w.a.i.t.i.n.g

some of you may have seen through my facebook posts that rick and i have recently been in a 

"season of waiting" 

and i'm very admittedly not a good "waiter"!

in november, after a few conversations with some of rick's family members, and a hospital stay his mom had just had, we felt that God was calling us to go to florida to spend some time with his mom. it would help the family out, and rick could speak directly with some of mom's caregivers, see her medical reports and spend some much needed time with other family who live near mom. 

because i had left lularoe back in august and most of the funds owed to me had finally been returned to me, we had a bit of a cushion that we planned to use for living expenses as we diligently sought God's leading at this point in our lives. in less than a week, we had packed up 3 seasons worth of clothing, made arrangements for the care of our home and 10 pets, mapped a route, making arrangements for a few stops between the upper peninsula of michigan and south florida and on november 18, my 51st birthday, we jumped in the car and headed south with plans to either stay for a week or through Christmas, depending on what it seemed the need was when we got there!

our visit with mom was good! her health was better than we had anticipated and following our original plan, we started our journey back north almost a month after our arrival via georgia, north carolina and Christmas in kentucky {as we had originally planned earlier in the fall, before the florida trip came about}.

while we were in florida, we had the chance to take walks along the beach and have long talks about where we felt God was calling us ... p.s. those walks along the beach made me sure He was calling me THERE! we prayed, we discussed, we looked at many options and we came home feeling pretty settled that we knew not only our wishes for the future but God's call on our future!

fast forward a month or so after we got home, rick had an interview that we thought fit perfectly into our plans, and we were excited! then, God threw us a curve-ball! we couldn't make the interview fit into our schedule, it just wouldn't work out right with our time table and that of the prospective employer, and we were a little stumped until a different opportunity landed literally right in our laps!  

this one was completely different than the first, it was NOT on my radar in any way, shape or form. trust me on this one, i argued with rick and i argued with God! it did not include sunshine, warm temperatures most of the year or miles and miles of sandy beach on the ocean!

but God ...

as we met with the prospective new employer, God opened my eyes to the beauty of the new position{s} being offered. He changed my mind and my heart as i began to see this new opportunity as a gift straight from His hand! it's an opportunity that is in somewhat "familiar territory" to me that will allow me {us} to serve God and to serve others, which is exactly what i have a heart to do!

the new position{s} were not slated to begin immediately, it was a work in process, but we truly were at such peace with feeling God's hand at work that we were o.k. with that, we still had some of the lulafunds and all was still well! 

as the money from lularoe that has been supplementing our income have slowly been used up, i have begun to wonder if i didn't hear God correctly, but rick reminds me each day that his God's arm has not shortened and that He does indeed have His best plan in mind for us! we are still very excited about this new opportunity, and as we are staying tuned on the updates on the progress that is being made until we are brought on board, we remain excited to begin this next new adventure {i'm a bit more anxious to get going on it than rick is, he is a much more patient waiter than i am}! just today, he reminded me that we had been told that we were wanted as part of this new "team" that is forming, and we just have to be patient as the behind the scenes work is completed!

so, there you have it! i'm not being intentionally vague, we're just not ready to share all the details yet, but they are good, very good and we are excited to watch as God opens doors and leads us down paths we did not expect to be led down! 

each day with God can be an adventure if we just let it! i always want to push ahead and put the cart before the horse, but thankfully, rick encourages me to be still, to be patient, to wait on God's timing and not mine!

when the time is right, we promise to share with you the details of this next stage in our lives, and until then, if you'd just remain in prayer with us that everything that needs to fall into place does, that i would remain patient and trust in God's timetable, and that when the plans are set, that God would use us where He places us for our good and His glory! :)