The Elephant in the Room

 

I've saved this part of our current journey for last, mostly because it's awkward, and I always fail at handling the awkward well.

Typically when people make a big life change similar to the one we're making, they start with the job and center everything else around that. 

We did not do that. 

We did begin some conversations with a potential employer prior to making any other concrete decisions, and we have not ignored the work component of this change at all. But I will tell you that the final answer to work has not been settled yet. I won't dive into all the potentials for what that might look like just yet, but we have some options!

If we did not live and work in the same place, and if leaving one didn't so fully affect the other, we probably would have gone about this in a different order. But because of the way our job works, leaving one meant leaving the other, which put a place to live at the very top of the list, even above work.

I'm grateful for Ryan's careful attention to saving and planning that has allowed us to have a reserve for such a time as this, and we are actually really looking forward to a season (though hopefully not terribly extended) of respite following these very intense months of work. We need that for our hearts and souls so we can regroup and be in the best possible frame of mind to move forward from here.

God has shown Himself so faithful in each door He has opened so far, and we are fully confident He will ultimately show us which job He has for us to do next. We are open before Him to go where He leads! 

I do want to also say that hands down, no question, working together has been our favorite thing about life at WillowBridge. We know some people had some pretty raised eyebrows at our enthusiasm about the idea of working together when we came here. We know it isn't ideal for everyone, but we wanted nothing more than to do just that, and it has been every bit as wonderful as we hoped and prayed (and really believed!) it would be. Depending on how the Lord leads in the immediate future, we know we may not be working as closely together again, and that is so sad! We love it, we believe we are good at it, and we also believe it really makes us both better workers.

But even if we never get to work in tandem (vocationally) again, we are thrilled that the Lord allowed us to experience it for this time. It has been a massive blessing. 

I promise that as soon as this piece of the puzzle is fully in place, I will let you know. In the meantime, I hope you like house stories, because we might be camping out there for a bit. :)