Time for a Change

Do you ever just get that feeling that a change is coming? That your otherwise peaceful lives are about the be turned upside down as your path takes a major detour from the expected?

I’ve had that feeling for months. I knew it was just a matter of time.

The feeling was right.

Grant has accepted a position at a community college in Illinois, near Chicago, and we’re about to uproot our little Oregon-grown family and head east.

I’m working really hard at being excited about this change.

We’ve told the kids about it. Actually, we asked them what they thought at first. Phae’s response was something predictable like, “Sure!” or “Great!” Eleanor gave us the thumbs-up as soon as she learned they have an aquarium there.

While my feelings are very mixed, and I am very reluctant to leave the family, friends, and home we love, I know it is the right thing for our family at this time.

About a week after the decision was made, Eleanor came to me one morning and asked, “Mommy, do you want to move to Chicago?”

My thoughts raced to all sorts of things I could tell her to placate her. I could repeat to her all the things friends had said to me about what an adventure it would be for us and all the fun things we could do. But before I started to talk, I took one look at her and knew I had to be completely honest with her. This is what I told her:

Your daddy and I have said many prayers to try to make the decision if we should move, and we feel like the answer was that we should. I know I have received an answer to my prayers that it will be the best thing for our family to move to Chicago. So even though it might sound scary to me sometimes to leave our cousins and grandmas and friends behind, I know that our Heavenly Father knows what’s best for us, and He will take care of us. If I didn’t feel like that’s what Heavenly Father wants for us, would I wake up one morning and decide we should just pack up and move to Chicago because it sounds like a fun place? Probably not. (She laughed at that.) But I have been praying that your daddy would find a good job in a place where it will be best for our family, and I know this is what we are supposed to do.

I told her that as long as we have faith and try to make the best of it, we will be blessed. And maybe we’ll be surprised by how much we end up loving it there. Who knows.

I’m so glad that I answered her question that way instead of just telling her what an adventure it would be. I’m glad that I was able to share my faith with her. Because this move is going to take a lot of faith.

I have already felt and seen a great outpouring of blessings upon us. I have felt such great comfort through these stressful times of planning a move across the country. I would have fallen apart so many times over by now without being strengthened by my Heavenly Father. Sure, I’ve been overwhelmed, and there are times it feels like wave after wave of panic is crashing down on me, but those moments don’t last long. Ultimately, I know everything will work out. Everything will be alright. And we’ll find a new sort of happiness in Illinois.