I sit here during the quiet of nap time in my new home. In my new town. In my new state. Sometimes it doesn't seem real. I ask myself several times a day, "Is this really where I am?" It is a surreal feeling and I wonder when it will wear off. Maybe never? Some of you may be wondering why we moved to Texas. And this is an explanation of sorts. But it's also a story, one I never want to forget any part of. So, I write it down, here, for myself, and anyone else who wants to know.
A long time ago (actually about 10 months ago) a very wise man (my dad) brought up an idea.
"When I retire in four years, I am going to move to San Marcos, Texas."
"Yeah, whatever." I thought to myself. I had heard similar ideas before. But apparently, that's not what my husband, my sister, and my brother-in-law thought. They thought, "Let's check it out!" So they did, they Googled what it's like to live in Texas and found out many amazing things. Way cheaper cost of living, plentiful jobs, wonderful place to raise a family. Still I am thinking to myself, "Yeah, whatever." Lots of people have ideas, but this is a big idea that would take a lot of change. Fast forward 24 hours. I have basically forgotten about moving to Texas, probably because I never thought it was a real possibility. Jimmy comes home from Bible Study Fellowship and tells me he is seriously considering moving us all to Texas. And then promptly falls asleep within seconds. What..... What?!?!? Commence freak out stage. I am Googling, looking at CityData.com, trying to look everywhere I can to find out more about this foreign land called Texas. I am looking everywhere, except for up.
The next day we decide that a Riley Family Meeting needs to be held to discuss the topic. It is scheduled for Sunday, in typical Riley fashion. At that meeting we decide that every family individually needs to pray separately about if God wants them to move to Texas, and if so, when. And we also basically decide it was all or nothing-all families would go, or no one would go (except our little Megan who is finishing nursing school in San Diego :-( This is when it starts getting a little more real. We are talking dates, locations, the whole deal. But now instead of being in freak out stage, I am focusing on what God wants us to do. It seemed as though Erin and Taylor knew almost immediately what God wanted for them. Several days after the meeting, I felt like God told me, "Yes." I'm not going to lie, mini freak out. By myself. In the middle of the night. I didn't want Jimmy to be influenced by what I had heard, so I waited for him to tell me what he heard. His struggle was leaving his family, especially his mom who had recently had some health problems. But we both felt the overwhelming voice of The Lord telling us this was what He wanted, and that He knows the desires of our hearts and that He can make things possible that we can't imagine. And soon after that my parents said they are going too! So...we are moving to Austin.
At first we kept it quiet. It is very awkward to tell people that you are moving half way across the country away from everyone and every thing you know. At this point, I had never once stepped foot in Texas, and Jimmy would't until we arrived to move in. Which made it even more awkward. Even the most kind people could start the doubt in my mind with their well meaning questions. It took lots of prayer and being covered in prayer from the amazing friends around me to finally get the courage to stop saying "I know, it's crazy we are moving to Texas." and start saying, "God told us to move to Texas. And I am excited to see what He has planned." The more I said it, the easier it was.
As time started moving quickly, we prayed a lot over when to go. We felt like God was telling us August before school started. So Jimmy started the ball rolling on getting his work transfer and I started looking for houses. A true blessing from this transition is that because of the lower housing prices we could actually buy a home that met all of our needs. My mom, my sister, and the kids (yes all three) and I all flew out to scout the area. That is when we met our awesome Realtor Jason. He showed us around the areas that fit our wish lists and we settled on a general area. It was between Round Rock and Pflugerville. With the market the way it is here, we couldn't make any offers until about a month and a half before we moved. So we looked at the sorts of houses we could afford here and imagined what it would be like to live in Texas.
So now we have a time and a location. It is super for real now. In the next few months we prepared to buy a home, spent lots of time with friends and family, and enjoyed California. During this whole process God confirmed and reconfirmed every aspect. Jimmy's work puts out a letter saying they need people so badly in Austin, they will pay for partial moving expenses. My brother-in-law Taylor gets an email from his school saying they are looking for paramedics in the Austin area, flys out for the interview, and gets it. My dads company creates a job for him in San Antonio (which, by the way, is a little far from Austin, so they decide to buy a house in the town between San Antonio and Austin, which is called San Marcos, Tx.) These and many more. Too many things that could not be explained away. He wanted us to know that without a doubt, this was His plan.
Fast forward to July 1, six weeks before we move. Our Realtor is sending us videos of the houses we like from online. We decide to put an offer on a house that we think will be perfect for us. It doesn't work out. (Come on, that would have been too easy.) Two days later, we find another house. It seems even better then the first! We put our offer in, only to find out it has some structural problems because of a very sloped driveway. We withdraw our offer. It sounds silly now looking back, because we were only two days and two offers in, but I was starting to get frustrated and a little nervous. We were moving in less then six weeks to a place where we didn't know anyone! We had to have somewhere to go. Two days after this offer withdrawal, I am hitting up Redfin every morning to see what's new on the market. In the back of my mind the whole time before we started making offers I heard a little Voice saying, "it's not on the market yet." This particular morning there is a new listing in Pflugerville. It has one picture of the front and the details of the house. That's it. I knew it. I knew this was it. I called and texted the Realtor four times before 10am (poor guy.) I needed to to know what was inside!!! He called from the house and gave me an overview of the rooms, yard, condition, size, pool (yes pool!) and said it was probably his favorite one he had seen for us so far. We prayed about it and said, "Put an offer!" They accepted and didn't even counter. Third times the charm, and now when I think about it, I think God wanted the number three in the process so I would know without a doubt that He was the one orchestrating the whole thing.
So we have a time, we have a location, and we have our first home. Now we just have to get there. Leaving is the hardest part. As the days counted down I felt weirdly calm and almost had no emotion about leaving. My dear friend told me I didn't know what leaving looked like, so I probably couldn't feel it. I also think God was protecting me from any emotions that would have made me not want to go. I spent the days playing on the beach with friends, visiting with people I would miss, and soaking in the loving atmosphere of our church. We had a going away party that was blessed with so many people from different parts of our lives and family that we wouldn't get to see for awhile. The day before we left, we were brought on stage at a place that we called home for the last 5 1/2 years. The place my husband became a believer, where I started walking out my faith, where our babies were dedicated, where our son was baptized, where we made friends who became our family, where God changed our hearts. When we were brought on stage and sent off in prayer from our pastor and the church...the emotions broke loose. They rushed me like a flood. It was harder to leave that place then anything or anyone else. The only thing that kept me going was knowing, knowing, with all my heart that God has a plan for a ministry in Texas. That He is going to use everything we learned from the Movement to teach and equip people at the next church we go to, and learn from them too.
So now we are here. In our home. The home that really belongs to God. In a town with a funny name that we are starting discover. In a place that brings us new experiences every day. Every day I wake up and think, "Is this where I get to live? Thank You Lord." And every day I see another piece of the puzzle as to why God wants us here. Thank You Lord.
The verses that confirmed it all: "The Lord had said to Abram, "Go from your country, your people and your father's household to the land I will show you. "I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing." (Genesis 12:1, 2 NIV)
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