My thoughts on moving on.

Perhaps the title intrigued you. Perhaps you have heard rumors and wanted to know whether they were true. It is true. We will be moving on to a house in Minot so that we can be together as a family. Our plan is to stay there through the duration of Larry's work there. We don't know how long that will be.

In our life together, we have moved 15 times in 20 years, including living in 4 different cities and 2 different states. It never seemed like a burden to move our family, just something necessary. With each move we approached it with a sense of adventure, looking forward to all the treasures that lie ahead. In preparing the children for a potential move back to North Dakota, I told stories about life there, places we had lived, sites visited, friends still there. As thrilling as my stories were, the children began asking questions like, "Do they have a ______ there?" "Will we be able to do _______there?" It was an invitation to teach them an important lesson. I told them that I would have no talk about what North Dakota didn't have, no talk about what is better in Colorado, no talk about all of the things here that we would miss. Rather, I want them to look forward to new things, to see the good that comes from relocating, being open to new experiences, new ways of doing things, and new places.

I was 27 when we moved here to Colorado and I will be 38 when we leave. Our children were 8, 8, 6, 4, 2, and 11 months old then. They are now 19, 19, 17, 15, 13, and 11 joined by 6 more children born since we moved. Our hearts are full with the friendships we have made, and the memories of our years here, 11 almost to the day. God has used each one of you in our lives to change us, to teach us, to love us and we will remember you no matter where we are.

It is with these full hearts that we embark on a new adventure. We will fondly remember our time in Colorado and look forward to our visits back. But, we must be moving on, at least for now. There are many friends in North Dakota anxious for our return. We look forward to spending more time with our Grandparents that are all there, and Great Grandparents.

As much as the kids would like to think of North Dakota as the desert in Exodus, and our moving there like the wandering of the Israelites (sorry, please don't take offense, they really like the mountains) I remind them that we don't want to be like the Israelites that grumbled and complained. "Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger." Exodus 16:3. While the children don't believe that God is sending us to North Dakota to kill us with hunger, the attitude is what needs to be watched. I remind the children that God intends good for us, that all things work together for good. Rather than focusing on what God did give them, the Israelites saw only what God did not give or what He had taken away. It is all a matter of perspective. I want my children to be brave and bold and to willingly go wherever God leads them.

For now, that is back to North Dakota.