Today I walked by some apartments here in Clovis that reminded me of the first apartment we moved into in California on San Luis Ave in Mountain View.
Which got me reminiscing...
20 years ago this week, we were in Haiti, packing up our stuff and getting ready to move to California. If I had known all that would transpire in the coming years, I might have stayed. Not that the years have been bad, on the contrary, they've been good. But they have not always been easy.
The good thing is that I've been able to share those years with the women who has been my best friend, whom I married 30 years ago this week.
When we moved to California, we had about $2000 to our name, most of which we used to buy a beat up Honda Civic that Ingrid used for her job Home Health Nursing.
(Our late brother-in-law, Mike, helped us buy the car and keep it running. Mike also helped us to get all of our stuff from Florida to California. Our belongings traveled with us on a DC-3 from Haiti to West Palm Beach. From there we rented a u-haul and then brought it to a company that did business with Mike's company. We put it on a single pallet, shrink-wrapped it, and had it shipped to Mike's company in San Jose.)
Ingrid's boss was a wonderful woman named Kathy of Matched Caregivers. Kathy believed in Ingrid and helped her to excel in a new career. (I remember feeling a bit embarrassed driving our beat up car to Kathy's home in Atherton--it looked way out of place amidst all those beautifully landscaped yards.)
Since that time we've moved again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and yet again (and we're not finished yet).
During that time I've had a wonderful, though shortened (voluntarily), career with the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service where I had 3 great supervisors who helped me to succeed in various positions in Bakersfield and Fresno.
Now we live in Thailand (though temporarily in Clovis, CA). When we return to Thailand, we will be preparing to move halfway across that country.
It would have been easier to stay in one place. We had a nice place in Haiti, after all.
But though everything, God has been with us and has blessed us in many ways.
We've made many new friends. We've been part of several wonderful churches. We've been able to visit some amazing places.
And though many things in our lives may have changed, our God has not.
The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
Psalm 18:2 (ESV)
