9 days ago, I left Texas in our old minivan that had previously broken down on two separate occasions on the way to Colorado, without a clue as to where we were going to live when we all arrived in the Pacific NW. We felt it was the right thing to do, and had searched for a new home for weeks, without success. For years we had been waiting for a reason to leave Houston, but it was the possible fulfillment of Earth Baby’s dream ballet career that finally provided the right impetus for the move.
5 days ago, I arrived in Portland, OR in that same minivan, and it never broke down. I stayed with new friends in Vancouver, WA that night.
4 days ago, I looked at am amazing house that we found listed on Craigslist and applied for it, and then Jessica and the girls arrived that evening. We stayed in our new friends’ friends’ house that night, also in Vancouver. They went out of town for a few days and gave us, strangers, the run of the place. We took care of their chickens, ducks, and 2 skittish cats.
3 days ago, Earth Baby had her first ballet class in the area.
1 day ago, Jessica saw our dream house for the first time and fell in love with it and the family that has owned it for a century or so. That night, we were generously offered two places to stay (by friends of our new friends). We picked one house because it was vacant and we were looking forward to having some time away as a family, but there happened to be a plumbing issue with the one toilet of the house that made it impossible for us to stay there. So we drove an hour to option B, a wonderful couple and their 6 month old baby. They have invited us to stay for as long as we need to.
Today, I played for my first ballet class at Earth Baby’s ballet school, we all went out to buy some second hand cold weather clothes, and we found out tonight that our dream house is ours, as of this coming Tuesday!
Tomorrow, we are planning on braving rainy conditions to have some quality family time at a local Renaissance Festival, where kids 12 and under happen to be free this weekend.
Through the stress of getting to the area, the challenges of living with people, and/or in other people’s homes, figuring out meals, and not knowing where we were going to live, all of our needs have been met. We had people encouraging us, rooting for us, networking for us, feeding us, housing us, and praying for us. It’s hard to believe that all this has come together in support of our family. And yet, to me, it feels like a perfect example of faith. The loving people that have come to our aid strike me as a demonstration of the loving God we serve. Not one of these God-sends has complained or belittled us for moving without a plan, for following our heart and inconveniencing them, or freeloading. The only critique we have received has been from one distant person, and from our own feelings of doubt, asking us this simple question:
“Are you sure this is crazy faith, or are you just crazy stupid?”
What do you think?
~ Jeremy
Faith always. My hubs is an engineer so we end up laid off and moving every two/three years we do the same thing pray, pick a place and look for a job in that area. Life is an adventure!
I love your crazy faith. I have a little of that myself. π What a gift! What blessings! God is good!
you are crazy-living, which we all do! life happens (ie: struggle, disappointment, challenges) even when we stay in our same safe town and do the same life things we’ve done for years. good for you for exploring and figuring it out. your girls are gleaning so many life skills and attitudes based on this adventure just by watching how it all rolls out. learning to take moderate risks, pursue dreams, embrace help, offer thanks- as a teacher I can say those are skills no curriculum could ever teach. keep us posted!
We did the same, sort of. We left NC where my husband had been unemployed for 10 months. He had a job at a summer camp in NH so we packed up our 5 person family in one little car, drove up for the camp knowing we would be trying to find a job and place to live for after camp. He did find a good job, but we ended up staying with people for a few months (Terrible experience for us) and finally found a place we could afford and moved in Dec 16th. We have been here going on 3 years now π
You living your faith. You are more brave than I, and you are richer for it. You will always have stories to tell and things to contribute to society, so you’ll never be freeloaders. I am so very envious of you, your chutzpah, and your incredible joie de vivre, it’s not even funny! Crazy Faith, for sure.
Jeremy & Jessica: As we have become friends the past months I LOVE your crazy faith. I mean you guys really are crazy, but in a good way. I LOVE that you took a step of faith and literally left everything in Houston to arrive in Portland with nothing. The world would say you are crazy stupid and I would say they are missing out on the craziness of following the journey and the plans He has for us. So many feel trapped and never just get in the van and go. Our family in 2010 left the pastorate (after 15 years) and moved to NC from MI with no jobs, no house and many unknowns. We moved in with my wife’s sister while I was still raising support for my role in my new job. 2 months later school was about to start and Joyce, my wife, got a job the same day she would have gone back to her job after the summer break in MI. She never missed a day. It was a great job at a university. This also meant we could get a house now. We had been looking at a specific side of town and needed to get into that school district before the weekend ended. That same weekend the realtor dropped the house price of a dream home that we loved by $20,000 and we put in an offer that same day. PTL we got the house and the girls started at their new schools in a great district the following week. 3 weeks later we moved into our new home, with our new jobs, the girls new school, and we started our new life. I was told many times, even by good friends and family, that we were crazy. And in some ways we were but we knew in our hearts it was the right thing to do. Were there times when we questioned our move? Humanly speaking of course but we always had that inner peace that it was going to work out. My life verse is Jeremiah 29:11 Thanks again for sharing your story and life with all of us. Love you guys. I think we should all live CRAZY!!!!!!
Crazy faith! We just took a similar jump, also to Portland. My husband was offered an amazing job, and we up and moved with no house to move to. We hopped around different hotels with 3 kids in tow until we found the perfect house. It’s been a wild ride, but so worth it. Congrats on your crazy new adventure.