Some BIG News!

No, we are not having a baby... yet. The big news is

We're MOVING!!!

To Winston-Salem!!

It is still a little hard for us to believe because it has all happened so fast. Last Monday Dustin started a new job, and we were thrilled about the pay increase and the weekends off. However, on Tuesday night we sat down with the benefits package for the new job and tried to work out a budget. It turned out that Dustin would only be making a little more than his previous job paid him. And it was not an amount worthy of driving 30-45 minutes to work (and back) each day.

It has been very difficult to find the "right" job for Dustin because we have so many criteria. We have been hoping for a job that he would enjoy, that pays well, that provides inexpensive benefits, that allows him to be off on Sundays, and that allows flexibility for time off so we can go on mission trips in the future.

So we weighed our options and thought and thought and thought. Dustin talked to his Dad about the situation, and a solution arose. There is a position open at the store that is managed by Dustin's Dad and two of his uncles. It is a bike and fitness store that has been the family business for many years. Dustin worked there before we were married, and he has always said that it was the job he enjoyed most. And this job meets ALL of our criteria!

At the same time we found out that Dustin's Grandaddy has a house that we can rent at a great price! We will live there until we can afford to buy a house of our own.

All of this happened so fast! We found out about the job and the house and we decided to move all within 24 hours. It has been amazing. I never thought at the beginning of last week that we would be planning to move at the end of the week.

We are so excited about this move for a number of reasons. We are thrilled that we now know where our home base will be located. For those of you who don't know, our plan as future missionaries is to follow the example of Paul in the Bible. Dustin learned about this way to do missions when he went to Ecuador with Mr. Tim Bunn (author of God's Plan for Church Planting, a workbook that is solely Biblical with no personal commentary). We hope to go to different South and Latin American countries (week- or month-long trips) to teach people how to plant churches. Then we will go back regularly to support and encourage those churches. We have often wondered about the location of our home base, and now we know!

Another reason that we are excited is that we will be near Dustin's family. Most of them live in that area, and it will be great to be able to see all of them regularly without having to drive two hours! We are also happy because we will get to see my family more! Yes, we will be further away from them, but now we will be able to go and spend a whole weekend, rather than just going for an afternoon. AND I am thrilled that I will be close to my sweet sister, Katie. She is at UNCG, and only 25 minutes from where we'll be living!

There are some sad parts of this decision. I have had a great job as a nanny for a sweet little boy since he was three months old. Now he is 2 years old, and it will be very hard to say goodbye to him. It has been such a fun two years, and I am so thankful to God for allowing me to be a part of this little guy's life. Telling his parents that I would be leaving in a month was one of the hardest things I have had to do.

We are also very sad to be leaving our sweet little house. We have enjoyed living here so much. It has been great to live out in the peaceful country, surrounded by fields, trees, and fresh air! We will miss feeling like we live in a mountain cabin. We will miss hiking in the back woods, the bike rides, the big back porch, and our sweet neighbors.

We will also miss the friends that we have made in Wake Forest over the last five years. Thankfully we will only be two hours away, and we hope we will still see many of them regularly.

Anyway, we will be moving out of our house on February 8-10, and Dustin will start working on February 11. Once we get there I will start looking for a job, hopefully one that will allow me to use my English degree.

Please pray for us as we embark on this new journey. It will be a big change for us, but we are ready to jump in with all four feet!