The Five Year Plan

((Ashley had this board set up for us at her home for our family goodbye gathering))

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Someone asked me the other day, "OK, so what is your five year plan?" I had no words. I mean, I have been conditioned to not even have a one-week plan. Correction: a one-day plan. I started to answer the question, "Oh, well, probably...." but could not even muster up a hypothetical "plan." I blanket answered it with the typical fresh out of high school, single, wild & free response, "I mean, wherever the wind blows I guess."

This past month has truly acclimatized me to forgo any and all ideas, even the absolute slightest of ones. Even ones that we were told are "set in stone." That phrase will never ring true to us. Never. (Yes, I can use that strong word in confidence here). We live by "everything is written in the mud."

We were sprung with a closer than expected move date of August instead of January, which I previously discussed in my earlier blog, that has been both exciting & demanding. Moving is one thing, moving in the military (so frequently) is another, moving across the ocean is yet another, but moving across the ocean in a condensed timeline is on a whole different wave length of life.

So as you know, we have been in full force moving mode. But, 2 days before our movers were scheduled to come, Clay received word from his captain that his orders may be changing, & we would be staying in Virginia for another 8-9 months. Mind you, our car was already in California making its way to the island, we were & are currently paying rent in Hawaii (we secured our home over there 1 month before arriving due to desired location & lack of availability), we gave our current rental 30 days notice, so we would have to move out of there regardless of what was about to happen, & we already had movers scheduled to come pack up our home that Friday.

So we were in a waiting period, and clearly this waiting stint was on a level of hard that I almost could not comprehend (shocker, right?). I was fuming mad just thinking about all the hoops we had to jump through (meetings, paperwork, more meetings, more paperwork, 77,000 phone calls, thousands of dollars, traveling, deadlines) to rush this move along, for it to only be completed in void this time around.

We were left waiting for 5ish days, which to me, felt like a fortnight, but to Clay I am sure only felt like 5 hours (he is not easily stirred up, ever. I really do pray regularly that God will grace me with an unshakable soul like his). Long story short, God allowed Clay's "new" orders to be denied.

Blessings from above; back to the "plan."

Pack and load day: July 20th. Movers are to show up from the hours of 8am and 5pm. I was at home eagerly waiting for their arrival, only to watch the hours pass by and...nothing. I called our transportation office to check the status of where they may be incase they were lost, & come to find out, they were never scheduled to come in the first place. Our counselor (each marine family gets assigned a counselor that helps set up the moving process for them) never submitted our paperwork to the moving company, thus never informing them that they were to come to our home on July 20th, even though we were informed on our end. This was problematic because we already had our flights booked for July 31st. To save the monotonous-ness of how the next week flipped flopped back and forth with these like changes, I will just say that we had to change our flight 3 times, & I filed for a new counselor.

As you can see why we now disregard any "plan" that is presented to us, from official military status or not. We really do just laugh (yes, even I do now) at that word because its definition has absolutely no meaning to us. I am still learning to "let go and let God," but He surely is giving me all the possible practice in the meantime.

We were blessed to be able to come home to Pennsylvania to see some family & friends, even with the time restriction. How fortunate we are to have such astonishing, loving people in our lives that make saying "see you later" an emotional challenge. Clay & I will be saying our temporary goodbyes to the US mainland this week, & will be arriving to our new home at the end of this week. We will have a new way to say hello, & that "aloha" will be both a gift, & a challenge at times. The 6 hour time difference will be the first small adjustment. I will welcome you all (virtually) to our new station across the ocean line, & continue to share how the grace of God's hand is at work in our everyday lives.

And as for that typical "five year plan", we do not have one, & there may never be that standard looking one for our family. Sure, there are milestones in life we hope to achieve, Lord willing (yes, children & more travel outside of the US are in our life goals), but for now, we go wherever the wind (the wind is God and the government) takes us.

XO to our family & friends; We love you & will miss you always. PS: we will be back ;)