For us, the move marked the beginning of our next four months as nomads. A friend graciously opened his home to us as we waited for baby #2 to arrive. Then, we would spend a few weeks with Adam’s parents, a few weeks with my parents in Wisconsin, a month in Colorado for training, and a few weeks with Tates Creek in Lexington before leaving for the field. The months ahead before Ethiopia seemed daunting, without having any place to call home.

We moved out in a week with the help of many friends. Some came to pack dishes, Adam’s dad made trip after trip with the trailer to Adams sisters,’ who allowed us to use her third floor for storage. Marshal and Rachel, who recently moved back from Ethiopia, took most of our furniture. My dad came to entertain Adeline while we packed.

I watched as everything around me, everything that was comfortable and familiar, was in disarray.  A lot of the work was mental: “What needs to go in trunks? What should stay?” I could relate to the mother in the Swiss Family Robinson who wanted to pack her china. But, as much as I wanted to bring them along, I knew most of my Joanna Gaines “finds” were going to have to stay.

There was mental work in the constant, quick decisions to be made. But then there were also the physical demands of moving while 9 months pregnant in the middle of August. I started to really feel it once every stick of furniture was gone–and the only place to sit down were the front steps. I was so thankful for the friends who came to help sort through all of our belongings–some of them making countless trips up and down stairs to clear out the attic, some of them bending down to clean out the refrigerator, all things I couldn’t do.

Especially when I am obviously not up to the task, I am learning to draw from God’s inexhaustible resources. Through those that helped, and by His Sovereign hand, He carried me through “moving week.” Had it not all seemed so ridiculously impossible, I might have missed out on His sufficient grace.

One example of His amazing way of blessing us through all of this: the last day of the move, Adeline and I took a drive to say goodbye to the horses down the road. We have taken many a stroller ride to see them. Sometimes (usually) they are up on the hill. This time, it’s like they knew we were leaving: they came one by one to the fence, bent down, and let Adeline pat their noses. What a gift.

And, though the next four months are uncertain, I know He goes before us. Adam was reading a Golden book version of Psalm 139 to Adeline the other night, and had to pause as he read “even if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast” (Ps. 139: 9-10). At the beginning of this transition, that was the perfect reminder for all of us.