WE ARE MOVING TO OKLAHOMA!!!!!
James was offered a job at Oakwood Christian Church in Enid, OK. We are moving next week!
I don't have time to blog about all of the amazing details just yet,(even though this post is rather long, there is even more to the story) but let me just say that God has orchestrated a plan for our family that blows away any of our own dreams or plans.
In a nut shell, we have been praying for the longest time that God would bring us back to the midwest and James would work in ministry again. He never wanted to get out of ministry but there were no opportunities here. We moved here without knowing where he would work. We were ready for a change and an adventure and to live close to my parents again. We kind of stepped out on faith without a plan. It feels like we have been on the world's longest and most expensive vacation ever and we are ready to go home. God has grown us so much individually and as a family, but it has not been pleasant. It has literally been a season of wandering around in the desert. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade it for the lessons learned, but it has been hard!
God answered our prayer, in His timing and with His plan, not our own.
(We simply aren't this creative.)
We were thinking we'd like to move back to KC or Tulsa by family. God said, Enid.
(We simply aren't this creative.)
We were thinking we'd like to move back to KC or Tulsa by family. God said, Enid.
We went there at the first of December to interview and fell in love with the people, the church and the city. It was perfectly obvious to all that this was an answered prayer. He took the job of sports and outreach minister and we are on our way!
We can't sell our home here because the market in Phoenix is the worst in the country, so we are leasing it out. We have the most amazing tenants. James and I prayed that a Christian family would rent our home and He brought us one. An awesome family with 4 kids, two parents and a grandma are renting our home. Since we found tenants and are relocating across country, we qualified to buy a home in Enid.
Once again, God answered our prayer for a home we'd love in a big way. We are buying a 100 year old home that is is great condition. There is nothing we will need to do in the short term besides put up a picket fence. It also includes a small 3 bedroom bungalow on the property. We can think of all kinds of ministry and family opportunities for the bungalow in the future.
Here are pictures of the main house:
Here is where the story gets EVEN BETTER if that is possible. My sister is moving with us and renting the bungalow from us!!!! She has been applying for jobs in Cali for 7 months with no success. She applied for a job in Enid that she found while looking for jobs in Oklahoma City, drove down to interview and was offered the job. As I type, I still can't believe that this is all real! Look how cute the bungalow is:
I am so incredibly hopeful for the future. I acknowledge that moving our family across country and adjusting to a new home, town and church will be challenging at times, but we are up for it. The church family we are becoming a part of is amazing and they will be a huge support.
We will be just a few hours from James' parents and big sister in Wichita and a few hours from my family and high school friends in Tulsa and my brother in Norman. We will only be 45 minutes from Stillwater, where we went to college at Oklahoma State and we have a handful of old friends who are still there. And, we are only 4 1/2 hours from our Kansas City bffs, so I am sure we will be making lots of trips up there and having lots of out of town visitors to enjoy.
Oklahoma, here we come!
