An Open Door... the Next Chapter!

This post is about praising God.  About an answer to years of prayers & supplication, questions, pondering, considering and sometimes what felt a little like a weary drought.  But, God is faithful no matter what.

This week, God opened the door.  A door that we've been tugging on, sometimes giving it a good ole stiff shoulder, a door we've tried to pry open ourselves and have attempted to budge often.  But, every time- the answer was a resounding NO.  For the past 5 1/2 years, we've been 'road warriors' as I call it- both of us commuting 30 miles each way everyday. As a family, we spend our days 60 miles apart, meeting in the middle each night before getting up the next morning to do it all again.

We have 4 towns in our lives... two different towns to work in, one to live in and another to attend church in.  We go through gas & tires like toilet paper... quite literally it seems.  And, our cars live on a treadmill of insanity.  The poor cars.  My poor Dodge that looks like a play room, dining room, office, mail sorting center and laundry service transport vehicle.  Because well... that's what it is.

And, then there's our sanity.  During the school year, we leave the house at 6:35am through snow, slush, rain, moonlight, fog, sleet, wind, more slush, blizzards, white-out blizzards and who knows whatever other weather that gets thrown our way.  Add in over zealous North Dakota bound truck drivers, people who don't believe in headlights, the deer and people who think they can pass a school bus + three semis + four cars all at once...its a lot sometimes.  Go God for protecting us & keeping us safe on the roads.  Seriously, I don't take it for granted.

Plus, the insanity of never being in the same town or the right town.  Or having your rock star husband take an hour of 'vacation time' to drive from Rapid to Belle to pick up your kid from daycare then heading home to Sturgis simply because I am at school until 9:30 at night running a concession stand.  Do that about 10x in two months.  That's insane.  That's a supportive husband going way, way above an beyond the norm to support his wife and our family so we can pay the bills.

In fact, we once tried to wedge open that door... we listed our house for sale for over 5 months to only get zero offers.  Dozens of showings, everyone loved our house but God prompted no one to make a formal offer.  We kept our house spotless for 5 months straight.  FIVE MONTHS straight.  Seriously.  Having my house clean for 1 day feels like an accomplishment but 5 months.... that's insane.  We tried doing it our way but God of course, had a better plan.

These past 5 1/2 years, we've worked hard.  There have been moments when we've tried to budge the door open.  Considered trying something new, dreamed about possible ways the door may pop loose.  Once, there was even a job offer but we had to say no.  And, God kept saying- no.  Every time, it came back to waiting on Him.  God knows I'm not good at waiting so He lets me do a lot of it.

"Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!"

 - Psalm 27:14

Last summer, again- we saw an opportunity.  But, if you switch jobs while adopting- you slow down the process to re-do things, you add a little cost and you delay getting your kid home.  That wasn't an option.  So we passed.  We waited more.

Then, God opened the door.  

Simple.  Like that.  

A job opening was revealed and I was encouraged to apply.  

After much prayer, discussion, prayer, contemplation and to be honest- a fair amount of uncertainty, I applied.  An interview was offered.  Second interview scheduled.  References were checked.  Then, we waited.  And prayed and prayed and prayed that this would be our 'yes'.  Our church prayed, our friends prayed, our Bible study group prayed.  We prayed.

Last Wednesday, over lunch- the phone rang and God kicked the proverbial door wide open! The offer of a new job.  I accepted the job :) As I write this, as of today.... I now have 5 days until I retire from teaching.  Five days.  You see- as usual, God orchestrates every single detail.  Details... God loves details.

Get this.... I will teach school 5 more days, walk out the the school on March 2nd, my 12 weeks of FMLA will expire on May 27th and on about June 1st, I will begin with the Department of Education.  I will work remotely from home.  Yes, that's right- God has provided a 'work from your home office' job that utilizes my education degree.  That never happens!  I will no longer work directly with students but with educators from across the western part of our state.  To say we're thrilled would be a major understatement.  While I have enjoyed the people of Belle and my season there- our family needs a new season.  We are in awe of God's blessings, provision and masterful way of setting our paths in just the perfect way at the perfect time.

Its as though a new dawn is coming for our family.  Within a couple weeks, we'll all be together and under one roof.  The commuting/teaching school, driving all over creation, concession stand, craziness chapter is nearly complete and a new career direction waits just around the bend.  Our God is faithful and for that we are incredibly blessed!

And, because this song has literally been in my head and heart for about the last 3 weeks solid.... crank it up & sing God's praise!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAyvSBTgYis

P.S.  We leave in 10 DAYS to pick up our Elsie!!! :)