On the Move

This was taken Saturday night at the potluck.

We have returned from a very big weekend. We left early Friday afternoon for Copperas Cove so that Matt could go "in view of a call," which simply put means that the church members had an opportunity to vote on Matt coming to be their Minister of Discipleship. The vote was nearly unanimous (only 4 negative votes).

To back up though, the reason we left on Friday is because we've decided to pursue buying our first house! We are working with a realtor who is a deacon and Sunday school teacher in the church and with his help, had compiled a list of houses that we wanted to go see. Matt and I did a preliminary drive by of all of the houses Friday night and were able to eliminate about 3 of them based on neighborhood & such. We went into the weekend thinking we'd found our perfect home and all we needed would be to see the inside for ourselves, and we'd be sold. Well...this house (216 January) left us wanting a little bit more. We knew the landscaping was very overgrown and needed serious work but we thought the inside and the neighborhood were completely worth it. When we got there, I was disappointed in the layout of the house. The formal living, dining, kitchen and family room are all lined up along the left side of the house with the office and bedrooms along the right side. It felt very segmented to me and did not flow very well. I could certainly deal with those imperfections, except that the second and third bedrooms were tiny! I was very concerned that our guest bed would not be able to fit into the rooms, and if it did fit into the room, the door would most certainly hit the edge of the bed every time it was opened. That just does not work! So, this house, that we were so sure about, was demoted. Still on the list of possibilities, but much lower. We really like the neighborhood though. A few church members live there, it has mature trees and an established feel to it.

Moving on, we looked at a number of new houses in an area that is growing rapidly. It is a new neighborhood that is very large and has some great houses and some very blah houses. We typically don't like newer neighborhoods where everything has been mowed down and all the houses look the same. There are some streets in this area that fit this description but the farther East you go, the more variety there is in the homes. We found a house that we really liked here. It also has 4 bedrooms, a formal dining room and a great master bathroom and closet. Matt and I really enjoy clothes and are in need of a great big closet! This house (2409 Lindsey) also backs up to a creek which means we would have something of a view and never rear neighbors, which is so appealing! Again, there are no trees or landscaping really to speak of but the house had so much of the other things we were looking for, I think we are willing to put in some of our own sweat equity on that stuff.

So, by Saturday night we had it down to these two houses. We went that night to a potluck dinner at the church where we were the guests of honor. We ate and then there was time for church members to ask Matt questions about his position as Minister of Discipleship. We had prepared for the worst, not knowing what people might ask about, but in truth, it went really well. There were no off the wall subjects or obscure questions. Any of the difficult questions, Matt handled with grace and confidence. I was so proud of him. Actually, the people made it pretty easy on us. They were very warm and genuine. They really made us feel so welcomed. And the way everyone wanted to shake our hand and talk to us, I kept thinking it felt like my wedding reception all over again. We were center stage and all eyes were on us, except I knew everyone at my wedding!

After that we were exhausted, so we headed back to the hotel and Matt worked on what he was going to say in church the next morning. There are two services and he was told to speak for 5 or 6 minutes on his vision for discipleship. Again, I could not have been more proud. He was so articulate and truly allowed his heart to show through to all of these strangers.

After he spoke in each service, the members voted and in the second service, the chairman of the search committee came and sat with us and the pastor. He said that the vote passed and asked Matt if we were ready to accept the position. Matt said yes, of course and Pastor Mark stood and walked to the pulpit to announce the newest staff member.

At that moment it all became very real to me. Up until that point I had not really let myself comprehend the life change this would be or the certainty of it, but it hit me like a ton of bricks. I was overwhelmed with emotion. I kept thinking about how big this is and how young we are. I kept thinking, "Don't they know we're just kids?! We don't know what we're doing." It was so humbling to stand there and process that this is certainly where the Lord has called us and that He has equipped us for such a time as this. I still have a very young perception of myself and the Lord was very clear in that moment, that He has brought us this far, He will continue to guide and direct us and provide for us. That is such a comfort to me; because I am irresponsible. Responsible adults don't leave dishes in the sink over night or allow their car inspection to lapse!

Anyhow, the truth is that the Lord uses a willing heart and I have told that to people so many times, but He had to remind me that morning. So I stood there with tears running down my cheeks and neck hoping I didn't look too sad while we sang. The harder I tried to stop them the more they fell, so I just had to let them. Once I made my peace with our new life that was coming, I began to picture the faces of my sweet friends I'll be leaving behind. I have been so blessed in these last three years to make friends that are so valuable to me. They are kind and generous and compassionate. I have learned so much while living here in the concrete jungle, as Matt refers to DFW.

So thank you sweet friends. You have blessed our lives more than you know.