Happy Montannaversary!!

Exactly one year ago today we drove up to our small town here in Montana to start the Montana chapter of our lives. It was kind of ironic then that we went yesterday with the boys to a city two hours away to go to a waterpark and stay overnight in a hotel so this morning I once again climbed into the van to make the trek home. I vividly remember that morning a year ago. It was our fifth day on the rode (we took our time driving and had stayed a couple days at friends' house in Iowa) and everyone had done so well. Each of the kids had had about a 15 minute meltdown at some point in the trip and that morning, it was my turn. :) I had held it together so far (traveling with a 5 year old, two 3 year olds and a seven week old is a little stressful) but that morning I just had this strong sense of "I want to go home." You know how you get that when you're on vacation and it's fun but you just reach a point where you really want to go home. I had reached that point. The only problem was nothing felt like home to me. We had left Michigan, we had said our goodbyes, our house there was empty, it didn't feel like home, but where we were headed didn't feel like home either. And so I spent the first 15 minutes of our drive just crying (with a husband thinking his wife was nuts :)). I pulled it together and we drove into our small town that afternoon. We weren't staying at our house that night because our moving truck with all our worldly belongings wasn't coming until the next morning, but we wanted to show the boys our new church and house so we stopped there. And of course we'd been driving for a couple of hours so naturally Micah and I had to use the restroom when we stopped :), so we went inside. And when I walked in the kitchen this is what I saw:

A counter full of groceries for us!

I had known they were doing this, they had sent an email asking what food we eat, but it was still an overwhelming sight to see how much the people here cared for us already! And it didn't end with the food, we have been so cared for by this congregation this past year. So much that one couple was even willing to have Anna overnight last night so Steve and I could focus on the boys at the waterpark.

It has been quite a year. It hasn't always been easy, many tears have been shed (and not just by the children :)). I'd say that I probably had the hardest time of all of us adjusting to life here. Steve jumped into his job right away and knew his role here. The kids, well, they're young, they adjusted easily (they were excited to have a huge place to ride their bikes and neighbor kids to play with). I had just become a mom of 4, was dealing with postpartum emotions :), and had no idea what my role here was (or where anything was for that matter :)). Yes, it was quite a year, but it was a wonderful year. I look back and see the wonderful blessings that God bestowed on us. We have a wonderful church to be a part of (and in September I became the Worship Coordinator, giving me an opportunity to use the gifts God has given me, and an added bonus, I get to work with my husband!), we have a wonderful school community to be apart of (and Micah absolutely loves), He's given us good friends (you know you have great friends when you can go out for a girls' night and sit at a restaurant for hours where you both laugh so hard you almost cry and also have very serious conversations), and we have the best neighbors anyone could ask for (just ask our kids :)).

Yes, as we look back to a year ago we can say we have been truly blessed. Soon after Steve became a pastor an older pastor and his wife invited us over for dinner. I remember the wife telling me that each time they moved it had taken two years for it to feel like home. I remember in Michigan that was true, it was almost two years to the day that I was walking up to our house and thought, "this feels like home." But it didn't take two years here. I think having a child in school and being so connected to the community helps. But this morning when I climbed into the van I didn't cry :), because I definitely felt like I was going home, and it felt good. :)

So Happy Montannaversary

(view from our backyard)

 it's great to be home!