Seven Years & God's Fingerprints
Seven years.
Two people, born on opposite sides of the world.
A young man, wondering when he would meet his bride.
A young woman, waiting for her husband.
God brings them together to meet online.
They fall in love through letters, emails, instant messaging, Skype, and phone calls.
Six years.
He proposes, a month after she arrives. She says yes. (They forget to take engagement pictures together.)
They say goodbye once again...this time for 3 months as they attend school in separate states.
More letters, emails, Skype and phone calls, oftentimes using a borrowed cell phone since she did not have her own.
They reunite for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and spend lots of time growing together as a couple.
She is unexpectedly accepted into his school as a transfer student, when there were no anticipated openings for two years.
Five years.
They marry in a beautiful chapel in the Ozarks, with family and friends in attendance.
Month 1: they spend their wedding gift money on rent.
Months 2-6: he is unemployed, and she is not legally able to work.
Month 3: car breaks down.
Month 4: miraculously buy another car, totally debt-free. (God math is pretty amazing stuff!)
Month 6: He is given a wonderful temporary part-time job.
Month 9: He finds another part-time job to help supplement income since job #1 is ending soon.
Month 11: God tells him to quit his only job.
Four years.
God gives them a new job, paying significantly more than what he was making before.
The day they move in to their house, they discover that the water is turned off...and it's the weekend.
A few days later, the stove and refrigerator full of food go out.
Buckets filled at the neighbor's are carted in to use for water needs.
Their paycheck doesn't come in for four weeks.
They go without water for 3 weeks. When the water gets turned on, the hot water heater ends up being broken.
Three years.
They move to Alabama for flight school.
They go through infertility testing.
They decide to pursue embryo adoption.
Lots of fundraising ideas, crafts, and saving every penny towards adoption.
Excitement, knowing God is preparing to do something big.
Two years.
Finding out they are pregnant when the doctors said based on certain test results it was impossible that month.
Moving states twice during pregnancy - from Alabama to Georgia, then from Georgia to Kansas.
Moving in faith that God would be take care of them, with no promise of work.
Finding a landlord that would rent to them, with a house that perfectly fit the things that they had been led to pray for in a home.
Going six months with no income.
Looking for an OBGYN at 28 weeks along.
Living in a hotel for 2 weeks...and having their dog live in the car all that time because no pet units were available.
Moving into their new home a little before Christmas, and then discovering their furniture and all their belongings wouldn't arrive til the end of January.
Driving from Kansas to Georgia on her due date for a family funeral, and touring a local hospital "just in case".
Delivering a healthy baby girl (in Kansas) and getting to use a name they'd had picked out for almost 3 years before her birth.
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| Our Kansas girl :) Photography session was gifted to us - a big blessing since it was not something we could afford. |
One year.
Facing deployment #1.
Lots of time away for additional training related to the deployment or career progression.
Moving again, this time back to Georgia after the job in Kansas ended.
Lots of good family memories made, both here and in Missouri.
These seven years have been kind of crazy, I have to admit. We lived in one home for two months, with our longest record so far being 15 months. We've done seven moves in five years of marriage, and have lived in four states in that time. Caleb has done five different jobs in five years, plus his military commitment. In many ways it has not been the "stable" life that I had always envisioned. But you know what? God has been so ever-present in each moment, in each place that He has taken us, and so it has been "just right."
In times of plenty, He has been faithful.
In times of little or nothing, He has been faithful. (He has provided for us more times than I can count!)
In hard times, in easy times...
In times when we have an idea where we're going next, and when we have no clue...
In times when we have money in the bank, and when we have none...In times when my husband is in a war zone, and when he is safe beside me...
In times when I am resting in God, and when I am struggling...
In times when it's easy to smile, and when it is not...
In all of these times, my God is faithful to me. My circumstances may change, my environment may change, my feelings may change, but God is my ever-present Rock, the one that I can cling to in all of the change.
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