Moving to Grand Cayman

  August was a whirlwind for my husband and I.  Tension was building inside me from him not working; he was employed yet rarely working and I was left to carry the financial burden of our home even though my heart's deepest desire was to stay at home.  After a very intense conversation, Jacob was searching and applying for jobs like crazy!  Don't get me wrong, my husband was an excellent stay at home dad.  His cooking was superb!! and the house was kept very clean; however, not working was detrimental to our relationship.  He felt worthless and I was becoming bitter because he was doing what I wanted to do.
 During the time Jacob was not working consistently, he went to a couple job fairs and had many interviews, some even stating he was hired.  But nothing panned out until he applied for a bartender position at Agua in Grand Cayman, an itty-bitty island just South of Cuba in the Caribbean.  Living in Las Vegas we were drawn to the service industry and we were both bartenders and a bartender from Las Vegas is exactly what the managers at Agua, were looking for.  Imagine that!  No one other than God could have lined this up more perfectly.  Within just a few weeks Jacob was on a plane to Grand Cayman, a land foreign to us, not even part of the United States of America.
  On September 10, 2011 Joie, Jayden and I bid daddy farewell.  I thought life was tough with me working and Jacob being home, but my eyes were opened to a new appreciation for my husband because life got much harder with him gone.  By this time, Jacob and I had finally come to an agreement that the children would not be going to public school again this year.  So not only did I have to work, but I also had to take full responsibility for our home and the education of my children!  I was stressed out, but the peace of God and Missy helped me through this one.  How did we manage to accomplish school while I worked full time?  We got up really early and finished school before I went to work.  And Missy was gracious enough to feed my children and sometimes me, so we could get in bed earlier.  Thank you Missy =)
  October approached and we were settling into some sort of routine, however the stress from work was increasing and Jacob was already missing us so he purchased our airline tickets to move to Cayman. He said," quit your job and get down here!".
After giving proper resignation at Aria, I had just 3 short weeks to get everything together. I had a garage sale to get rid of most of our possessions. God led me to the story of the rich man who came to him stating how he did this and that and the other, but Jesus told him to sell everything he had. It is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. We brought nothing into this world and we shall take nothing out...
Of course there were some things that I could not part with; those went into storage and my bed, oh my lovely king size super cozy bed that I miss, went to my mom's home. I plan on sleeping in it when I visit. I am really looking forward to visiting!
I had to finalize and close out all accounts and find a home for our puppy and clean out our rental home. Thank goodness we were only renting! Deciding what to bring and what to store and what to get rid of was such a headache, but as I reminisce on the experience it doesn't seem too bad. I couldn't have completed it without Missy or my mom. So many times I would be staring all around my home wondering where to begin. And then once I figured out where to start I would quickly get overwhelmed with that area and move to another area, never really accomplishing anything.  From the time Jacob booked our flights I was filled with a paralyzing anxiety even though I know Phillipians 4:6-7 by heart, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."  I meditated on this verse but the anxiety never ceased.  Still God handled everything.  All the things I was worrying over He took care of; opening doors that I feared would not open.  Over and over again throughout this move God proved how Mighty He really Is.  In Him I find rest; knowing He will uphold my family.