God at work…

As I sit here and type this blog post, I am looking at a list of events I need to blog about. SO much has happened in the last few weeks that I just don’t want our sweet family to forget. Here’s to praying that I get some time to myself in these next few days so I can take a moment to capture all those sweet memories on our blog.

In November, David and I found out that we would be relocating to Birmingham, Al for his fellowship program. We have spent many nights, mornings, and afternoons praying about the plans God has for us in Birmingham. We prayed for a home, friends, the specific neighborhood God would have for us to live, a church home, taking Premier to a new city, etc. God has been at work in all of those things and it is SO evident!

The last weekend in April we dropped our sweet girls off with my mom (you saw those Steak n Shake pictures!!). We then made the 6.5 hour drive (not too bad, btw!) from Gainesville to Birmingham. We arrived in the mid afternoon on Friday and spent some time driving around the city. Friday evening we had dinner at Flip Burger with a few of the current fellows Dave will be working with. Amazing food, I must say!! Best burger I have EVER tasted! The fellows were super sweet. I really enjoyed getting to know Ari and David who have two little girls as well. We had such a great conversation about our move and their passion for mission work, which is a huge passion of ours as well.

Saturday morning we met up with, Boyd, the Realtor that Dave had been talking to for the past few weeks. He had 5 houses lined up for us to see. When we got into the car with him he said that he just happened to check MLS that morning and found one more house we could see. He said he hadn’t seen it yet, but if we were interested, he’d take us. We said sure! So, we went from house to house and really liked almost all of them. Then, we arrived to that last house. The one that had just popped up on MLS THAT morning. We walked into the front door and I just had this overwhelming feeling of being home. I literally stopped in the foyer upon walking over the threshold of the front door and said, “This is it. I don’t even need to see the rest of the house. This is it.” David laughed and said he agreed with me! We walked through each room of the house and just knew it was the house for us. We absolutely adore it!!! Oh, and the street address could not be more fitting .. Sunshine Drive!

 

God was at work in getting us to this house. I have no doubts. It randomly comes up on MLS THAT morning. No one had even looked at it yet. It is absolutely PERFECT for our family!! It’s a 3 bedroom, 2 bath. Has 2 living spaces, dining room, kitchen, office/school space, 2-car garage, covered back porch, and backyard! Amazing!!

Our Realtor was so wonderful in this house hunt and he even took us to lunch after we were done looking at houses. We went to this quaint little Mexican restaurant close to our new house. I had the best Fish Tacos!!

Celebrating our new home!!

Saturday night we went to dinner with some new friends. Andrea and Britt. Funny thing was that Andrea actually went to UF and we spent some time with her our junior year of college. She is friends with David’s cousin Kalin. What a small world! She called me the Tuesday before we headed up to Birmingham and we set up a dinner date. God truly at work!

Sunday morning we headed to Church of the Highlands with our friend Val. We also know Val from college at UF. We were so excited when we found out she was living in Birmingham. … Church of the Highlands was such an awesome church! We seriously felt right at home walking through the doors. Before heading up to Birmingham, we kind of thought we would attend Church of Brookhills because that is David Platt’s church and we have read his book, Radical. However, most of the people we met that weekend were attending Church of the Highlands. We really felt God calling us there. It was one of the most beautiful church services and the worship moved me to tears, just knowing that God had already chosen such a special church for us to be a part of. Again, God truly at work.

After church, Val took us to lunch at the Irondale Café. If anyone comes to visit us in Birmingham, we will most definitely be stopping for lunch there! It is where the movie, Fried Green Tomatoes, was filmed. And let me tell you, the fried green tomatoes were delicious!! We had such a wonderful southern lunch! And some real southern sweet tea!! Be still my heart!

YUM!!

 

Sunday afternoon we got to meet another new friend named Becky who lives just down the street from us. Val said that she had been praying for a new “couple” friend for Becky and her fiancé. Just another God moment of moving us so close to them. We also drove by our new home one more time and prayed over it with Val. It was a beautiful moment.

Sunday afternoon we met up with yet another new set of friends named Joann and Ron. They are the parents of one of the nurses Dave worked with on nights the last few weeks. When she heard we were moving to Birmingham, she quickly said we HAD to call her parents who lived there. Joann and Ron were the sweetest couple and spent their Sunday night driving us around town and then took us to dinner.

Monday morning Dave had to wrap up some things at UAB and I got to meet his boss and some very friendly people he will be working with. We celebrated our successful weekend at the Summit eating lunch overlooking the mountains around the city before getting back in the car for the 6.5 hour drive back to Gainesville.

 

As we ate lunch together on that Monday afternoon we could not help but reminisce about the weekend. It was so evident that God’s hand was at work in every situation. We found the perfect house, met lots of wonderful people, were able to have real life conversations about God with each one of those people, found an amazing new church, and I was able to talk about Premier with each woman we spent time with, all who were very excited about what I do. We have spent months praying about each one of those things and God answered them all! I have to admit, I am really excited about moving to the “south”. I really feel that is where we are supposed to be. It just fits and I can not wait to see what God has in store for our family there! God was and IS truly at work!

God is able to do immeasurably MORE than all we could ask or imagine! – Ephesians 3:20.