3.04.2014

the next chapter

As I look back on this post, part of me feels like it was just yesterday and part of me feels like it was a long, long time ago. We were anxiously awaiting Turner's birth, Jesse's graduation from grad school, and a job/direction for what our lives would look like post graduation. We were very happy and settled in a very comfortable, familiar place on the edge of the unknown - a baby, a far away move.

2 years later, I laugh at the fears and worries I mentioned in the post, because I find our family in a similar place again. Very, very happy, settled, and in a very comfortable, familiar place, on the edge of the (somewhat) unknown, just this time we went ahead and had the baby months before the question of "where?"

Jesse's fellowship here is up in June, so we have been talking for a while now about what is next for our family.  All along we knew that Jesse would continue the work he loves with the Forest Service, but the question was where. After many many conversations, many prayers, many pros/cons lists, many phone calls with forests in many different parts of the country, we find ourselves making another move, but this time, back closer to home.  In June, the Englishes will be moving to Tallahassee, Florida!

Jesse will be the Recreation Program Manager for all 3 forests in Florida. This is a great opportunity for his career and it we are very excited to be closer to our families!

It is very bittersweet to be leaving the Washington, DC area. We have had an amazing time here, found a church that we love, and have made some of the BEST friends. As excited as I am to be closer to home, I really am having a hard time thinking that our time here is already almost up. DC is a really interesting place to live and has provided us some amazing experiences that I will never forget. Jesse has gotten to work on the National Mall, just across from the Washington Monument. We have an endless number of museums just down the road, not to mention the Capitol, the White 
House, all the monuments, SO much history here. We have gotten to live in a very cool, walkable, neighborhood. Jesse's position here allowed us to have the best summer of our lives in Portland, OR. I have made very, very special friendships here. Turner's first friends are here. I had another baby here. It's hard to leave.

But knowing what I know now, each time you move, while you leave behind so many happy things, you also have so many things ahead to look forward to! I never thought I would be someone who would move around a lot. After we got married and moved to Birmingham, I really thought that was it. That was where we would live and someday raise a family. HA. I found this quote after we left Portland and it resonates with me so much and sums up how I am feeling:

"You will never be completely at home again, because part of your heart will always be elsewhere. That is the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place." 

I know that the Lord will provide for us, just as he always has.