God has gone before us!

         We have been in Wake Forest, NC for a week now.  God has been showing Himself to us in so many ways!  The move was very smooth.  Thanks to all the youth from MHBC that helped us load the moving truck in Danville and those that came with us for the trip to Wake Forest, we loaded and unloaded in record time!

        When we arrived in town we had to go to the housing office to sign our housing contract and pick up our keys.  The Director of Housing asked us if we had a pet.  We explained that we did have a cat, but we just gave her up 2 days earlier because we were not allowed to bring her.  He told us that just 2 weeks earlier he made the decision to make our apartment building "pet-friendly", meaning we were allowed to bring the cat.  This was a huge answer to prayer for us, especially for our 12 year-old daughter, Emma.  Emma has prayed daily for a good home for the cat for the past several months.  We knew we would not be able to bring her with us, but Emma has been especially attached to her.  For the sake of God's call on our family, Emma knew she would have to give up her pet.  She did give her up.  We gave her to my in-laws just 2 days before the move.  Well God honored Emma's prayers.  What a great surprise it was to us to find out that we were actually able to keep her!  What a wonderful lesson for Emma on the power of prayer!  So that was our first big "God-moment" in Wake Forest.

        As we were moving into our apartment, our upstairs neighbor, Sal, helped us out.  After talking with Sal we found out that he and his wife, Jess, have 4 children under the age of 6.   They have a girl and 3 boys.  One of their boys, Isaiah, is very much like our Adam as far as being on the mild end of the ASD spectrum.  Our families connected immediately.  We have already gotten together several times.  Our kids have played together.  God placed our families in close proximity to one another.  He gave us new friends right off the bat.  He even went so far as to give us friends that understand Adam's issues and understand what we go through as parents dealing with those issues.  Adam and Isaiah have played together and seem to get along beautifully.  God not only cares about and takes care of the "grown-ups", but He also takes care of the precious children as well!

      Sunday morning rolled around and it was time to go to church.  We didn't know where we would attend church in our new town.  For about a week or so prior to that, God had been whispering in my ear the name of a local church, North Wake Baptist Church.  I just heard it in my mind on several occasions.  You know how God whispers to us, right?  Anyway..."North Wake....North Wake" just kept popping in there.  So, guess where we went to church Sunday morning....North Wake.  As soon as we got there we knew it was different than what we were accustomed to.  Don't get me wrong.  We LOVE our home church in Danville, but this was definitely different.  The dress was very casual.  We walked into the lobby and saw the "coffee bar" and all the people milling about.  It was such a different environment, but already our oldest daughter, Kayla, had a huge grin on her face.  Then we walked into the sanctuary.  There were no pews, but rows of cushy chairs.  The stage was set up for a full praise band, including drums in a glass cage.  The grin on Kayla's face got even bigger.  She said, "I love this church!"  The service was great...full of great worship, scripture reading, and strong Biblical teaching.  I was in tears through most of it...just in awe of God and His provisions for us.  It was our prayer that we would find a church that our girls could really get plugged-in to.  We were especially concerned for Kayla.  She is a brand new Christian (as of June 23, 2012) and she was very involved in her youth group in our home church.  We want her to stay plugged-in and continue in her growth with the Lord.  To see how thrilled she was in this new church on our first Sunday away from our home church was just further confirmation that God had that in place for her.  Sunday night during our family prayer time Kayla prayed that we would go back to that church and get involved there.  That just made my "mommy heart" spill over with joy!  To hear that she was excited about something new and different here in Wake Forest was another answer to prayer.

       Then Monday came and it was time to get the kids registered for school.  Well I have taught in 3 different public school systems over the last 16 years and I have never seen anything like Wake County Schools.  There are no base schools.  You don't just go to the school where you live.  You are assigned to a school based on seat-availability and "proximity" to your home.  Many of the schools here are year-round also.  The year-round school year started about a month ago, so if any of the kids got assigned to a year-round school, they would be starting the school year quite late.  I also heard about people being assigned to schools that were 10 miles or more away from their home.  Well, needless to say, I didn't want year-round schools, nor did I want schools so far away from home.  So we went to the "student assignment office", which was 45 minutes away from our home, and sat there for 4 HOURS in a room with over 100 other people.  When we finally got called in for our turn I was pretty anxious about what they would tell us.  Well, once again, God went before us!   All 3 kids got traditional year schools that don't start until August 27th, and all of their schools are very close to our home.  I couldn't have asked for anything better.  The school that Adam was assigned to is a new school only a mile away from us.  Because it is so new, it is very small.  His 3rd grade class only has 13 students enrolled currently.  That is perfect for him and his "special needs".  Both of the girls got the schools that they wanted too.

      As I am writing all of this it has just dawned on me that God has really shown up and gone before us on behalf of our kids.  We made this move because Darrin and I were called into full time ministry and were called to start that journey by going to seminary.  But God didn't just call Darrin and me to this, He called our family.  He loves our children more than we do (which is really unimaginable, but true), and He has prepared the way for them as well.  How cool is that? And I think about how their faith will grow because of all of these things that He is doing for them.  What an AWESOME God we serve! 

      Darrin and I get to register for our classes next week.  We don't have any idea what classes we will be taking for our 1st semester or what our schedules will look like.  We start classes on August 20th.  Darrin is also working on getting a part time job very soon. 

     God has proven many times over this week that He truly has gone before us on this journey.  We know He will continue to prove that to us.  We can't wait to see what He does next!