that being said...when is life for the villarreals ever stagnant or unchanging? (the answer is never). just two short months after we receive the greatest blessing of our lives, we'll be moving, again!
surprise surprise!
when i found out i was pregnant in march, we weren't quite sure what God's plans were for our family in terms of where we should plant our roots. we had been back and forth between staying in denver or moving back to california. we started to really envision ourselves in denver and could really see us raising a family here. plus, denver is awesome; why would you want to live anywhere else?
well, family. that's the main thing that we really had to consider. when we moved to colorado in 2014, we knew that we would be lone wolves out here. we didn't know anybody, not even a friend of a friend of a friend. in grand junction, i battled deep depression and anxiety, and when we moved to denver, things really started looking up. we made friends, found a church we loved, really tried to get plugged into community. until i got pregnant. then i couldn't do anything. i was so sick i seriously thought i might die. and no, i don't believe i'm exaggerating. things have certainly gotten better for me throughout my pregnancy, and during summer, we decided we needed to really talk about where to plant roots since our little guy would be coming soon (ps so weird that we're going to have a son...like i am so beyond stoked and who am i kidding? so weird we're going to have a kid. like there's a real life human baby inside of me)
in august, after much prayer and discussion, aaron reached out to the necessary people at his work to start a transfer discussion. we gleaned so much from our families growing up, and felt that if God opened the door, we would move back to southern california. most of our california friends would think we're crazy because for some reason, everyone wants to get the heck outta there. and trust, we definitely considered that. we were those people once. but in thinking big picture, in thinking about asher, in thinking about our families, we knew that the next step was to at least try.
now, we knew we really didn't want to be in orange county. orange county isn't terrible, but it definitely isn't the place we wanted to plant roots. so we prayed. and researched. and talked. and for some reason, san diego was laid on our hearts. san diego has always been a special place for us. it's where aaron and i were engaged, where we spent a few day dates, where we've just always seen ourselves. so after voicing his desire for a transfer in august, we were told we needed to wait. we were also told that san diego may not be available, so it might be long beach or anaheim. we told them we had a timeline: we could either (safely) move before october or after january. we wanted a two month window before and after asher's birth just because we knew we would go crazy without it.
so we waited. and prayed. and waited. and cried. and stressed. and waited. august turned into september turned into october. i was seriously always thinking about it. then, my mom (don't ya love moms?) sent me this awesome quote: "do not say in thine heart what thou wilt or wilt not do, but wait upon God until He makes known His way. so long as that way is hidden it is clear that there is no need of action, and that He accounts Himself responsible for all the results of keeping thee where thou art." y'all, this blew my mind. suddenly, i was at peace. i felt calm. i felt like okay, yeah, i don't have any decision to make right now anyways, so why stress? so it melted away. and God replaced it with this overwhelming feeling of contentedness. i felt like we were right where we needed to be. so i became comfortable with the idea of staying in denver. maybe that was God's plan. family isn't just biological; we had made some wonderful friends at church who felt like family to us.
and then,
it happened.
aaron called me and said "are you sitting down?"
and of course i was because i'm lazy and pregnant.
and he told me there was an opening.
in
san diego!
and
it was a promotion!!!!
i was speechless. which doesn't happen because i always have a lot to say and tend to overtalk my points. i blame my parents. they're both talkers.
so we took some time. we prayed. we thought about logistics. and then we accepted. and we cried.
God is so good. He just always provides and i admit i am always so quick to forget that.
so we're moving! and having a baby.
my head kind of spins at the thought of the next season.
we have a baby.
then we go to california for 11 days less than a month later.
then we move 27 days after we come back to denver.
guess i probably should've been prepping or packing or whatever instead of writing this. but this is what i want to remember. this craziness, this excitement, this time in our lives. i am proud of where God has taken us, and i can't wait for our next adventure.
