I’m still processing all of the change that has occurred in my life in the past week. The last time I sat down to write I was in my apartment in Southern California, tonight I sit in a bedroom in my mom’s house in Washington. My worldly goods are in boxes, we have no idea what the next week will bring about, and it’s all a little bit overwhelming.

This will be random, sporadic and scattered…you’ve been warned.

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Josh and I have moved a lot in our 10 years of marriage. Never in any of our moves have we experienced the outpouring of love, assistance and generosity that we had shown to us by our friends last week. Without those people, we would never have been able to accomplish all we did. God truly blessed us through our community of friends and our church. Walls were wiped down, holes were filled, boxes were carried, children were watched, toilets were cleaned and food was bought! I am immensely thankful for everyone who gave of their time, strength and resources to assist us…and on a holiday, too!!

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It took us two days, and a total of 25 hours driving to get our two cars, two U-Haul trailers, and four children to Washington. We left Southern California Wednesday morning, and had to stop an hour into our drive to re-balance my trailer. Never having driven a trailer before, I was unaware that the violent fish-tailing was a sign something was wrong. It wasn’t until after we’d unloaded and reloaded the trailer that we realized we didn’t pray before starting out that morning.

Who knows if that hour of delay could have been avoided by a few minutes of prayer.

Apparently we didn’t learn our lesson the first time, because on day two we got stuck for over an hour in a traffic jam that began five miles from our hotel. Thursday was all around difficult. The kids had already spent one whole day in the car, and they weren’t too chipper about doing it again. Every hour and a half found us stopping for one reason or another: gas, coffee, potty, food, running laps around a truck stop. We drove for 14 hours that second day; sad when you consider that once Josh & I did the entire trip in 17 hours.

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Day Two was difficult time-wise, but it also provided some of my favorite landscapes! Crossing the bridge over Lake Shasta always freaks me out, because I want to look at the lake and I’m terrified I’ll drive our car right off through not paying attention. Still, the red dirt, the sparkling water and the steep hills always take my breath away.

Driving through the Siskiyous, I opened my windows to enjoy the cool breeze after the heat of Central California. The scent of campfires and cedar, combined with the crisp air and blue/white mountain peaks made me dizzy. All I could do was sit in wonder and awe at the glory of God’s creation.

Another awe-inspiring vista is the rolling hills found between Weed, CA and Yreka, CA. Coming down out of the mountains you find a ruler straight road that looks out onto waves of hills dotted with farms. Every time we drive through there Josh and I talk about living in a place like that someday. It’s amazing!

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Josh and I not only split up our possessions between the two trailers, we split up our kids too. I had Silas and Elijah for the entire trip. I think I got the better end of the deal; Silas was super quiet and slept a lot, and Eli played his Nintendo DS almost the entire time. This gave me a lot of time for thinking:

• About how driving a trailer forces you to be content with going slower than others, and that sometimes I feel like that’s how I need to be in my life. God talked to me a lot about contentment.
• About how important it is to capture moments, images, scents and sounds in our heart and mind, and not just on video or still. God talked to me a lot about appreciation.
• About truly experiencing moments for what they are, and not over-analyzing things or rushing on to the next stage. God talked to me a lot about being present.

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This week we are intentionally being very quiet. Taking time to be still, and know that God is God. Helping our children adjust to their new surroundings and reality. Unpacking our boxes, hearts and minds. We don’t need to rush, there’s time for all.

We will abide, trust and obey.

Thank you to everyone who prayed for us last week as we packed and traveled. Your prayers, tweets, comments, texts and emails were all so encouraging! I may not post as frequently this week; we’re still in transition.