My Ebenezer Rocks

Lately I've had to remind myself of the story I'm going to share with you.  In the midst of the busy-ness and excitement the holiday season brings along with a cross country move, there's also a bit of loneliness and sadness from all of it too.  I knew these feelings would come; being a FTW you know things are temporary.  It doesn't make it easier though-- leaving a place you love is hard and acclimating to new surroundings takes time.  So in the throws of it all, I remind myself that God led us here and we are here for a purpose.

"Samuel took a single rock and set it upright between Mizpah and Shen.  he named it 'Ebenezer' (Rock of Help) saying, 'this marks the place where God helped us.'" ~1 Samuel 7:12 (The Message bible)

Here are just a few of our Ebenezer rocks in our story to NJ:

We originally thought we might be headed to Kansas City, MO.  

David's boss in Portland told him to apply for the same position in both the Kansas City and New York regions.  David flew out for both interviews, but we were far more comfortable with the cost of living, pace and population density in Kansas City vs. New Jersey.  David prepared quite a bit for his interview in KC; for NY he just let it happen...  And now here he is in the NY region.

There were two similar positions open in NY and David was only interested in specifically one.  

Things can get tricky when you're applying for a position and there is another position open for a similar yet lesser role.  We wondered if they would offer him the lesser role since he had less experience than some of the other candidates.  And then if that happened, would it be detrimental to respectfully decline?  Were they interviewing the same candidates for both roles?  Turned out we didn't have to deal with that, because David was offered the specific job he wanted.

Our house sold exactly when we needed it to.

I called our realtor and told her the date I wanted to close by.  "You realize you'd have to get an offer in the first 10 days, right?  It's aggressive but let's go for it!" She told us.  We got an offer on the 9th day, and they wanted to close two days earlier than my original date.  Eventually we extended the close date due to loan funding, but they were the perfect buyers and everything went incredibly smoothly.  Our home inspection came back 100% clean too so there were no repairs or anything we had to worry about.  I still think about that and am left in awe at how God tied all that up!

We now rent a darling, old, charming HOUSE in New Jersey.

In looking at living arrangements on the east coast near the city, I found that we were going to have to significantly downsize being on our budget.  Bye-bye 2000+ square foot home, hello less than 1000 square feet and maybe a washer/dryer if we were lucky in the unit.  I frantically began listing everything we owned on craigslist, only to pull it off because someone in David's new office had a friend who wanted to rent out their home and was willing to work close to our budget.  We now live in a house that is pretty much the same size or bigger than our house in Oregon, and we don't have to do repairs on it because we're renters!  :)  It is more house than we need and our lease is only for a year, so we may not be here long, but for a year I am going to enjoy every moment of it. :)

There are a multitude of other things that 'just so happened to line up' as well, like the lease on my car ending the day before I left, being able to qualify for unemployment benefits and getting almost all of the money we'd put into our flexible spending account for Maya's daycare back (which is awesome because we'd put too much in there to begin with and it's a use it or lose it kind of account).  

I never want to forget.  I never want to forget these 'Ebenezer Rocks' that are the reminders of God's provision and faithfulness to our family right now.  When things get hard, when we are lonely, when we feel like why the heck did He bring us here-- we can look back on these 'rocks' and remember.  I never want to forget.

What kind of Ebenezer rocks do you have in your life?  May we never forget!  Thanks for joining us on this journey!  I look forward to the Ebenezer rocks of 2013 :)