Our "Moving" Anniversary....

Three years ago, today, we pulled our convoy of pick-up trucks and a suburban into the driveway of our recently-purchased home in New York...to stay....I remember it like it was yesterday - Don and our boys hauling the contents of our old home, me hauling all of our critters (my first time ever hauling a horse trailer of that size containing two horses, two ponies and a crate full of hens!), and my husband's two best buds, Jeff L. and Jeff S., carrying our daughters, their best friends who joined us for the ride, and any "spillover" that wouldn't fit in the moving trailer.



What an emotional day that was!

Awaiting our arrival with fresh strength and energy (and FOOD!), were two sweet families who we will always refer to as our "moving angels" and friends - folks we had never met in person before, but with whom we shared a common bond through our faith in Jesus Christ and our choice to homeschool our children.

So much has happened since that bittersweet day....it would make most people's heads spin, but, as I mentioned in my last post, Don promised me our life together would NEVER be boring!

Over the past few days, I've been reading through this blog from the very first post - some made me laugh, some made me cry... and, I can honestly say, I'm glad I didn't know exactly what would come next!

A year after our move, Don parted ways with the employer who moved us up here in the first place.

My "knee-jerk" reaction was to say, "Let's just pack it up and move home!"

My daughters and I were still having a very difficult time calling this place "home".  

Although he wouldn't admit it at the time, Don has since confessed that the thought of heading back to familiar surroundings crossed his mind, too.





However, we prayed, we examined the situation from many angles, and ultimately we determined together, that this is where we were supposed to be for awhile.

We knew we had unfinished business...more lessons God wanted to teach us...more people we were supposed to meet, influence, encourage, learn from...individuals with whom we needed to share friendship and hospitality and the love of Jesus Christ...even our knowledge and life experience....

In one of my old posts, I talk about seasons and their implication in both agriculture and our lives. (Profound.  I really liked that one!)

This particular adventure on which we've embarked is just one of the seasons in our lives.  This concept is especially difficult to get my teenagers to wrap their brains around...sometimes, even I am too short-sighted to see it, and become discontent and blue for a time, though I have no right to be.  As God's precious children, our family has everything we need, and then some!

In just three short years, we've experienced a couple of employment changes for Don, I've temporarily held two part-time jobs in two vastly different fields, we've visited numerous churches (still haven't settled into one, yet, but the little church we've attended the past two Sundays may be "the one"), sold three of our horses and adopted one, adopted a new kitten and a new puppy...

...We've explored much of our area, we've started a maple syrup business on our property, built gardens and a pond, endured health issues that ultimately resulted in surgery, experienced the devastation of a fire, built a horse barn, a sugar shack and a pole barn, graduated two of our children from high school, found an incredible tutor to help me in homeschooling my daughters, and made a few close friends, along with many new acquaintances. (There's SO much more, but that would make for an excessively long blog post!)


Sure, we still miss our friends and family back in PA, but by the grace of God and the hospitality and love of those folks, we get to visit quite regularly. And, it's always so refreshing!  When we lived in Lancaster County, PA, we were very comfortable, and we took our comfy lives for granted - not anymore! Each visit is treasured! 




I try not to take for granted the things that have become familiar to me up here - our daily walks in the woods, visits to gorgeous state parks and lakes within minutes of our home, kayaking, maple season, the friends with whom we've connected, the crazy weather...

While this is just a season in our lives, and eventually, we'll move on...either back to south-eastern Pennsylvania or somewhere else in this great country that God leads us (SOUTH, preferably!), my goal is to stay present... in the here and now, so I don't miss any of the lessons - or blessings - God has for me.  The year 2016 holds many, I'm sure!







Keep following us through the 2016 maple season and more....

And, I promise you.....it will never be boring!!