Next rollercoaster stop.....Vicksburg!

So the rollercoaster continues, but this time we like the direction it's going. Michael accepted the job in Vicksburg, Mississippi so we have switched gears from looking for a job to looking for a place to live and packing up all our belongings. We're driving out this weekend to find a place and then leaving our car and flying home. This way we don't have to drive separate cars or pull one of them with the moving truck.

For all of our smaller moves we've just rented a U-haul and gotten friends and family to come help us load and unload the truck. Michael is completely competent to drive the truck, but with this move being so much farther I've been looking into moving companies so that Michael doesn't have to drive the truck. It's pretty exciting to think about moving without having to load and unload all our big heavy furniture. We'll still be packing everything, but it'll be so much easier to just drive out and meet our stuff while someone else unloads it than to have to take it ourselves. All three estimates I've gotten are very reasonable, so we're encouraged.

I'm especially excited about this weekend. Mom and Dad are keeping Clark (so he doesn't have to be in the car so much and so that they can have some time with him before we move). Michael and I are going to be busy the weekend of our 5th anniversary in October, so we're doing a mini early anniversary trip. This Friday is the 6th anniversary of when we met, so we're substituting it for our wedding anniversary. We're driving to Ft Walton Beach and staying a night to just enjoy the beach and eachother's company. Then we'll drive the rest of the way to Vicksburg on Sunday. We haven't taken any trips just for fun anytime that I can remember, so I'm super excited to get some time alone. I haven't left Clark for more than a night before though, so five days is a long time. We're going to miss our little guy!

We're preparing to say our goodbyes to Jacksonville, Orlando and all our friends and family in both locations. We are so thankful for this job and God's provision for us, but the reality of leaving is starting to set in. This year we've been close enough to go to Orlando anytime we wanted. Thankfully Vicksburg is within driving distance and there are reasonable non-stop flights on Southwest, but it's not a weekend trip. We're realizing that we may never live in Florida again, which for this Florida girl is a strange thought.

We're also excited to get to Vicksburg, start building relationships and jump into youth ministry. It's almost surreal that this actually happening. We've prayed for so long and had so many near opportunities that it doesn't seem like this is actually happening. We praise God for his faithfulness to us over the last year (and our whole lives as well) and for this new opportunity. I'll try to blog when I can as we get settled. We're hoping for a 3 bedroom so we'll be set up for company. There are over a million visitors to the Battlefield Park every year, so come see us and we'll show you around.