I would like to post a prayer request to my blog today. Our family has been in a transition period since early December as my husband Michael resigned from his employment and ended his contract at the end of December. This change in our lives was not anticipated but it was needed and so we simply had to trust that the Lord would make the path straight for our family. At first we did not know what direction we would move in but the Lord was ever faithful to open up doors for us to walk through. Michael was able to begin working for The Old Schoolhouse and he also was hired for a local non-profit social service organization here in our town. He is blessed to have a full-time salaried position with benefits working with disabled adults by assisting them to find and maintain suitable employment. In many ways this is a vocational ministry as he is able to help better the lives of disabled adults.

Our family has been very blessed to have Michael working at home for two years and so it has been somewhat difficult to adjust to having him away from home for long hours throughout the day. One of the new found blessings of him working outside of the home is that when the work day ends, he is able to come home and we can be a family again. Whenever Michael worked at home over the past two years, his job never seemed to end. With his Blackberry on his hip, his day seemed to consist of a constant barrage of phone calls and emails with many looming priorities each day that needed to be met. Even though he worked at home from his office, it was a constant struggle to maintain quality family time because it was very difficult to turn his job off when it was continually before him. I do miss him being away from home though because he was always nearby in his office and the girls and I could visit him during the day, we would have all of our meals together, and he was able to be more involved with the girl’s studies. I am deeply thankful though that the Lord made this provision for our family and this is a new chapter in our lives.

This weekend we are undergoing another major life transition as we are moving this Sunday. For 2 ½ years we have been very blessed to rent our friend’s beautiful home that sits on almost five acres of woods. They are listing the house on the market this spring and are currently preparing it for sale. We had anticipated staying here until the end of May or early June and so we were not quite prepared. I think this is the story of my life… I never feel prepared for big changes. I only began to pack yesterday! Our friend’s home is large and well beyond our means of living and so we are unable to buy the property. We are moving from this home which is a three level 4 BR, 3 BA with a full basement with 2 offices, a schoolroom, a family room, and a dinette area to a one level 2 BR, 1 BA ranch home. We prefer smaller homes and so this is a welcome change although I am going to miss our large schoolroom.  I will still have an office where I can work from home and it is a farm so we have a nice modern barn with pasture, fenced area for our dogs (Sarah our black lab and Casey our mutt), and a super large garden spot where we can finally plant our organic heirloom garden. We also have a modern root cellar which can serve as a storm shelter, which is an important thing to have in Indiana. Our daughters have named the farm we are moving to Heritage Farm. We plan to start out with the garden but hopefully over the next few months we will expand and have a horse, a goat or two, some laying hens, and whatever other critters we can figure out how to raise.

Our entire family is looking forward to moving out to the farm and slowing down our busy lives just a bit. Even though we are all going to be active from sunrise to sunset and it is going to be a lot of hard work, we know that we are entering a new season in our lives where we are going to leave the frantic pace behind. The last two years we have traveled around the US rather extensively with Michael’s past employer and the demands upon our family were intense. We are beginning to shift gears again and hopefully we will be able to focus on building up our little Heritage Farm homestead as we work together as a family. I have a small dream of sitting out in the yard at the end of the summer day with Michael and the girls sipping lemonade and watching the garden grow. That sounds like the good life to me!

So please pray for us if you do not mind that we will have a smooth and orderly transition as we move and become fully integrated into the new chapter of our lives. Thank you so much!

May the Lord bless you and keep you!

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Posted by JoyceFamily

Change is usually hard, even "good" change...and you sure have a lot going on!
May your days at Heritage Farm be blessed beyond measure!

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Posted by Chas

Praying for you and your dream right now!!
Blessings,
Chas

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Posted by Anonymous

I just wanted to encourage you to come share your moving and re-organizing challenges on the forums of OrganizedHome.com.
I've been frequenting it for about 3 years now (almost daily), tho' I'm a neat-freak, and love to organize. There is always something new to learn or share!

Thank you for sharing your life thru this blog. I have a lot of things in common with you, as many being factual as things I hope and dream of! http://ParadiseRanch.spaces.live.com/ is my 'blog'... no writing as of yet tho', just lots of pictures!
God's blessings in your transition!
-Illoura (Val on the website, for valleyviewer)

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Posted by HandsNHearts

What adventures for your family. We are joining you in prayers for a safe, peaceful and uneventful transition period! I'm very happy for your family!

Deanna

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