New Chapters...

You know, God is SO amazing!

Today over lunch, Brandon and I talked about our journey these past few years. God's fingerprints are EVERYWHERE as we look back.

The QV (Quick Version) :

In 2007, Brandon's current company, we'll call it T, announced that they were opening a call center in our hometown. Brandon did similar work for a Company we'll call B, and started some research. We found out that the pay at T was about the same amount as Brandon's base salary, but there would be no commission. Commission pretty much doubled his salary.

So he stayed... and was laid off from B.

Brandon worked for another company in sales for a bit and did very well. But his pay was completely commission. He knew that it most likely wouldn't be sustainable long term.

So, he put in for Company T.

He was hired in July of 2007. He was very successful and eventually we relocated to Virginia to convert a call center here.

I came kicking and screaming. *blush*

During our move here, his company added an adoption benefit.

We started the adoption process.

We started homeschooling due to issues that we encountered here.

And we all know how quickly our Xander joined our family.

I was lonely and really struggled with making new friends. I threw myself into an online moms group.

Shortly after, I found out I was expecting. This was quite a shocker given our infertility struggles.

We moved to a larger apartment.

We struggled to find a church here. We tried over TWENTY churches in 2.5 years.

We visited our church and I *knew* it was home. Brandon and I prayed over it for a few weeks.

We joined.

We knew we wanted to live closer to our church and since our lease was coming up, we started looking.

We are in a more rural area and there are only a few apartment complexes to choose from and they are much smaller than our large apartment. So we knew we needed to find a house to rent.

We found a house and we have the BEST neighbors we could ask for and we are 9 miles from church.

The church has been balm to our soul. The people are amazing and I've met soooooo many new people.

Shortly after we moved here, I felt settled and told Brandon I couldn't imagine living anywhere else.

Brandon started casually applying for jobs that interested him. One was for a position out of state. It made my stomach hurt to think about relocating again. This was HOME!

This week, Brandon asked me to leave my moms group. And that feels okay because I have such sweet fellowship with my local friends. Some of the women from that group will be Lifers. (Lifetime friends that you are friends with forever.)

Brandon accepted a local position in a different industry and took it. He only has 3.5 shifts left at T. This new company isn't in our home state of Georgia. His commute will be less than half of what it has been. The benefits are amazing and Brandon will have room to grow.

And as I look back and see all of this, I know that we are directly in the center of God's will for our lives. Oh the peace that brings to me!!!!

A new chapter is about to begin... I'm excited to see what the future holds for us.

~Stephanie

PS: Xander did well with the endoscopy. That will be tomorow's post. Tomorrow, he has an appointment with a Pediatric Neurologist to discuss his cafe au lait birthmarks. Prayers are appreciated. :)