We are moving to Mississippi. M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I. -I actually learned to spell Mississippi long before I could spell Arkansas growing up. I blame it on the rhymes "crooked letter, crooked letter, i...."
Anyways. I honestly NEVER thought I would write those words. Dont get me wrong- I know Im about to find out just how awesome of a state Mississippi actually is... I just never thought about living there. It was always just one those states we had to pass through to get to the beach...like Alabama. (and whos to say we wont ever live there one day at this point?!- never thought about that either...) But after marrying a man from Louisiana- I figured if we were headed anywhere...it was there at some point....and we still could one day...but okay, let me stop here. Im getting ahead of myself.
If y'all cant tell, Im just needing some place to hash out all my thoughts. I figure no one wants to hear me talk about moving to Mississippi ALL. THE. TIME. ( and let me tell you- I think about it that often.) Its always there, in the back of my mind. Always on the brain. I kid you not. But a girl needs a little grace on that one....its a big life change we are about to make- with
I've lived in LR MY WHOLE LIFE. I was even that girl that came home EVERY SINGLE WEEKEND in college. Literally, every weekend. I missed home. I wasnt cut out for the dorm life. Yuck. Plus the party scene wasnt for me- never has been. So there was no reason to stay. Sure, I had friends, but none beat my closest friends from high school (none still do- can I get an Amen?! Love yall!!- which also makes this move all the harder...) I also tried the sorority thing for awhile...turns out its pretty similar to the party scene....and y'all, I am just not that girl.
Moving on....(pun intended).... where was I? Oh yes. L R= my life. Funny thing is, I've always wanted to "get out" of LR. And here I was the one that never seemed to leave. Who always kept coming back. My friends- who never wanted to leave LR, ALL LEFT (at one point or another) and moved out of state....some to places that actually get more snow than us....and I LOVE SNOW...and they didnt. why was life so unfair?! ;) Now I see that "God works everything for the good of His people and for those called by Him to do good works for Him" (Romans 8 something?!) I was supposed to be here the whole time. MY MAN was here. I just didnt know it. He was in his residency at the hospital that my mom has worked at my whole life. Who knew?! We met at church. haha.
When we got married we knew that at some point we would move away because my man had just finished residency and while he was interested in staying at the same hospital for awhile after we got married-he knew that at some point he would want to try practicing medicine somewhere else for awhile- which was fine with me. I was marrying THE MAN OF MY DREAMS. (Seriously. Only God could of written our love story!) He had worked for years and years to fulfill his dream and finally was done with school. Its only right that he practice medicine where he wants to! After all that- you gotta do what you love and love what you do!
We got married a year after I graduated from college, you do the age gap math. He HATES when I point it out. ;* But I wasnt attached to a career - and in fact I became a stay at home wife our first year of marriage. He is too nice to me. The point though is that- I didnt have any reason to stay in Little Rock myself. Inscribed in his wedding ring is Ruth (something) " where you go, I will go and where you stay, I will stay. Your God will be my God and your people, my people." Again, the point was/is, I was going with him wherever, whenever....I only had one request....once we decided to stay in LR for the time being....(and seeing as we had an age gap and we were ready for babies)....Could we wait to move AFTER we were done having babies?? Seems easy enough. But God says "In his heart a man plans his course, but HE determines his steps" Proverbs 16 something (this verse was actually written on my man's groom cake HA!)
***IF YOU HAVENT PICKED UP ON THIS....WE LOVE JESUS. He died for my sins- for all my mess ups, and has given me the ULTIMATE do-over. Complete forgiveness and forever spent with Him in Heaven! Thankyou Jesus for saving me from myself and setting me on Your path of righteousness! AMEN.
So we went on with our merry/marry little life. Got a dog. (ugh, my bad). Had our precious 1st son! Which again, God had us RIGHT where He wanted us. His birth was BAD. VERRY VERY BAD. But praise the LORD for healing him and having him born at hospital that had him intubated almost immediately. I mean. Praise JESUS. (And now he is 100% healthy with absolutely no complications and is doing perfect!-and by perfect I mean in the terrible twos, yes. he is QUITE perfect :) ) and so we settled into life with our first born. But you see, we're gluttons for punishment. We want our kids "close together" sooooo a month after our boy turned one we found out- we were pregnant again! YAY! surprise baby! (our first was quite calculated haha). And here we are. As I type this, our sweet second son is asleep in my lap. He is 1 month old yall and cute as can be!
So, as it stands. we will be moving to Missisissippi this Summer with a two year old and a 6 month old. Both boys. We like to make life interesting.
But again let me back it up to October. We really started feeling like it was time for a change with my man's current position at the hospital. The hours were too much- and his time was divided between medicine and education...which isnt quite what he set out wanting to do...and was finding that medical education wasnt quite what he still wanted to do anymore. Plus with now two babies (one on the way at that time) he wasnt getting to see/be with his family much at all. He wanted to see us more, and I needed to see him more. So we we began to pray. HARD. For God to lead my man in the next step with his job. Stay? Go? Can he stay and change up his job? If we go - go where?! Can we be close? How close is close? Should we just pack up and move across the country? I mean if you're going to go- go big, right?! Ha. dont answer that. Point is: we were open to WHATEVER God wanted, WHEREVER He wanted (from my past experience, even though it was hard to say to God- whatever You want, whatever You think is best- even if it means packing us up from everything I've ever known---God's way is ALWAYS better than mine. Even if I dont understand His way at the time).... but okay, I'll be honest- there were a few job opportunities that I put my
And it was actually during one of those times/ moments that this job in Mississippi came up and in my prayer time...I said "Lord, if it's your will, I would rather go to Mississippi over *****- but please not ***** anywhere but there!!!"..... and felt God say, even then, in that moment- after I had JUST learned about this opportunity in Mississippi , and didnt know hardly ANYTHING about it....I felt Him say, "you'll be heading to Mississippi. This is the one I picked." And I thought "...hmmm, better keep this to myself because what if we go down there and I hate it?! I cant take back something I said I heard from God...so mums the word for now. Lord if you want us there- please show me, no, really CONVINCE me that we are supposed to be there. Make it blatant to me Lord!" Mississippi hadnt even been on our radar! But it sure was better than ****. And the next thing I knew? We were headed for an interview there...literally, the next week. WHAT?! Side note: We did have our preferences at the beginning of his job search, as to where we would like to be, etc etc. However, God kept closing those doors. What I thought would be the easiest, well we'll just go here and do this. Kept turning up empty. We asked God to open and shut doors and He did. We werent meant to stay here or go there. All along, we were meant to head to Mississippi.
Often I say that God rarely works in haste....as I have seen in my experience. He is not on our time, we are on HIS. But this? This was pretty hasty. I felt like I was watching everything happen from the sidelines...like oooh what game plan will God do next?! Lets watch and find out! I mean we had barely told our families / friends much of what was going on...we didnt want to be swayed by anyone...which no doubt we would- loved ones have that affect on you! :) But needless to say, we went down there, and literally, we were blown away. We actually didnt get to talk to each other like the whole day, even though we were side by side all day long. I remember getting in the car that night to head back home and just sitting in the silence (we had done ALOT of talking with people that day...just not with each other). I know that both of our heads were just swimming. Mine was mush. And we just began hashing out everything about the place, and I mean picking it apart- the nitty gritty. And somehow it kept passing each "test". Every answer was basically, the right answer. We decided nothing that night- and wanted to sleep on things, give it a few days. I felt like Mary- pondering everything in my heart that night.
The next morning I woke up and the thing I reflected on the most from going over there? The people. They felt like a little family. Really. Truly. I kind of missed talking to everyone. Was that weird? I just met them. But its like I didnt want our conversations to end! I wanted to know more! I wanted to know them more! I thought- this is crazy. I think my man was sold from the time we got in the car that night, but for me, it came the next morning, when I woke up and wanted to go back.
And here we are. Sweet 2nd baby born at the end of that month (about a whole month early, whew, but he is HEALTHY- Praise Jesus!) and the contract is signed. Our next steps? Buying a house there and selling this one....with two babies. Why is it that everything is so complex with babies?! Did I mention that we want more than two? Oh yes. we are not done. however that looks...Lord willing, there will be more. So that request I made of my man? Again, " a man can plan his way... but it is the who Lord determines his steps."--and I'm okay with that. :)
*So I started this blog.... why again? Because I cant get Mississippi off my mind. Plus, I work through things so much better if I can write my crazy scattered thoughts all out. So this is my outlet.
Rest assured no other posts will be this long. Aint nobody got time for that. Especially not me- with two babies. (there I go again). I do plan to post again a time or two before we actually move though, just because I know I'll have more going on in my head between now and then- i mean surely I will...the move is like 5 months away haha. no promises though. I have always been a frustrating blogger because I dont blog until I really feel like I have something I need to say. Apparently though, I feel like I have alot I need to say right now- and I need to say it all or I'll burst. So do forgive me if I spew a few words here and there. It happens.
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