moves

Moving across the country involves many different dynamics, all seemingly happening at once. There's the physical move of packing and transporting all your stuff. There's the emotional move of leaving your family and friends, not being geographically close to most of them for the first time in years. And there's the culture move. I'm a midwestern girl with conservative, Hoosier values. I love big cities, but I find comfort in small towns as well. With all three of these interwoven pieces of my life in flux, let's just say it's been quite the adjustment.

From the looks of Facebook, you wouldn't know that I've been, for lack of a better word, struggling with the changes going on in our lives. God has provided our daily needs. I'm slowly getting to know the city. I'm applying for jobs and praying that something opens soon. I have a wonderful husband who has been here beside me, helping me adjust, as well as my mother-in-law who spent time with us on the weekends and  introduced me to parts of the city while Raul was at work and before she left for vacation.

But those three aforementioned pieces are the hardest to overcome, despite how it may look like I am acclimating. Do I trust that the Father will hold me in His hand and help me make friends, find my niche out here, and overcome the PNW culture shock? Absolutely He will. I've seen pieces of that begin to fall into place as we've spent time with the Filipino community, and specifically when I spent the day with some of the Filipinas last Saturday. Sure, the job piece needs to fall into place soon...at least I hope it does, but in the meantime, God continues to remind us of His faithfulness and where He has brought us to this point.

In the past month that I've been here, I turned 35. And today, one month to the day that I joined Raul in Portland, we are celebrating our 8 year wedding anniversary and 10 years of being together as a couple. As I think about all the lessons I'm learning in this move and the doubt creeps in about finding our place in our new city, I'm constantly reminded that He has never left us. He has walked with us through every single move, transition, down time, and milestone in our lives, and there is no reason to think He would suddenly give up on us. He is good, and His mercies are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness. 

That is the biggest lesson I am learning.

10 years ago....

And today...

We may look a little different, a little older. Hopefully we are a little wiser. But what hasn't changed is His love for us and His faithfulness.