It’s Saturday and there is a very pleasant lull in the house while little man sleeps.

Two months ago J came home from Afghanistan, a whole month early due to some unexpected changes in our life. We should be living in our sweet little Georgia house, with the copper backsplash in the kitchen, and a beautiful picture window that L enjoys kissing while he stares out the window as the garbage truck stops to pick up our trash.

We should be passing the days playing out on our porch, waiting for Daddy to get home from work.  J should be studying for the GRE and applying for grad schools and looking at houses in Boston or Princeton or Chapel Hill.  We should be dreaming about our years at West Point and autumn in New York.

And yet, the Army and the Lord have different plans for us.  Our household goods are on their way to Maryland and next week we will head that way.  A new unit is in need of Justin’s computer skills, so off we go.

It took me a while to get used to the idea. I’ve been spoiled living so close to my family and I thought I’d have another ten months to enjoy being near them.  Not to mention the fact that grad school and teaching at WP would fulfill one of J’s life dreams.

So we made a list of all the reasons to be excited about Fort Meade:

• We have friends there already, from Hilton Head and from our time in Italy.
• It’s only ten hours from HH and eight hours from Detroit….the closest J has lived to his family in many years.
• We’ll get to experience four seasons…getting there in time for Fall and the leaves changing.
• We think the likelihood that J will deploy is slim.
• We’ll hopefully be there for three years, the longest I’ve lived anywhere since high school.
• It’s right near DC and we hope to entice all of our friends and family to come visit this historic hub.
• The Lord has so clearly shut all doors but this one, so He must want us there for a reason.
• We are pretty sure we have housing on the base, which means almost no commute, and regular family lunches.
• We will finally get to be a family, in one place.

Both J and I have a strong feeling of expectancy of how God will work in our family during this tour. We are hopeful that He’ll provide a good community of believers and mentors, as well as opportunities to minister to those around us.

So, as sad as I am about leaving my family, I am looking forward to this move. I wait with hopeful expectation.

And hopefully, grad school and WP are just a few years down the road.