Another New Adventure

Happy Wednesday🎃 It’s been way too long since I’ve said hi! Today we are celebrating lots of firsts, lasts, and moments in between. A bit sentimental but it makes everything that much sweeter!

Ten years ago
Grant started his career at Shambaugh & Son

Six years ago
• Grant and I loaded up our lives (into an SUV) and moved to California.
(Grayson Quinn along for the ride too🤰🏼)
• I started blogging our adventure and have loved sharing the moments with you❤️

July 2022
Grant, said good-bye to Shambaugh & Son and started a new endeavor

October 2022
We sold our Michigan home, loaded up our lives (this time with 2 U-Hauls and 2 littles) and moved to Indiana.

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Last fall, Grant and I talked about an approximate end-date (May 2022) to wrap up our family moving from project-to-project. Our original commitment was 3-5 years, today we are wrapping up 6+. As May approached the finish line looked further and further away. The tentative date we gave seemed out of reach and Grant was working more in Arizona and Texas than near our home in Michigan.

It was before a trip to AZ in early May that I told Grant, “You shouldn’t get on the airplane, please don’t go.” He checked with the gate agent, they didn’t need a bump, so Grant boarded and I assumed it would be a typical work trip… it wasn’t.

Thirty minutes later we were eating dinner when he dropped-in on Amazon Alexa.
He was letting us know there were some aircraft difficulties (The flap of the wing wasn’t working properly, the plane wasn’t climbing, and they were trying to find a place to emergency land prior to the original PHX destination). They were too heavy to turn around and land back in Detroit.
He talked to the gs, gave encouragement, told stories, and then just listened in on our dinner conversation and laughter. The phone conversation ended when his service was cut off.
After the call ended, I re-read the texts he had sent me and then realized he was serious–he had called thinking it was his last time to talk to us, telling us good-bye!

Almost half an hour went by before I received another text saying they had landed in St. Louis. God is good.

This flight experience shook Grant’s heart as it relates to his work. Walking through the airport, he realized he could have died that day and missed the gs growing up, or continued traveling and still miss it.

A few months after the flight incident, Grant wrapped up a chapter that I never thought I’d see come to a close-10 years at Shambaugh ✔️

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Just when they tell me I can move that’s when I’m ready to stay in MI😂 Seems to be the norm since our first move to Cali! Staying in Michigan for the foreseeable future was the plan (maybe even up to a year+) but it wasn’t God’s. He wanted me to take the first step in putting our house on the market. Studying the Israelites journey since earlier this year has been perfect for this season.

 "When you reach the edge of the Jordan's waters, go and stand in the river." Joshua 3:8b

I don’t know about you, but I don’t particularly like getting my feet wet. I’d much rather have God part the river, and then I’ll step into the miracle. That way I don’t get my feet wet, but if we aren’t willing to get our feet wet, we’ll never walk through parted rivers on dry ground. ”
Mark Batterson, Draw the Circle

He has been faithful and provided each step we’ve taken.
• The day we put our house on the market, we had an offer from the first showing.
• No place to live, Grant’s parents’ offered their lake cottage and so we are currently there for an unknown time.

Today is mine. Tomorrow is none of my business. If I peer anxiously into the fog of the future, I will strain my spiritual eyes so that I will not see clearly what is required of me.
Elisabeth Elliot

Today I sit on the other side of closing and refreshed that we are done and partially moved. I sit in peace and look forward to what God has next!

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A few of our lasts in Michigan

Goldfish Swim School💦
The Gs have learned so much here,
thankful for the opportunity to watch them learn and fall even more in love with the water!