the change: how it all began {part one}

Welcome to our blog! We love all of you, our dear friends and family, so much and are so excited to share with you what God is doing in our life. Before we get to what we're doing now though, let's go back to where this all started--I mean, how on earth did we get to Oregon??

For much of our 5 years being married, Danny and I have traveled a very smooth road. Of course there were trials and bumps along the way, but overall it was smooth and comfortable. He had a job installing appliances that he enjoyed (it came with a company van & benefits, too!), plus we always had a reliable paycheck coming so our needs were always met. We had a nice, cozy house that he enjoyed remodeling and I enjoyed raising our family in, which happened to reside in a great town near our friends and family. Like I said, very comfortable. And we were both so grateful for it.


After being at our house in Oberlin for four years, we decided the time was right to sell it. We had bought the house originally with the intention to flip it. It was on the market for only a few months before it sold and we then moved into my brother-in-law's house in Wellington. We planned on only living there for a few months until we could buy another great home, hopefully near Oberlin again. We would keep living our nice, comfortable life. Great plan, right?

Well, things don't always go as planned.


We were looking at houses constantly. We put in multiple offers for different houses in the area, many of which we were so sure we could easily get. Yet over and over again, we were turned down. It was getting a little disheartening. I mean, you get excited about a house, even start to see yourself living there, making plans, and then in one phone call *poof* its gone. And it happened a lot.

In the middle of all this, Danny's job was changing. His company decided that they were going to subcontract the appliance installation department, which meant Danny had to do something else. The only place they had for him was in the warehouse--driving a fork lift, loading/unloading delivery trucks, doing odd jobs around the building, and just general standing-around-looking-for-something-anything-to-do. Don't get me wrong--he was beyond thankful to have a steady job with a wonderful boss. It just was nowhere near his dream job. You see, if you know my husband, you know that he does not do well being bored :-) And his job became very boring.

It was during this time that Danny started thinking a lot about our life: What does God have for us? Where does He want us to live? What does He want us to do? Is Danny really supposed to just work in this warehouse his whole life? Just buy another cozy house and work at a job that he doesn't love?



Danny and I have always been wondering what God wanted our life work to be. Yet when things were going so smooth, we had became very comfortable with our life to where we started not to think of the big purpose as much. However, with our house search leading nowhere and Danny's job transitioning, we both knew that change was coming. We could feel it.

And boy, did it come fast.



Stay tuned for part two...

**disclaimer: I hope no one gets the impression that having a cozy house and steady job are bad--they are very much a blessing! Danny and I were (and are) so very, very thankful for the way God provided for us. However, we discovered that we were beginning to live for the "American Dream" instead of following God. Its really all about where your heart is--is it attached to "things" or to Jesus?**