there's no place like home...

Larry the Cucumber ~ "I put an oven mitt on my head just because Veggie Beat magazine said it would make me cool. Even though I couldn't see. It, it didn't make me cool! It made me bump into a toaster and then fall into the sink! And now I can't get out, I'm gonna be stuck here forever and people are gonna set plates on my head! And I'm never gonna get to go to the circus, or run through the fresh cut grass, or feel the ocean breeze in my hair as I pilot my nimble schooner Felix off the coast of our family home in Kennebunkport!!! Oh Auntie Em! There's no place like home, there's no place like home! Click, click, click."

Jason came home on Thursday evening with the news he'd been offered a job. A good job that was looking to guarantee us 40 hours of work a week (even in the winter!) at a pay rate we couldn't argue with. Even a company car to use during business hours.

Where you ask?!?! Here. In Pagosa.

That's not the door I was expecting to open.

See, I was fully expecting God to move us away. I have been so open to it (Jason too.) Praying that we'd go where He wants us. Saying "no, I can't" (with peace) to all the various things that take up time. Thinking that God was preparing me to be able to leave. To not have any strings - other than the heart ones that would inevitably get tugged - to keep me tied down in Pagosa.

A scene from "Enchanted" comes to mind. Prince Edward of Andalusia is in New York looking for Giselle and he is trying to enter an apartment building. He wants to get inside. But he runs through a revolving door and instead of going halfway through, he goes all the way around and winds up back outside. Where he started. He eventually gets in after trying again.

We've been praying (knock, knock) that the Lord would open the door where He wished us to be. We've been wanting to walk through to the other side for 2 years. Turns out the door we've been knocking on is revolving.

*SIGH*

There are days I just don't understand God's plans. I wish that He provided us all with roadmaps of our lives. So we can see when the road is going to be bumpy or have a lot of sharp turns. Or when it's going to be smooth. Or when we're going to get a u-turn. I'd love to know where the pit stops are. Where the road blocks are going to bring us to a halt. Where the car is going to completely break down. I'd love to know the purpose of the journey - where the road is leading. Because some days it just feels like I'm driving down the street and my cool mini-cooper is making no visual impact on the pedestrians.

I thought the road was leading to Washington (or Phoenix.) But as we've "driven" through those areas, it's been deserted. We've not heard a thing.

God has given us what we asked for here. So we're staying. For now, this is home.