It actually started very early on in this process. On the plane ride back from our 'look see' visit to Fayetteville we formally decided we were going to accept the role and begin this adventure as a couple. While the excitement level was clear, it soon became apparent that we had a litany of issues to figure out: where would Nicki work, where would we live, how would we sell the house, would we sell the car, could we convince our family and small group to move to Fayetteville, and so on.
As she is prone to do Nicki was dedicated to getting all of those issues settled before we went to bed that night. As we began discussing all of the issues it became clear that if we were going to make it through the next couple of months with our sanity in tact we were going to have to separate each issue and take it One Step at a Time. The picture below is a sign I hung on our back door the next morning and which stayed up for the first month of the process. It served as a daily reminder to take a deep breath, and take it one step at a time.
Apparently it is true that you can never really tell where God's plan is going to take you. I would have to assume if you sat Nicki and me down and separately had us list the Top 100 cities we would live in someday, neither of our lists would have included Fayetteville (or any other city in the state of Arkansas). But that is where we are headed, and we are excited to see what comes next.
We are hoping this blog will not only allow us to keep in touch with our friends and family, but also to document a journey that many people, and many marriages experience at some point. Certainly, when compared to some of the moving stories we've heard over the last couple of months, we have it easy. We don't have six kids, Nicki isn't 8.5 months pregnant, and we aren't moving to a foreign country (insert your own Arkansas joke here).
Over the course of the next 5 years (Nicki likes to say 4), our lives are guaranteed to change dramatically. It is this experience, and the fact that we are leaving home for Fayetteville, that has taught us that, while we can count on great things happening - the grand plan is out of our hands. We are excited to see what life has in store for us, for our family, and for our friends - and in some way we hope this serves as documentation of that journey.
Below are just a couple of pictures from our first visits to Fayetteville. We'll try to keep posting pictures, so as to help entice any friends or family who want to come join us!
\Fortunately - you can always count on having a Fiji in a random city such as Fayetteville
They told me Arkansas doesn't get snow - and my first work trip it snowed 24 inches - which caused me to be locked in a hotel room for 2 days living off of microwaveable meals (ramen noodles to be exact)
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