This has been in the makings since the beginning of April, so I guess in the grand scheme of things, everything happened pretty quickly.
But really, it all began back on Valentine's Day weekend.
We were on a date night with Josh and Kati Higgins on Valentine's Day. At dinner, Josh mentioned that the Tualatin Valley church was looking for a preacher since his brother, Scott, who had been preaching there, was going to be preaching at Hockinson. Nathanael immediately said he was interested, but I was not so interested, and was more nervous than anything else about moving. That was the last we heard of it until Scott called Nathanael out of the blue one day in early April. He said that he had heard from several people that Nathanael would be a good fit for the church, and that they would like us to come up for a visit, so they could hear him preach. So we got a call from one of the shepherds, Ron Carpenter, and we scheduled a weekend in late April to go up there and "try out".
I was anxious about the road trip, since it was Ezekiel's first long road trip. But he did great! Overall, the trip was a huge success. We stayed at the Carpenters one night, and at the Gerbers the second night. It was awesome to spend some time with Ron and Kathy after all these years, and the get to know the Gerbers. We heard lots of positive things about the weekend, and we were really excited about it. We felt really good about the group, and we felt like we would be a good fit.
On the same weekend, Nathanael, through a strange series of events, ended up with an interview at Portland Roasting Company, which went really well. Within the next couple of weeks, he had an offer of employment from them, which sped up our timeline with the church. We made a last minute trip up to Oregon again this past weekend (May 23rd), and on our drive back home, Ron Carpenter called and offered Nathanael the job, which he enthusiastically accepted! We felt even better about the situation after the second weekend there, and we were really hoping to get a chance to work with the group and be a part of their lives.
So on May 23rd, the trajectory of our lives changed forever. Especially for Ezekiel. He will never know Folsom as home, he will always consider Oregon as home, which is so strange for me to think of, since this has been home to me for 10 years now.
Through the providence and direction of God, Nathanael has landed 2 great jobs in the Portland area, and on July 8th, we will make the move to the area to begin our new adventure!
It will be with a very heavy heart that I will be leaving our family in Folsom. They have been with us through so much of our lives. For me, as a single girl at Folsom for so many years, they have supported me as I found Nathanael and got married, as newlyweds, and into our journey to start a family, which no one can deny has been a long and windy road. They've been with us as we began to make our way as a family of 3, and they grew to love Ezekiel right along with us, from the moment he was born. I will miss them all so much.
So now it's on to researching insurance, looking for places to live, canceling services, returning borrowed things, scheduling moving trucks, packing, and lots of other stuff. I can't say I'm dreading it...I see moving as an opportunity to get rid of lots of stuff that has been hiding in the corners of closets that we didn't know we don't need anymore.
I plan to make the most of every moment that I have remaining here in the town of Folsom, starting with this weekend. We are going to the ranch with the Hamiltons, Cains, Ricos, and Rembleskis for a good Memorial Day time. I'm really looking forward to it.
Ezekiel's corner of the world:
*For a couple of weeks, he's started doing this weird thing where he punches himself, either with 1 fist or 2. It's so funny to watch. It almost seems like it is soothing to him.
*We are officially done with swaddling, and have moved on to sleep sacks
*I'm working on transitioning to the big boy pacifiers. He's not taking to them too well.
*He wakes up at 7am almost exactly every single morning
*Just in the last couple of days, he's really started eating his rice cereal well. It's like he finally figured out how to swallow it, and that it is good. Yesterday was the first day he ate all of his little bowl! I have my book on Naturally Healthy First Foods for Baby, and will begin reading it this weekend.
*That kid sure does do great on road trips
I'm off to start packing for the weekend!
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