On Map Dots and Moving

We did it! We moved, people! It was a bit of a stagger start and you can read all about our call to Logansport BUT the awkward in-between stage is over and we are in our new home–thank you Jesus!

First off let’s recap a little.

February – Nate applies for position, interviews, and we visit the church.

March – Nate accepts offer of position in Logansport at Revolution Community Church, we make multiple trips to Logansport to house hunt, no space found and Nate’s start date of April 16 feels VERY close.

April 2 – We put an offer on a house in Logansport! We were the second couple to see it and made an offer right away.

April 6 – Nate’s last day of work at Gull Lake Ministries. We spent the first and second week of April soaking in our relationships in Michigan and packing like mad. We probably should have packed harder and partied less, but people are always worth it.

April 13 – We load all of our stuff into our garage in Michigan and move to my mom and dads for a “couple weeks” while we wait to take possession of our house.

We ended up staying at my mom and dads a full 4 weeks, a bit longer than expected. While we love them to pieces, it was hard. Nate was working in Logansport 1 1/2 hours away during the week and that got longer and tougher than we realized it would be.

The pros of our time there was lots of grandparent time and living on a fun farm filled with lots of adventure and animals. I also got to see and reconnect with many of my high school friends and their kids which was a real treat too! And my dad got me hooked on NCIS, so that was a real bonus. 😉 I also helped host a baby shower for my sister and sweet little niece which was so fun!

May 11 – Finally, we got the keys to our new home!! Old friends loaded us up in Michigan and new ones helped us unpack in Indiana. It was bitter and sweet.

May 18 – We pay off our car and close on our house on the same day! So we were debt free for about 6 hours. I’m sure Dave Ramsey would be proud. We feel like “real adults” with our three kids and mortgage. Truly though we are undoubtedly excited to be in Indiana! It feels like we have been here much longer than a week and we are excited to see how God continues to unfold our story here.

Until I was 18 I had only moved once and that was literally three miles down the road. Just recently I was thinking about how when I started college I moved across the country (Indiana to South Carolina) to begin school knowing literally no ONE. Looking back it was so uncharacteristic of me. I am a person who generally likes stability and isn’t very adventurous.

But that one bold move impacted me big time. Because I opened myself to adventure and different and NEW, I found amazing growth in the new friends, new cultures and new challenges. Mostly, I was really blessed by the people I loved there.

Since that move Nate and I have found our home in four other places: Laredo, TX; Fort Worth, TX; Huntington, IN; and for the past 5 years, Hickory Corners, MI. And maybe I wish I wasn’t so adept at packing boxes, at starting over. But each space, each dot on the map, has led us to some amazing hearts–people that have taught us, cried with us, laughed with us, celebrated milestones with us, shone Jesus to us in big and small ways.

We are blessed for each of these map dots. God has led us each step and used each place to shape us into who we are today. Because we can see the beauty of His faithfulness at each place we are excited and ready to receive the new relationships, memories, struggles and joys of our new community, knowing one day we’ll look back at our new friends and call them old friends.

-Kate

P.S.

And if you are one of those people on those map dots, know we love you deeply and are so grateful for you. Thank goodness for the internet to make the world a smaller place!