Why Arizona?

In Washington we were often asked, “Why Arizona? Did Tim get transferred? Do either of you have family down there?” In Arizona we’ve been asked, “So what brings you down here? Have you ever been to Arizona before? Do you know about summer?” And, from the cold-weather-by-nature people, “Why would you ever leave Washington?!”

Our answer has always been, “No, Tim wasn’t transferred. He had updated his resume after Azaleos (the company he was working for) was bought out by Avanade, and then let his resume float online. He wasn’t out of the job, he just didn’t appreciate the changes wrought by Avanade. He was later contacted by a recruiter for Drivetime in Arizona, and when he was told that it was for a full-time permanent position, he set up a Skype interview…and we began praying.” I told some the story of how we had prayed before, during, and after the interviews - but never to ask that he’d land the job. We already had a home, a life, in South Everett…so we prayed for confirmation, to know what decision to make if he were to receive an offer. And after each prayer, we received the same answer: peace.

Let me clarify…

Time and again, I would find myself sitting in a corner of our house thinking how much I loved our home. It was our home, not just because we owned it but because everything about it said so much about us. We had shaped that house to be our home, and I was grateful for it. Well, I had done this very thing – sitting in a corner with warm and fuzzy feelings – just days before Tim came home from work asking me what I thought about moving to Arizona. So when it was brought up, all I could say was, “We’ll pray about it.” Now here’s what I meant about “peace”: after that very first prayer, I felt like it was okay…to leave our house, move into a rental, even a smaller home. For the first time since getting our keys, I found myself looking at our house like that was all it was – a house. I knew we’d be able to make a home for ourselves anywhere.

After receiving an answer to our prayers and Tim getting the job offer, we naturally started asking ourselves, “Why Arizona?” It seemed the Lord wanted us there for a reason.

It’s been two weeks since we’ve moved to Chandler, Arizona from Everett, Washington, and in that time we’ve realized a few answers to the above question.

1. Humility. We’re currently renting a house that’s about 500 square feet smaller than the house we had owned. We have no cable nor internet. A lot of our nice new things got scratched and dirty during the move, and some things broke. However…we have air conditioning, a pool in the backyard, a good landlord who paid to have a fence installed around the pool, more space in the backyard for the kids to play, and a library card. And none of our picture frames broke :)
2. Our family. In Everett, Tim worked from 11 to 7-ish (to avoid sitting in traffic for an hour). The kids and I woke up late, the kids went to bed late, and Tim and I went to bed even later. Since our house was a split-level, the living room was upstairs and the family room was downstairs, and although we didn’t have cable, we streamed Netflix on the PlayStation, iPad and Kindle. I had also taught Aislin how to use the computer to play preschool games online. In a nutshell, we had become very comfortable, lazy, and perhaps a little disconnected. We had given our kids enough resources to keep them occupied (mainly so they’d leave us alone), but when we wanted to spend time together as a family, say for family home evening, we were either too tired at the end of the day or it was too late once Tim had finally come home. Now Tim works from 8 to 4, we all wake up early and go to bed early too. It’s insane. We’ve never been morning people, and we’ve certainly never been early-to-bed people either…but I guess we do it naturally because of the early morning sun and heat! We also spend a lot of time together in the living room (our only living/family room on the only level of the house) watching family movies or reading to the kids, or sitting around the dining table and eating ice cream. (That particular activity we do at least twice a day!) And when the kids get restless, we don’t throw our tablets at them. We just throw them outside ;)  
3. Tim. It’s his turn to be home!

We’re grateful for this experience and have barely been able to grasp all the blessings we’ve received since moving here. Although the drive was long and we encountered a few hiccups after getting into town, and although we miss our family and friends in Washington so much, we’ve never felt like we made the wrong decision in moving here. We’re excited for whatever else Arizona has in store for us!