April: Gratitude

I think this would have been a very good fit for November, right??  But looking at how things are going it is in the right place.

Back in July, before my husband came home from a deployment, he was told there was a job opening in a lab back "home."  He contacted the lab that day, but was told within a few days that they had closed the job listing and were looking at several applicants.  But the man at the lab promised to let him know if they opened the job back up.

I prayed about it at the time (before we knew the job was closed).  We had hoped to stay here a little longer, maybe have another deployment, maybe knock out some student loan debt.  But everyone has issues with a deployment.  Hubby has issues, I have issues, kids have issues...and we were pregnant with #2!  Not to mention we have some aging and sick family members that we don't see very often.   So, back in July, I told God that I was willing to give up the financial benefit we would have from staying here, not to deal with these problems any more.  But that He was going to have to make it happen.

And that was that.

Those of you that know us, know what has happened since.  The job opened again in September, to our surprise.  We interviewed in October, we were offered the job before Christmas.  A few other bumps and bruises, and we are in fact moving back across the country.

And I should be thankful.

After all, we were given what we asked for, right?

"Are you excited to move home?"  I'm getting asked this a lot.

The thing is this.  Dealing with a horrible housing market, and talking to realtors who think we'll sell for 5K less then we paid for this house at the most - say: short sale - this is only some of the stress I feel about finances because of this move.

This is my situation.  We got what we asked for.  But I don't think I had any clue what I was really asking for.

Which is why I think it is a good thing April's word focus is Gratitude.

A Quick Message From Your Author

Right now, Simplify in my home looks like a gigantic mess.  Maybe not gigantic.  Because "simplify" happens to co-inside with "getting ready to move"  things look even crazier than normal as I am trying to purge stuff, live regular life, still adjust to two children, etc.  It looks like we may not have to pack ourselves up, but I am still packing stuff as I try to determine what is going to stay and what will go.  I'm already set up with several donation boxes. 
But soon I hope to have some thoughts about this months word, and the progress we've made.  I now return you to your regularly scheduled reading.