The Revolution Starts Now

Sorry for the long and cryptic blogsilence. Hubs and I had some Big Life Things to figure out. But I'm super excited to announce, on my 300th blog post, that we have officially accepted the job offer with Habitat for Humanity of Wake County, and we're moving to North Carolina in December!

Making this decision was a strangely smooth process. I went down to NC on Tuesday morning with a vague "Let's See" attitude. We hadn't made any decisions, and I can say that I was not even leaning hard in one direction. I felt like I would need a neon sign. And a Really Good Reason to leave our friend and family and the beautiful mayhem of Sweet Home Chicago. Not only would I need that, but Les would need those things too, even though he wasn't going to have the benefit of a real-life experience of the place. (Note: I'm giving up on the "Hubs" and "Yale" code names. You all know who we are anyway...)

So I was open, but more than a little skeptical that Raleigh was going to be able to Bring It in a big enough way to tip the scales. And Raleigh didn't really do it for me. By the end of my first day there, I was moaning to Les that the city was barely even a city, there were no side walks, everyone drives EVERYWHERE, and everyplace that resembled a neighborhood was linked to absolutely nothing but a highway. My host had driven me to their "downtown" (the state capitol, mind you) and I silently gasped in my head "WHERE IS THE REST OF THIS CITY??". You could fit the entire downtown in the plaza of Lincoln Square. Les encouraged me to start fresh in the morning and to ask more questions and ask to see more areas.

And I did (smart hubby of mine!). And on Wednesday, this flash flood of excitement wrought havoc on my almost-made-up mind. I got to visit all the build sites and meet the construction staff and some of their weekday volunteers. I was handed a hammer and a T-square and asked to "show us what you got" by some good-natured old timers on site, and I helped build headers for the windows of what would soon be someone's beautiful new home. AmeriCorps construction staffers told me about all the fun things they have found to do there, and how the best part of their job is to get to work with other people who love their job every day. And the HFH office itself struck me by being a busy, happy, messy workspace in a way that is much more akin to an artist's studio than a corporate drudgery containment unit. People like each other. They are mission-focused. They are on the same team.

And so, it turns out that the people and the chance to dive back in to a mission of service were what sold me. I have good ideas, I think, for ways we can get more people involved. I imagined myself recruiting church members and company teams and campus groups to come out and help build a better life for their neighbors. And that just sounds like an awesome way to spend my work time, at least for the next little while.

Les actually came to that conclusion himself, independent of my musings. I was a little concerned that this would be a tough sell for him, but the Lord works in mysterious ways. In this case, He worked through a book Les was reading, and when I called him on Wednesday afternoon from the warm parking lot of the HFH office to tell him that I was excited about this move if he could be, he replied that he had suddenly become REALLY excited about it, and really happy and thankful that we have this opportunity. Well then. I guess that settles it.

So I accepted the offer yesterday afternoon, and I give notice to my boss on Monday. I'll start in Raleigh on Dec. 5! Yikes!

Good things in store, I think. Hard things, too, as we say good by to our City Family and our dear church. And moving, and packing, and finding a new apartment in a strange and foreign land. But God is Good, and we trust that if He nudged us to this place He will also provide everything we need to make it work. Praise God! Somewhere in my quiet heart, I hear a little chirp that sounds like a WHOLE lot of things are going to be changing for us. I'm sure there will be pain in there as well. We're promised that. But exciting things too. And I'm thankful that by the grace of God I'm able to say "Bring it!" with confidence, if even just a little crust of anxiousness around the corners.