He loves working with and meeting new people everyday. Are there things he doesn't like? Yes. But when you compare it to the world of stress he came out of with AT&T he can't complain. Right now while he is training in Bozeman they start at 4:00 a.m which means his days start at 2:30 in the morning. This can make for a very long day. Once he gets to Helena their day starts around 6:30/7:00 in the morning. Right now he is on his long stretch before his weekend off so prayer is needed for the next four days. It is a 6 day 10 hour a day stretch. He is training for the Logistic position. This position the basically the heart beat of the store. He is responsible for getting all the product out to the floor and keeping things flowing from the truck to the floor and from the back stock out to the floor. Something that we have found so amazing is how in every aspect of the job path God has lead Jeff down has prepared him for this job. God is good. Once his two weeks are over he will head to Helena and stay there...I guess that leads into housing...

Where do we go???

Looking for a house this time around has seemed so painful. We love our house in Bozeman and had been very discouraged as we started looking for a rental. As I mentioned before we got a screaming good deal on our house and we struggled with all the junk we were seeing in Helena. Everything was over priced and J.U.N.K!!!!! We started looking into buy, but thought most likely that this would not be possible since we had lost so much on the house in MN. I started contacting Lenders and found a Lender with the Dave Ramsay program that was willing to give us some credit counsel. After working with him for about 3 weeks we realized he was not the right fit and we got in contact with one of my cleaning clients who just happens to be a Mortgage Manager. She looked over our credit and had us approved in 4 hours. We then decided it was time to start looking at BUYING!!! I can't tell you how excited this has made me. If you follow me on facebook or Pintrest you probably already know, but we have found a house. After looking at 15 properties in one day, with two boys in tow and in a massive snow storm the last house we walked into that day was the house we fell in love with. As many of you know making the choice is the easy part. The hard part is negotiating the contract and getting all the financing in order. Those are the hard things we have to do! So right now here is where we stand. We have an agreed upon contract, an inspection scheduled for Friday, and closing scheduled for May 9^th!! Once again God knows all the details and will work them out as he sees fit.

Since Jeff will need to be in Helena in two weeks you might be wondering if he plans on living under an underpass....No! Our Realtor has a very large home and has offered Jeff a room in his home until we close. This is such a blessing since we really did not want to pull the kids out of school. Here is how our timeline looks for now.

March 24^th Jeff Moves to Helena

May 9^th We close on our house and Jeff moves in

May 9th- June 5^th we will be moving things to the new house and doing painting and such

June 5^th School gets out and we finish our moving to Helena!

Finishing School...

Finding housing for Jeff so that the kids can finish school was such a blessing! We really did not want to pull Gloria and Elijah out of school and knew they would struggle with that choice. We are so thankful this prayer has been answered. Will the 12 weeks apart be hard? OF COURSE! But he is only and hour and a half away so if we need daddy home he will come home!

Friends...

Moving away from and finding new friends is always such a challenge, but yet we have seen God work in this matter as well. I think I shared with you before that Gloria's close friend at school had moved over Christmas making that part an easier step for when we moved. However, we have grown an amazing relationship with our neighbors behind us and have all been sad to have to leave them behind. We were looking so forward to summer and backyard BBQ's, outdoor movie nights, summer sleep overs (for the kids), and all that comes along with having wonderful neighbors who have the same parenting structure we do. We found out last week that God has opened some amazing doors for them and they will also be moving within the next 3 months. We are so excited for them and happy to know we won't miss out on those things. In fact they are moving to Billings so we will get to see them when we go to visit family!

Work for me...

I am pretty sure I mentioned the opportunity that came along to me when we first started this journey. Although I probably don't need to work, I do enjoy doing it and find that if I don't have something to keep me busy I can get stir crazy. I met with our current Realtor and his boss in February and am planning on meeting with them again this week to finalize plans for me to work part-time from home. I will be heading up their Property Management branch of their Real Estate company. This is a very exciting and nerve wrecking opportunity for me and I am hoping that I will be able to meet the challenges with Gods help.

Things all seem to be looking up except for one area we have not seen answered, but have faith that God will answer this prayer in his timing...

Sophia...

Her dad has not figured out what he plans on doing once we move. I had a very long conversation with him last week in regard to what we have been praying and hoping he will do. We have made our plea that he would please take the job offer he has here in Bozeman and live here full time and be the Dad that she needs him to be. I told him point blank that we felt this was the best option for them both and that she needs a full-time parent. He does see that this is a need, but is blinded by greed of more money, which is something we all face daily. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PRAY!! That he makes the right choice for her. I see so much hurt and loss in Sophia. She doesn't understand why she is being left. She has told me she doesn't want us to move and this makes my heart break. I found a letter she wrote to her mom begging her to come back to Bozeman to take care of her when her Nanny left. She wishes she could be a mermaid so that she can swim in the ocean. This is a world she has created that makes her happy. We have requested that he take her back to a counselor to work through her feelings of abandonment, we do not know if he will do this but we hope he will.

As I have said many times, we serve a great God who knows our hearts and sees our pain. Please pray that this prayer will be answered soon. Please also pray that Sophia will find Jesus before it is to late. We want to see that sweet girl in Heaven someday, along with her dad. They both need JESUS!

Please continue to pray for Gloria. She seems to be getting more excited about our move, but is still struggling with leaving her school and meeting new friends. Over the last 2 months we have seen some new behaviors that show some resistance to our move. She is like her mom and internalizes things to the point of feeling sick to her stomach which is causing her to miss school from time to time. We are not worried about this being a physical problem, but more of an emotional one. We have spoken with her school counselor and are doing things at home and school to make sure her emotions are being handled in a healthy way. Poor Gloria comes from a very long line of worries on both sides of the family...

Elijah and Jackson...

These guys seem fine with all of it. Jackson has no clue really and Elijah is just excited about his house that has a fence in the upstairs! We have had a couple conversations about how jumping from said “fence” is not allowed, even if there are pillows and a couch below to catch him...we will see. Don't worry grandparents we are on this!

Me...

Please pray god gives me strength over the next 14 weeks as we get ready to move and for the 12 weeks that I will be a single parent. If anyone wants to come be a roommate and help me out I would love it. :) I know I can do it this will be out 3^rd time at this ball game and I know there is a light at the end of this tunnel!

Thanks to everyone that reads this! I know it is long, but we appreciate the time and the prayers that we need daily!