And that is what we did...

In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.  (Proverbs 3:6 NKJV)


Jay and I were married in 1995 when I had a few months left of court reporting school.  I completed school and worked as a freelance court reporter in 1996.  Early in 1997, I got a letter in the mail announcing a job opening for the Second Judicial Circuit, State of Illinois, in Lawrence County.  Hhhmm.  Let me digress a moment.  In court reporting school, we were told to not even think about a career in the court system, they were too hard to come by; you better just get it out of your mind.  So I really didn't give it a lot of serious thought...until that day. 

Lawrenceville was only about 45-50 miles away.  I was already driving an average of 90 miles one-way to my freelance work.  This came with a steady salary, benefits, regular hours...Okay, I'll give it a shot, never thinking for a million years that they would hire me.  So I applied and interviewed and they offered me the job.  If I took the job, we would have to move.  Jay and I never had any desire to move away from home.  This is where we wanted to stay forever.  But we developed a plan.  We would take the job, move to Lawrenceville, save our money, come home, build a house and start our family.  And that is what we did. 

We moved to Lawrenceville in February of 1997 and moved home December of 2000.  We had spent the four years we were living in Lawrenceville driving home almost every weekend, sometimes twice a week, staying the whole weekend or part of the weekend.  It was constant.  I decided to ask if I had to live in the circuit.  Nope.  So once our daughter Madolyn was born in August of 2000, we figured out what we were going to do. When our house sold, we would pack up and head home.  And that is what we did.

You know how some people put their house up for sale and it is for sale forever?  Well, we were not one of those people.  I can't remember now how many days our house was listed, but we sold it almost immediately.  It was crazy, and we got a really good deal.  The kind of deal that would help us build our 'dream' home in that spot we picked out when we were 18 years old.  And that is what we did.  Moving home was a whirlwind.  If you only knew our parents and our friend's parents that helped us...Picture for a moment a coffee table with things on it in your living room.  Now picture that on a trailer strapped down.  And that is what we did.

The work on our new home began in the spring of 2001.  After a lot of hard work from family and friends, we moved into the house in September.  It is so funny to look back on things and reflect, realizing how God has prepared you for things.  You know, he really knows what He is doing if we let Him lead our paths.  We never wanted to leave the safety and comfort of our hometown, even if only for a few years, but it seems to have worked out the way it was supposed to.  Jay and I have always tried our best to pray about things and follow what we think God's plan is for our lives, and in this particular instance, that is what we did.