Four years ago today...

Life is so weird.
Facebook does this thing where it shows me a memory from something posted on this day in the past.  It's kinda cool.
For that reason, I was reminded that four years ago today we were truckin across the country in a little convoy which consisted of a white nissan cube and  a gigantic moving truck filled about a quarter of the capacity with the entirety of our possessions.
Sure, we could have just used a small moving truck.  In fact, we intended to.  We "reserved" one.  But, in case you ever wanted to know - the fine print of a "reservation" with this low budget truck rental company basically states that the reservation means almost nothing to the company and they do not in fact need to provide a truck to someone simply because they "reserve" one.
Anyways, the long story short, we ended up with a truck.  The biggest truck available.  Once we emptied the contents of our 800 sq ft apartment - there was still room in the back of that truck for our girls to do kartwheels, dance moves, and gymnastics (because that's what normal people do when there is open space, right?)
We packed everything up the night before our departure and just kept out a futon mattress and our full size mattress to sleep on.
We awoke bright and early, loaded the mattresses into the rear of the truck and with a final goodbye hug to our neighbor, we just had to grab the keys and go.
the keys?
Where did we put the keys to the truck?
After a 10 minute search of our barren, vacant, small apartment, fear crept in.
It was completely empty.
No keys.
We thought back to the evening before and realized that we had the empty place jammed full of neighbors and kids running around.  One last gathering to say goodbye.  What if one of the kids threw the keys in the garbage or some weird thing?
Ugh!
So, we dug the garbage bags out of our shared outdoor garbage can and proceeded to empty them piece by piece.
After about two hours of searching, when we were beginning to formulate a new plan involving an expensive locksmith or contacting the moving truck company, our friend called to check in with Timm to see how our travels were going.
As soon as Timm mentioned that we hadn't left because we couldn't find the.....keys......our friend got really quiet on the other end of the phone and then began to apologize.
Huh?
We learned that our friend thought it would be "funny" to hide the keys on us the night before and then to text us after he left our home and wish us good luck finding the keys.  However, after saying his goodbyes and walking away, he forgot to text us and taunt us with his practical joke.  As a matter of fact, he forgot all about hiding the keys until Timm said something on the phone!
The keys were hidden up in a cupboard, way above our heads.  They were there the whole time.
We grabbed the keys and told our friend we didn't think his joke was funny, and we weren't sure how long it would take before we would look back on that morning and think it was funny.
For the record, it took me about a year to smirk about it.
Now, four years later, I think it' s hilarious.
After a 12 hour day of winding through the congested streets of the city, the rolling mountains, and  the endless flat lands, we finally rolled into Michigan and our final stretch of the trip to our new home. It was surreal.
We were greeted by some friends and  family members who were there to help us unload all of our belongings into the garage of our new home in Lake Orion.  It's seriously hard to believe how few possessions we had!  After a quick walk through the house that we would be calling home, the kids were whisked away by family to go stay at Granpas house.  Our new home was unlivable.  It needed "a little work".  To be honest, the kids were disgusted by it and thought we were crazy to think we would be living there!
But Timm and I stayed back at the house.
I remember that evening so well.
We sat there in the garage drinking the Oberon that our good friend brought to us as a welcome.
And we gazed at our new home wondering what the next chapter of our lives would hold.
All of that whizzes through my mind in a matter of seconds.
That was four years ago today.
We ended up sleeping that night on a tiny blow up mattress in our stinky dirty new home - dreaming of what was to come.  Wondering how God's story would continue to unfold.
When we woke up the next morning, it was our 17th anniversary.
We looked at each other, wishing each other a happy anniversary, excusing each other for not having a card or a gift to offer.  And we grinned from ear to ear.  We reflected on all that had happened in the first 17 years of our marriage and we marveled at what the future might hold.
We jumped into the gigantic moving truck, and before turning it in to the rental place, we visited some friends who were actually packing up everything and moving their family to the exact city we had just left to pursue the call God put on their lives! They were planting a church in NYC.
It was ridiculous!  We opened up the back of that truck and started loading in a bunch of the stuff they needed to sell because they would be moving from a suburban home to a small apartment.  Yard tools, outdoor grill, garden hose, a full size fridge, to name a few!
A bunch of the stuff we had given away or sold when we moved to NYC!
That was our 17th wedding anniversary.
Tomorrow we celebrate our 21st anniversary.
I see that the last time I posted on this blog was a  year ago  - on our 20th anniversary.
Although I can honestly say that I thank God daily for my marriage, I guess I just love reflecting and sharing at this special time.
There's so much more I could say.
I love living this life, with Timm as my partner, submitted to the trustworthy plan of our creator.
Who knows what the future holds?  I've given up holding my own plans too tightly, as God's plans have always proven to be better, weirder, harder, more fun, more rewarding, and adventurous.  
My hope is that we can always trust God and experience his peace and goodness, no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in.  
My hope is that we will have many more years of health and life together, this side of eternity.
Love you Timm.