And so it begins...

We unloaded the moving truck on Friday, August 5.  Sunday morning, when we were feeling a little overwhelmed with this whole business, the sermon at the church we've started attending was this:

GOD SAID WHAT?! - Move.

Here is the scripture from which it was taken.

⁶ The Lord our God said to us at Horeb, “You have stayed long enough at this mountain. ⁷ Break camp and advance into the hill country of the Amorites; go to all the neighboring peoples in the Arabah, in the mountains, in the western foothills, in the Negev and along the coast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the Euphrates. ⁸ See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land the Lord swore he would give to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—and to their descendants after them.”   Deut. 1:6-8

"You have stayed long enough at this mountain."  We learned that the Israelites had gotten comfortable and God was telling them it was time to make a leap of faith.  Funny, huh?  Jon and I both laughed and cried that morning.  This is yet ANOTHER way God has directly spoken to us about our relocation.  We thank Him constantly for his compassion on our ever-doubting hearts.

So let me share some things from the last 2 weeks!

This is basically how Eliza feels about being here.  She desperately misses her best friend Zac, who lived in the unit next to us, but we call him every weekend and they're learning how to do life without each other.  She started school on August 10, so she hasn't had too much time to think about things and has jumped right in.  She likes her teacher and is making friends.  3rd grade here is a little behind where she left off in Naperville, so there hasn't been a lot of stress for her which is a blessing.  Plus she feels really smart!

We found a great little pizza place up the road a bit and this is Jon's new favorite.  Its called the Ragin' Rooster and has a spicy garlic sauce, chicken, onions, banana peppers and jalapenos.  This is Friday night dinner for us now.  We're still making our way thru the specialty flavors on the menu.

My parents were here!!!!!!!

They came down last Saturday and stayed with us until Wednesday.  We had a great time exploring our property and spending as much time together as possible.  

We left on Wednesday to drive to Alabama to see my sister's graduation from the Tuscaloosa Police Academy.  She is going to be an amazing officer, with a huge heart for the hurting people of her town.  They're lucky to have her!

I drove back home that afternoon, did basically nothing but rest yesterday, and today we bought a zero-turn lawn mower!

So let the adventures continue!

Limbo Is HARD

Well yes, the game too, since I'm the least flexible person on the face of the planet, but I'm talking about the in between time.  The we've made the decision but its not time to take action time.  The I have nothing to "juggernaut" about and am left with the thoughts in my head time.  But also the so this is what its like to spend all my time with my girls because I'm not working anymore time.  And the I can actually plan meals and keep the dishes clean time.  

We just finished 8 days of swimming lessons and both girls did great!

We made banana bread muffins (cuz the loaf pan is packed).

We finally put a new bottom in the doll cradle we inherited from a dear friend, Alice.

We took in 2 more foster kittens!  Milo and Mitchell are sweet and fluffy.  They need a bit of work to learn to be unafraid, but Eliza and I are working hard!

Today we're starting slow and watching Cinderella before we go to the storage unit and start pulling things back to the house.  We will fill the garage so Jim and Docia don't have to pay another month for storage.  We don't need to keep our houses spotless anymore!

I hope you have a great weekend and have a chance to relax.  Happy 4th!

New Chapter, New Blog

The Fuller family has been on quite an adventure this spring.  Let me attempt to give you the condensed version.

 

We have some very dear friends (ya know, the ones that are like family) that have a multi-generational farm on 100 acres near Lexington, KY.  We've been down to visit them several times and quickly fell in love with the area.

We've known for a long time that Eliza was not created to be a city girl.  When we visit the farm we basically don't see her for 3 days and she is SOOOO happy.  She is genetically predisposed to love and care for animals.  Its so fun to see.  This photo was from our first trip down to the farm, in Oct. of 2014.

 

Jim and Docia (Jon's parents) came down with us the following summer and things started to develop.  Jon asked his company if they would consider transferring him to their Lexington office.  Jim and Docia decided they wanted to move with us so we could be close to help if Jim's disease requires it.  Housing pricing in the Chicago area started to go up, making it possible for us to maybe get close to what we still owed on our townhouse.  God started clearly and quickly laying a path for us to walk.  So we decided to do it.  And man....things will never be the same.

Many years ago, the Lord called Jon and I to become foster parents.  We didn't know how, or when, or where, but we knew someday we would do it.  On a trip to the farm to visit Charley and his family, we were driving out of town to start our journey home and passed a sign that said, "Foster Parents Needed".  Ummmmmmmmmmm......

We needed a bigger home to fit more kids, and we certainly couldn't do that in DuPage County, so we started listening for alternatives.  How about twice the house, on 6+ acres with a 3-stall horse barn.  OK!

We found an amazing home, with room for Jim and Docia to build their own home, agreed on a contract with a long closing date, came home, renovated our house, listed it and signed a contract within 48 hours of going active.  Guess we're on the right track, huh?  Photos of the new place after we close, I promise.

So what's the plan?

Move in August, build a second house for Mimi and Papa, begin training to become foster parents, get some chickens, hopefully see my sister and her husband more often, and look for ways to get involved in ministry, and hold on tight for the ride to follow.

The moral of the story?  Where God calls, he provides.  In amazing, supernatural, humbling ways.