Big Changes

We have some big changes coming up for our family.  Over a year ago Dan came across and heard about a church in Moorhead, MN that was going to be needing a senior pastor.  He had some really neat moments where he actually felt this push from God that this was something he needed to look further into.  We didn't know the why, but we knew if it turned out or didn't that for some reason he was supposed to travel down this path.  Fast forward to right after Christmas and Dan was preparing his paperwork.  It was hard to put it in because we are happy here and things are going well at the church.  I love my job and we have wonderful daycare.  I wasn't super invested in it or kind of removed myself a bit, but remained supportive.  I guess you could just say that we were just "open".  I can't think of another word to describe it. 

Dan got a Skype interview and he really clicked with all of the people on the call committee.  We still remained hopeful yet calm and content with whatever happened.  When he got called for a second interview is when things started feeling real.  I'll spare you all of the long details, but we traveled as a family to N.D. and stayed in Jamestown and Fargo while he went through the interviews.  Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd called Dan on April, 16th and offered him this role as senior pastor.  He is very humbled, nervous and excited.  You can also say that for me as well. 

Since then things have been a blur, but not overly stressful.  Things so far have just fallen into place.  I got a job, we sold our house by owner, and now just this morning officially got a house as well. God is so good and amazing.  He made all of these things gently fall into place one by one.  We told our current congregation a few weeks ago and then shared the news with Svea.  Overall she is doing well with it.  She says she doesn't want to say goodbye to her friends and I'm sure we'll have many more days now and after we've moved of some tears.  We keep inviting her to talk about it and share those feelings whatever they are so that when she is sad or mad she feels like she can talk about it. We also bought a cute book about a cat who has to move to a new town and that's really helped.  Some thoughts from Svea on this move.....

 -our new house will have a lot of windows

-concern for Meeko as to how is he going to get there without a seatbelt

-I don't want to say good-bye to my friends/then wanted to be held and cuddled on the couch (break my heart:(

-But, we will make new friends

-We can walk to Gaga's house now:)

Kieran seems to not understand, but we'll eventually talk more about it especially when he is immersed in boxes and we can explain to him what is going on.  Dan's last Sunday at PLC is June 29th and his last day of work is July 3rd.  We close on our Paynesville house July 16th and close on our Moorhead house on July 18th.  We are incredibly thankful that we'll have a home to move right into!  Dan will have a little over two weeks off and then he'll start at Good Shepherd on July 22nd.  His installation will be in August sometime.  
We've been praying for our current congregation (I cried like a baby when Dan announced that we were leaving/they've been like family to us), and for our future congregation and how we'll blend with them, for a smooth transition, for our families as this brings change (positives and negatives), and finally that we remember to let God lead our path.  We can very much feel God's hand on our backs leading us to Moorhead. I pray that he reveals to us early on that yes, this is where we are supposed to be.  So far we really feel it:)