Answered Prayer can be Bittersweet.

Last Saturday some of my Branson friends threw a lovely shower.  I believe Adria gets the credit for going with the "About to Pop" theme.  For food they served cake pops (key lime or chocolate, YUM!), jalapeno poppers, popcorn (kettle corn, butter, caramel, and cheese), and pink and orange soda pop.  For party favors there were ring pops, pop rocks, and blow pops.  Everything was terrific, especially the hosts and guests.  There was a point during the shower where everyone went around the room and spoke words of encouragement to me and Justin telling us why we are going to be good parents.  I will always treasure that moment and those kind words, especially when I'm feeling especially defeated.  Another special part of the shower is that every guest filled out a "Dear Via" card.  It was a fill in the blank situation with things like, "I hope you never fear, I hope you love, I hope you inherit, etc."  I can't wait for Via to read these cards someday and know how loved she was before she even entered the world.  Lastly, I can't leave out the game. Adria had put little tiny baby dolls into ice cubes, and she put an ice cube in each of our cold beverages. We weren't allowed to touch the ice cube, but as soon as the little baby was released from the ice you had to shout, "My water popped!" The first person whose water popped was declared the winner. I have to admit, those baby ice cubes were pretty creepy.

Beautiful Adria demonstrating her gift, a moby wrap!  Can't wait to use this.

 

 Adria and Aaron's beautiful baby girl, Ami!  What a lovey!

 

 Don't get too creeped out by the baby doll floating in Chelsea's water. 

 

 "Pajama Time" performed by Janae Bass.

 

Pink and orange soda pop.

 

 The beautiful spread.  I don't have a close up of the dishes, but they were beautiful!

 

Right before we left for our Babymoon vacation I interviewed for yet another job in Minneapolis.  This time I knew exactly when/if I would find out if I got it.  That date was September 21.  I started to feel pretty cruddy this week with a nice little head cold, and I certainly didn't sleep well at all on Thursday night.  In most cases I would have taken a sick day on Friday, but not this week.  I had to go in and refresh my email every 5 seconds to see if I got a job offer.  At about 11:30 a.m. the offer letter came.  Wowweeee!  I definitely started crying at my desk, because this job offer is a long anticipated answer to prayer.  We are moving to Minnesota.  It's so hard to believe.  After calling Branson home for over four years, it really is hard to leave.  We have incredible friends here.  Really, truly, lovely people.  If you don't believe me, check out the pictures and stories above.  At the same time, this is the third time I've interviewed for a position in Minneapolis over the past ten months, so it is something we have been praying about and wanting for quite some time.

 

Timing is a tricky thing, but I'm trusting the Lord for His perfect timing.  We have to be moved to Minnesota by December 1, but before then we need to have a baby.  Yikes!  We also need to find a place to live.  Having a new baby, starting a new job, and moving 700 miles in the course of a few weeks sounds absolutely crazy to me, but I'm excited to see how God directs the timeline and may He alone be glorified in all of this.  On Friday, before I got the offer letter Justin sent me a text that read, "No matter where we are, you're my home and we will glorify Jesus together as a little family."  I couldn't agree more.  This life is about loving God and loving others, and we can do that anywhere.  We will keep doing that in Branson until we move, and we will do that in Minnesota until God leads us somewhere else.

 

Stay tuned for details on the nursery.  That's my project this week.  Four weeks and four days until the due date!