The Vagabond Life

This blog post was originally written on a napkin while I sat in a McDonald's PlayPlace somewhere along I-81 North in Pennsylvania. I'm a vagabond these days. Having just left one friend's house and off to another, never knowing where the highway may take me and the kiddos next.

In the fall we felt like the time had come to put our house on the market. It was a decision we had been contemplating for most of the year but felt like God kept saying, "Wait." I had told my friends that I thought my house must be for a specific buyer and when it went up, it would be gone in a flash. And, boy, was I right. We had an asking price offer on the house within five days of it hitting the market (if you know the DC market, you can just get down on your knees right now and worship the Lord of All Creation for that) and the buyers wanted to close in three weeks. Oh my goodness. With the help of A TON of friends (we sure do love you) and a gracious God (we sure do love You too), we were able to pack up everything quickly and be on our way out by the end of November. Amazing!

We had every intention of going to Las Vegas to help our friends with a new church that they are planting near the Las Vegas strip. Every intention. So the kids and I headed to PA to stay with my family while Kevin remained in VA to work and try to hunt for a job in Vegas in his free time. The plan was to leave PA after the holidays and head west. My, how plans change.

November turned into December turned into January turned into February and still no job. We were bummed. We were wondering what God was up to. And we couldn't help but feel a little abandoned. What on earth was all of this for, God? We sell our house, we risk everything, we go into this crazy, temporary living situation? For what? Nothing? We were so confused.

I was talking to my friend Jen (the one who we were planning on joining in Vegas) about my frustration and she challenged me with this: "When I pray about your situation, I come up with two things. 1) If moving to Vegas is your calling, you are not embracing your calling, and, 2) If God is calling you to Vegas, you are not exhibiting the faith required to get yourself here. Wow. Talk about a whack upside the head. But talk about truth spoken gently and lovingly. It seemed that everything boiled down to that calling. Were we convinced that we were called to Vegas?

As Kevin and I discussed that question at length, we realized that we were willing and ready to go to Vegas but didn't have an overwhelming sense of God asking us to take a huge leap of faith and move there with no job and no house and just see what happens. Crazily enough, if we were sensing Him asking us to do that, we would. But, in fact, we were sensing that He was asking us to do just the opposite and stay put. Every fleece we laid out, every prayer we prayed seemed to lead back to Richmond. It was as if he wanted us to hang out in Richmond, buy a house closer to Kevin's job (which he LOVES but had been commuting an hour plus to from our last house), and let Him continue to unfold our story from there. In some ways, staying in Virginia was a much harder and humbling decision to accept. But we accepted it.

So, as of last week, we are now VA homeowners again. The kids and I have been on the road since November 30th and are getting excited about having a permanent home once again. We spent the first 2.5 months in PA staying with my parents and then headed off on a grand tour of the eastern seaboard (thank you BruMar, Gettigs, PCTC, Shores, Guilberts, Saufleys, Mim, and Uncle Blake for being so generous and hospitable to us!) over these last four (!) months. Right now we are in Florida staying with Blake and remodeling his home here while Kevin does major demolition and remodeling at our new home. When the worst of it is over (about another week or so), we will return. We can hardly wait to begin this new chapter and settle into what God is calling us to in Richmond.