Some Big News: We're Moving Back to Ohio!



Prepare yourself. There are lots of changes coming, and I don't have much time to spare as they are coming at warp speed, so let me give you the narrative nitty-gritty:

We are moving to Ohio.

It's the state I was born and raised in and where almost all of my family resides. It's the state I ran to when things got hard with Claire. My husband and I had always talked about moving there "someday," but didn't expect that to come to fruition anytime soon. 

Then, a couple of months ago, my husband got an email about an open position in Ohio. It was when Claire was just weeks old, but even then I'd already realized how hard motherhood is. Too hard for me to do it on my own. So when he told me about the opening, I did something I've never done: I practically demanded that he apply. I told him he didn't have to accept it but he had to apply—for my sake.

So, the loving husband that he is, he did apply, as did 230 other people. For one single opening. We knew it was a long shot, but decided to follow it through anyway and see what would happen.

From the very beginning, though, I prayed that if he wasn't going to get the job, I wanted him to get cut early on. And yet, he kept advancing.

He'd made it to the second or third round of interviews (which meant two or three more 8-hour trips back and forth to Ohio, with Claire in tow) when I submitted that same prayer to God again: That if he wasn't going to get the job, that he would not advance. It was the middle of the night when I lay awake praying that. Then it dawned on me: I must believe that God actually was answering my prayers. Because he continued to get advanced, I had to believe he's going to get the job!

Getting the job would mean we'd have to move, which would mean we'd have to sell our house. So the next morning I began doing a bunch of projects around the house that I'd always wanted to do (and that would really help our house sell) but had never gotten around to.

When my husband asked where my newfound motivation came from, I told him my epiphany: "I have to trust that God is going to give you the job."

Later, my husband told me that it was a bold statement, but I honestly believed it with all my heart. Working on those projects was a reflection of deciding to put my trust in God's faithfulness to me. Because God has proved he is faithful to me, time and time again. And, I told myself, even if my husband didn't get the job, all the work I was doing was for things I would have wanted to do anyway, so no effort would go to waste.

Meanwhile, at the end of June, after they had whittled the candidates down through round after round, my husband got the call that he was their number one pick—confirming that belief God had planted in my heart that late night weeks earlier.

The next step of the process came with having to sell our house. We were quite nervous about this, because we've only lived here for a year and a half and have put quite a bit of work into it and we weren't sure we'd be able to recoup it.

Again, though, I turned to the Lord, trusting him to finish what he had started.

Wouldn't you know it, but we hired a realtor who put a sign in our yard as he was leaving the driveway, and within three days (before the house even was officially on the market), we had an offer for $100 above our asking price.

And then, last week, my husband got the official offer of employment.

Oh, Lord, you are too good to me. You do take care of your children.

So, we are in the midst of boxing up our belongings again, making arrangements for our cross-country move. Which means things might be a little quiet around here while I throw myself into all this (and finding the time to entertain Claire in the middle of it all!). But I will be back, to share more of what God is doing in all this. May he be praised.

Related Posts
A New Place to Call Home and Lessons Learned in Moving 
Living with Less: Why I Got Rid of Half My Clothes

17 comments:

  1. Congrats and good luck with the move!

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  2. Wonderful! Welcome back to the land where we apparently love corn dogs! (Lifelong Hoosier here...and I do love your corndog muffin recipe.)

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    1. Haha! Totally forgot that I posted that recipe. I love me a good corndog, too! Glad to be back where other folks appreciate them too :)

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  3. That's such great news! It will be so wonderful for y'all to be back closer to family, too. Isn't it just amazing how if we trust God and take those tangible steps of faith, He will bless us with an even better outcome than we could ever have imagined? Excited for all the changes y'all are embarking on and I will be praying for a smooth transition.

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    1. Thanks for your prayers! Yes I have been amazed at how perfectly--way better than I'd ever dreamt possible!--everything is working out. There's a verse I used to pray: "Show me your love in wonderful ways." Gotta say he is doing just that right now!!

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  4. Yippee! This post made me want to twirl around in the middle of a field of wildflowers...haha. Can't believe it's really happening!

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    1. You and me both! Let's find that field once I'm up there and do it together!!!

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  5. Congratulations!!! And what a lovely witness of godly character and Gods character. I was just reading earlier today about tax excemptions for moving because of a new job, my husband and I are also at that crossroads, an I found this link helpful:
    http://www.irs.gov/publications/p521/ar02.html#en_US_2012_publink1000203497

    Except for the whole having to wait till he's worked 39 weeks part. My husband and I plan to make a folder though, where we can place all those moving expenses: rentals, boxes, tape, lodging, and utility disconnecting and connecting and gasoline. Hope the article is helpful if you haven't done it before.

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  6. congrats!!! God is faithful i am believing that He'll answer my prayer and bless me with the husband he created for me !!! sooner than later

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  7. Our God is always faithful. Your testimony is very encouraging especially at this time i am trusting God to help me get a job back in my country. happy for you:-):-)

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  8. amazing story about God's provision. Thanks!

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  9. Ah, yay Carmen!! Glad you are moving closer to family! Wow, God has been SO amazing to you guys.. He is so faithful! When He has a plan, BOY DOES HE HAVE A PLAN! How quickly the Lord can turn around our situations... give me so much hope :)

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  10. This post is so encouraging to me, particularly your faith in God's provision. Thanks for sharing this! This hit home with me in that I am 38 weeks pregnant, and my husband is still waiting to hear whether his job will change from temporary to full-time. I'm so happy for you and am praying for you during this time of transition. :)
    ~Liz

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  11. I've just recently started reading your blog and I just wanted to let you know how grateful I am for this blog post. In the midst of worry, it is so easy to forget how good God is and how He longs for His children to be well. Thank you so much for reminding me of His heart for us by sharing your story.

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  13. Blessings come to those who wait and believe! Since you're busy with your baby, hiring a realtor was the best move. With a realtor on your side, you wouldn't have to be stressed all throughout the selling process. What else can I say? Just congratulations to your family, Carmen!

    -Calvin Mordarski @ CityBlockTeam

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  14. What a very beautiful post you shared with us! Hiring an expert in the field to assist you is the right way to go at it. Selling your house that quickly is great news. Seems like you really are meant to move to Ohio, no? Well, didn't they say that “if it's meant to happen, it'll happen”? I'm so happy for you, and I wish you the best of luck on this new chapter of your lives. :)
    Carmen @ Houston Churchill Mortgage

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