The Cat

has finally been allowed to escape the bag!  Do you know how hard it is for five women to keep a secret?  It's not so much that it's a secret, but there were people who needed to hear it from the proper source before we were allowed to blab.  The cat is out.

I don't think I have ever felt so elated and so disappointed at the same time.  When we moved to Arizona seven+ years ago, I dutifully followed my husband's lead (as he was following the Lord's lead) but on the inside, to my shame, I was kicking and screaming.  For a long time I didn't even WANT to like this environment, and I didn't.  Somehow, in the past year or so, I have come to love this valley.  It is harsh, but is beautiful. The power of God is seen everywhere, as are his judgment and his mercy.  I love the feeling of the sun on my bones.  Unless you have been here, you don't know what that is.  The heat goes all the way through your body, and it feels GOOD.  Our church family has been wonderful to us, and we love them dearly.  But I am looking forward to what God is going to do with us now.

When you get a new puppy, you hold him real close until he stops wiggling.  This is to establish the fact that you are the master, and he is the dog, and not the other way around.  When he submits to your hold and relaxes his body, you can put him down.  God is the Master, and I am the puppy.  He picked me up and held me tight.  I stubbornly struggled against his will.  And now that I have humbled myself and decided I like it right here in his will, he has let me go!  But wait!  He has not really let me go.  I am still in his arms.  Psalm 31:14,15  But I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my God. My times are in thy hand.  He is still holding me, but he is moving me.  As a matter of fact, he is moving my whole family. And he is going with us.

You won't believe it when I tell you where...

Goodbye, mountains.

 

Goodbye, Diamonds in the Rough.  It won't be so rough where we are going. Not in the same way.  I might need a new blog name.  We are still rough, though, so maybe I will keep it.

 

Goodbye, quartz hunting.

 

Goodbye, mountain biking!

Goodbye, north wind. (Not really.  That's wishful thinking.  We'll have lots of north wind in our new home!)

Goodbye, Hoover Dam and Boulder City.

 

Goodbye, bone-warming sunshine.

 

Goodbye, beautiful, clean Lake Mohave.

Goodbye, Pacific Ocean!

Goodbye, cactus!

 

Goodbye, 119 degree days. (Yay!)

Goodbye MBC, friends, violin students, goatheads and dear grandparents... Smith's, Dr. White, Colorado River Homeschoolers, Green River 4-H Club, my hair lady, good neighbors, pigeons, feral cats, coyotes, road-runners, and burros.  

We're getting ready to say HELLO to...

Well, I'll keep you in suspense for a teeny bit.  :)  Here's a hint:

She is not afraid of the snow for her household: 

for all her household are clothed with scarlet.

Proverb 31:21

(I know you're going to laugh at us when I tell you... Be nice.)