Well, it’s been a long and unexpected hiatus from blogging, but I’m back again.
Boy, how things have changed. In the six months since last I posted, the family and I have relocated to McAlester, Oklahoma. It’s where my wife grew up, where I spent the last couple of years in high school and where our parents and extended family live. We’d been talking about returning to Oklahoma for several years, ever since our first little girl came along, but the circumstances were never quite right. And truth be told, culturally, economically, politically, intellectually, even spiritually, Washington was a better fit for us than Oklahoma. But our grandparents were incredibly important to both my wife and I as we were growing up, and we wanted the same for our daughters.
So, the day before Ash Wednesday (yes, the beginning of Lent), my wife learned of an opportunity to transfer with her job to an opening at an even better position that just happened to be in… well, you guessed it. I can’t say that we agonized over the decision too much, although we both had “What the hell are we doing?” moments. Anyway, to make a long story short, Good Friday found us moving into temporary quarters here in McAlester. After three months, we sold our house in Bellingham and moved into our new home here. Goodbye, Pacific Northwest. Hello, Bible Belt.
My good friend Deb Steinkamp spoke some words that I have found important to hold on to through this entire adventure. I asked her to pray for us, that we would have wisdom to make the right decisions. She responded that she would pray that we have the courage to live with the decisions that we make. That’s as wise a prayer as I’ve heard in a long time, because the truth is that courage is exactly what we have needed. We have taken the road less traveled, I believe, and like Frost in that wonderful poem, I am hoping that it will make all the difference. This southeastern corner of Oklahoma has a number of struggles, and we feel like so much of what we’ve learned especially in the past ten years is really needed here. It’s the classic predicament, choosing between the place you need and the place that needs you.
In any event, now you’ve got some context and you’re all caught up. More to come soon.