The Backstory

My husband is very patient with me. It seems to take me about three years to figure out that he is right about major life decisions. When we met in Cameroon in '00, it took him about 2 months to decide we were meant for each other. It took me quite awhile to agree to date, and just over 3 years later, I said "yes" and we were engaged.

Shortly after we moved to NY in '06, Luke felt that my job was not a healthy place for me to be. I, however, wasn't ready to listen. It took me, once again, just over three years to see the truth of his assessment and leave for good, and boy, I've often wished I had listened to him sooner!

Shortly after Clara was born, Luke started talking about moving. Various places came up, all of them far from our current home. Over the years since we've talked about Missouri, Texas, Virginia, even the Carolinas, in addition to throwing around the idea of a western move. I've discussed, but never been quite ready to make the leap. But on January 1st I looked at Luke and said, "Let's get outta here." Again, took me just over three years... maybe I really should start listening to him sooner!?!

He immediately jumped on the assignment and sent messages to everyone he knew who might have leads on a job, telling them, "My wife has finally agreed to move west, so I gotta find a job before she changes her mind!" Haha...

He sent out lots of resumes, made many phone calls and had a couple of promising leads, but nothing seemed quite right. Then, his brother called and told him that a ranch where he's done some construction work was looking to hire another hand. Scott spoke highly of the owner and the other couple on the ranch and, once again, Luke sent off a resume. That was February 9th. A few days later, he got a surprise phone call from the manager. That led to another phone call, a flurry of emails, and a week of suspense as we waited for the owner to get home from a trip. Thursday night, the phone call we had been waiting for came and by the time they were done talking we had been offered the job, sight unseen and asked to show up in a month's time! We asked for a few days to think and pray about it, but by the next afternoon, we knew we were going. At least it didn't take me 3 years to agree this time! Maybe I'm getting better at this decision-making thing...

People have told us, "This is so sudden!" And yes, it's fast, in some ways. The time frame from finding out about this job to making a major move across the country is ridiculously short. But the truth is that this has been on our hearts and minds for three years, and really, longer than that. Shortly after we met I told Luke, "I don't want to be a ranch wife. That's not the life I want to lead. You need a wife who wants to live in the middle of nowhere, and that's not me." To which he replied, "That's fine. You are more important to me than a lifestyle. I want to be with you and we will make a life that we both love."

Maybe he knew me better than I knew myself, even back then. Or maybe I'm just slower at catching on than I thought. This move may be happening in a month, but it was really twelve years in the making.