Moving to CA

I am from Montana but have lived in California for almost 14 years.  I think I'm used to life here now but it's taken a while and it was a big adjustment at first.  Everything is different here.  The weather, food, landscape, pace of life, and how people think about just about everything.  Even the bugs are different!  All of my family is in Montana.  I'm very lucky and get to see them pretty often, but the more kids I've had the harder it is to travel.  I have missed getting to see my nieces and nephews grow up.  I've missed weddings, graduations, and funerals.  I've been back to Montana for one Christmas and one Thanksgiving.  I think I spent our first year of marriage crying.  Every holiday away was so hard.  Now it's not the big holidays that I'm the most homesick, but the every day things.  I miss the smaller holidays like Mother's and Father's Day.  I miss getting to see my family on birthdays and I miss that I can't ever just have them over for dinner.

When I moved here, it was surprising how few people had empathy for what I was going through.  God was faithful though and sent a several people into my life who understood and prayed me through those early years.  At times the encouragement He sent came from unexpected places.  Once I was at a women's retreat and a women told me that someday my grandchildren would talk about how brave I was.  Brave to have left my family and started a new life in a place so far away.  I didn't feel brave at the time.  I felt sad, lonely, and homesick.  But the encouragement was timely and gave me the boost I needed to get through a rough time.

I don't know what exactly God wanted me to learn from those early years of homesickness but I know this.  God is sovereign.  I was following what God had for me and God had a plan for me here.  I love living here now and am thankful that is is such a good place to raise kids.  I love the mild weather and being near the beach and the mountains.  I love being surrounded by farms and wonderful produce.  I love that we can homeschool and have lots of other friends that homeschool too.  God is also faithful and has given me family in Christ when my earthly family couldn't be near.

Psalm 18:6
In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.

I'm thankful for the people that God has brought into my life here.  They have helped me through finishing college, my time as an accountant, having four babies (one being very high risk), moving three times and working at raising my kids to know God.  I'm looking forward to seeing what else He has for me here.

1 Chronicles 16:34
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.