The Past Year (Part 2)

Okay.

Things aren't crazy.
We aren't crazy.
People buy houses from the other side of the world all the time, right?

I'll be the first to admit that when we told our few close friends and family what our plans were, the response was normally a question or a look of confusion.

We bought a house in Oklahoma. 
We hadn't lived in Oklahoma in over ten years.
And, no, Blake wasn't looking for a job in Oklahoma.
What are we doing?

We pushed forward, moving our things out of storage and shipping most of our things from Australia back to the United States. To Oklahoma.
Blake moved our remaining items to a new apartment two blocks away from The Bar on Flinders Street.
The kids and I moved into our new home in Oklahoma and began to unpack.

Traveling back and forth between Oklahoma and Australia was intense. We weren't sure what kind of schedule we should establish on how much time to spend in one place or the other. Blake's current role would soon transition into a new one that could be anywhere in the world, and because of this, we didn't feel confident in settling anywhere for too long.

There were long stretches of time where our family was separated. During these periods of time, we doubted our decision to have a house in the States. It felt wrong for us to be apart. There were other times, though, that I rejoiced that I was close to my family.

Kelsey's graduation from nursing school

Mikey's 1st Major League game

Ella's 1st birthday

However, I mourned for Blake. Knowing he was across the ocean, across the world was hard. There really isn't a way to accurately describe it, but I imagine that more people than I realize can empathize in one way or another how I felt. 

Blake felt the same way that I did, only his sadness was very lonely. In order to maximize his time, he devoted more energy to the men's Bible study that he had joined before all of this began and for the first time, he began to read his Bible daily, reading it from cover to cover. The growth of Blake's understanding of God's Word would provide guidance for the decisions that he would soon have to make.