This is it!

Well, this is it, our last day in Pittsburgh. Justin picks up the moving truck today and we begin our adventure to State College. I've come a LONG way over the last 5 months of this transition. Five months ago I could not bear the thought of moving. I did not like State College and I wanted nothing to do with going there. Funny, because I've always said, "I'll go where ever, whenever..." and then we bought our house and I was ready to be settled. (A lot of that had to do with trying to sell our last house for 19 months...we listed it in January 2008, and sold it June 2009). So the thought of "doing it all again" was just an exhausting thought. And, selfishly, if it were somewhere "I" wanted to go, I think I would have been more open to the idea. The funny thing is 8 years ago, when we moved to Pittsburgh, I didn't really want to come here. Not that I didn't want to move somewhere then, I had just hoped it would have been south...I have always wanted to move south. But now, here we are, and though I am super sad to be leaving so many friends behind, I am also excited to start new and see what God has in store for us. It has been an AMAZING time of growth and trust in God over the last 3 months. I never in a million years would have imagined how God would have shown himself to us and provided for our every need. This should have been the most stressful summer ever, as Justin's job was done July 5 and he's been unemployed pretty much since then, and yet, we have been supported in crazy ways, not having to worry about much really and being able to enjoy some sweet time together as a family. The most stressful thing for me through this whole process has been not having health insurance since September 1 and having to take Isabella to the doctor 2 times in Sept/Oct for what I swore was an ear infection, but ended up being nothing. It definitely changed my perspective for those without insurance who are in much more difficult situations than we are. Our situation is temporary and my children are very healthy. The other difficult thing has been knowing some people look at us like we are crazy without knowing the whole situation or asking about it or making a ton of assumptions about what we are doing and why. It frustrates me for Justin because I know what a heart he has for college kids, and I know he's going to do amazing things with this non-profit he's working so hard to get off the ground. I saw Francis Chan's talk on the Catalyst website last week and I so resonated with what he was saying. He left his church of 16 years and he is planning to go to Asia. He's not really sure what God is calling him to do there, he just knows he's suppose to go...here's part of his talk that I just LOVED....

I feel like God is showing me something new, something like the early church in Acts.

My wife said to me that she was reading the Bible and everything we’re doing just seems perfectly normal. This is what’s in there. It fits perfectly. I don’t understand when people don’t understand what we’re doing.

People label me and they say I’m radical. If you put my story in chapter 12, James killed, Peter jailed, Francis went to Asia. Whoa, he’s radical, he’s insane! No, you’d just skip right over me. Let’s get back to Peter. If you put your life in this book, what is weird, the person who just goes and follows his calling and whatever else, or is it the rest of it that’s weird.

You can read his whole talk here:

http://willfjohnston.com/2010/10/07/francis-chan-catalyst-2010/

Anyway, I'm not saying that what we're doing makes us better or whatever, I'm just saying that I don't understand why getting a job (that we are incredibly thankful for) at Chic fil a to provide for your family financially and have insurance so that you can get a non-profit up and running is crazy. It's a means to an end and working in a college town allows for so many opportunities that we may not even know about yet...Justin teaching at Penn State, getting another degree, allowing me to do photography...who knows. Not to mention how many students he will be able to impact and share Jesus with. So, that being said...God has truly shown me that we are headed in the right direction. It doesn't make it any less sad or hard to leave friends. I still have so many unanswered questions...like why did we just buy a house a year ago, and why hasn't that house sold yet, but I'm trying to take it a step at a time and trust that God's plan is better than mine...it has to be, right? I've tried hard enough over the last few months to convince him that my plans are fabulous, but as I'm seeing, he doesn't always agree...he has better things in mind and he'll let me see them when he's ready. (that's no fun for a VERY impatient person, such as myself:-)

Oh, and as for not wanting to come to Pittsburgh 8 years ago, I have really enjoyed my time here. It has become almost like home to me...I will miss many things about living here, but I won't miss the lack of sun! I have been very thankful that the sun has decided to shine the last few days living here. It's made a sad last week a little bit happier! I hope to look back over the next 8 years and feel just at home at State College.