Over the last week I’ve been keenly aware of each day passing as we approached today, July 1, 2018… the one-year anniversary of our move to West Virginia.

Is there protocol on how to celebrate this type of anniversary? Should I make a cake? Is here a special song that should be sung? Some sort of ceremony to be observed? haha

I’ll celebrate it Jill Style and I will write a blog post.

Facebook memories make it a little easier to remember my thoughts from one year ago…

One year ago the staff at Camp Cowen had finished working on the Crouch House just in time for Josh and our 2 older boys to arrive and begin moving in…

One year ago our family and friends had gathered at our house at Camp Vick to help with last minute packing, cleaning, and a few last hugs before we’d leave on #thenextbignarrawayadventure

Then we hit the road, me and 6 of the 8 kids in our van towing a trailer of bikes for what I had been telling myself would be a 9-hour travel day. We all made it safely even though our bike trailer only made half the trip that day. You can read of our adventures by clicking here.

And we were home.

Home. Over the last year the concept of home has taken on new meaning. At first the emotions were raw…

You can move all your stuff, pack it up in boxes, bring it to a new place, set it up… You can change your mailing address, insurance information, get new driver’s licenses… You can up and take you, your spouse, all your kids, and a few pets… bring them to a new house and that doesn’t mean it just becomes home… 

’cause there is this silly problem of your heart.

You can move all of those physical things but the heart doesn’t relocate so easily.

You can read about that by clicking here.

But time passes, life goes on, and you find a new normal. Our kids got plugged into the local schools, activities, sports, church life. We’ve learned to traverse the roadways that once seemed like foreign lands and can now drive them comfortably. We’ve found doctors, hair stylists, and restaurants we liked. We bought a new van. We’ve connected with new people and made new friends. We finished one year of school. We’ve had our first hospital visit for one of the kids.

A lot can happen in a year. And one year later, interestingly enough, Josh was traveling the opposite direction as he headed to NY to bring 3 Narrawaggles to spend the week in Springville with grandparents and friends. I didn’t stumble the same in trying to remember which place to refer to as home. Because West Virginia is home and the kids were going to visit people in New York.

Now, that doesn’t mean that my heart isn’t split. Because times come when my heart is sure is torn, wanting to be in two places at once. I’ve had more of those moments over the last year than I could have imagined.

But each time it comes back to this question: do you trust me?

Do I trust in God’s call to West Virginia? Do I trust that God is in control of what is happening in NY even when we aren’t there? Do I trust God in the little and the big? Do I trust God in the moments that fit my plans and in those that don’t? Do I trust God when life is easy and when times get tough?

Jill… do you trust me?

I wrote this last year, while I waited to find out if I would be hired to be the Associate Director of Camping and Youth here in West Virginia, God was working on my heart of trusting Him. It is no different today, even though the big move happened one year ago, each day is a big opportunity to trust in God.

So that’s where I will start this day on the one-year anniversary of our move to West Virginia, choosing to trust God.