Joy In The Journey

Good evening from cloudy, cold La Crete Alberta!! 

I wrote this blog on our way here, and I hope you enjoy it! So pretend with me that it is Wednesday, and all will feel well <3 font="" nbsp="">

Maria

Joy in the Journey

how about that? The title of my blog, says it all. Finding JOY in the journey.  BOY THAT”S TOUGH!! Easy to say, hard to DO!!  When all the circumstances seem overwhelming, and you can’t “lose” it…but you are sure about to!! 

In all my journeys, I don’t think one has ever been as nerve-wracking as this one has been. For those of you who don’t know what we are doing, here it is ;)

We are going to northern Alberta for the winter (now until March/April)  for the logging season. Mike is going to be driving log truck. it is a fabulous opportunity for us. Not everyone has the opportunity to make a seasonal move to change the course of your future.  Homeschooling, and a laptop server for my “day” job, and the flexibility of my Scentsy business allows our entire family to just pack up and make a move! This will be a financially enabling job, for us to pursue our future dreams and business plans.  We don’t know where we will end up, as we can move around during the whole winter if needed to go where we are needed.  So right now we know where we are starting off, and that’s La Crete, Alberta for the next two weeks, and then we go from there :)  So as we go I am sure you will find out more!! 

We knew we were going to be going, sounded like to Slave Lake at first. We were to call and find out where and where we will be staying towards the last week of our stay in MB. So we gave our notice in our home and began the journey of putting things into storage, bringing it to the MCC and also to the landfill.  Over 5 years since we cleared out all our belongings, keeping the very basics for going to Honduras. Since then, we have collected things!!! YIKES!! It feels so amazingly good to clean out and CLEAN HOUSE!! Our storage locker (a 10x10) contains all the things that we will need to live when we come back in Spring, and I don’t think anything else!! LOL Not one extra thing! Our car is packed to the gills and there is all our “we need this to live for the next seven months” stuff. Such as the Keurig…caramel extract (you know you are a THM’r when that’s an ESSENTIAL) lol and clothing, blankets, some pots, no dishes (ill buy those at the dollarama when i get there) we are living SIMPLE!! Its really complicated to decide what you are taking with you, what you just want to keep and what needs to be going to bless someone else with.  

Anyway, we gave up our house, and were moved out, and could not get a hold of our boss, and so we had no idea where/when we were going!! Talk about STRESSFUL!! No home, Mike is NOT working, have NO CLUE where to go….I tried the whole “put on the happy face” thing, and it was about to crack wide open.  Not knowing is so hard….At one point, my prayers were so specific as to what I would love to have in the winter months, and by the last few days, they were “God, please, let me know where we are going. The end” This was accompanied with bawling my eyes out. Faith….just have faith… UGH….HOW?? That was my question…God I trust you….can I just KNOW PLEASE???

I stopped going on facebook for the fear of answering questions that I had NO answer to, and the awful feeling of being reminded. So sorry if I ignored you. It was unpurposefully on purpose.  Its not something that I normally do, but when the best things is to not say anything at all….

I am so thankful for John and Cheryl who allowed us to stay with them and we didn’t need to unpack the car to live, and who allowed me to be real. You are a safe place for my heart, and I love you more than you will ever know. Thank you for a place to call home <3 ...="" font="">put my key on your keychain she says” I bawl like a baby.  Your kindness will never be in vain. UGH…my tears are overflowing again, just thinking about it!

I am also very thankful for all the offers to stay at homes, of people that I would never expect. Thank you so much. I am thankful to know that I would have never been without a “home” :) God’s richest blessings on you all.  

Finally, and I say finally because at 11 pm on the Monday night, before the Tuesday morning we were going to leave, we got a phone call back. We could come out and work right away, but Mike would have to do different job that he didn’t want to do until the mill was open again, and that will be about two weeks, and we can stay on a trailer on the yard :)  Last minute, but still this works for us.  So off we go. We left Tuesday morning and had a great day driving. it is now Wednesday as I am writing this and I will try to update you as often as possible :)  No promises….

I know this is kinda a random, all over the place blog post, but it’s what I got! LOL 

PS I found joy in the journey….as difficult as it was

-Kindness from others

-caring family who understood when I couldn’t spend all my time with them

-gracious people making amazing meals for us (Dave and Tina; Sarah and Cam; John and Cheryl; Jenn and Shannon; Tony and Joanna) 
-God’s unending grace when I am frustrated, and not understanding and just walking

-my wonderful kiddo who under all this pressure which is harder on him than it is me….who hugs me

-my fabulous husband who has the insane courage to do something so drastic to change our entire future to follow our God given dreams!! 

Thank you for reading <3 comment-3--="" nbsp="">