"You're Not in Kansas Anymore..."

After many, many prayers and a year of suffering, that it is all finally over. Much to the jubilation of my entire family, we have found another place to go. Actually, we've found two, but I'll get to that in a minute.

My dad has been offered two jobs, one in Texas and one in Georgia. At this point, we are still unsure of our next destination, but as is typical with the Smith family, we never decide anything until the last minute. We try to be as spontaneous as possible...or something like that. Nonetheless, in less than twenty-four hours, we are to have made a decision.

But it really doesn't matter anymore. I am so overcome with this gratitude for the mercy of God. and how all of this came together can only be a miracle. At the beginning of the summer, I began dedicatingly saying a nightly Divine Mercy chaplet ( I have an incredibly strong devotion to the Passion of Christ, which is a story for another day...). After six months, a wonderful friend of mine, who is going to Heaven, suggested I say a Novena to Saint Jude. So I did. Not one week later did Dad get to final job cut interviews. On the day of his Texas interview, Dad was supposed to go in at 1 pm. Strangely enough, it was randomly pushed back to 3 pm. As I was sitting in mass that day, it hit me: that's the Hour of Divine Mercy! How ironic...or maybe not. When Dad called that afternoon, he told me he had nailed the interview. Friday came and he nailed the Georgia one, as well.

This week rolled around and I don't think I have ever been so anxious in my life. Monday and Tuesday crawled by so slowly. Then, Wednesday came, the day that we might hear any news. On a whim at workstudy, I went the "That Girl's" blog and checked the Saint of the Day. It was Saint Faustina's feast day. I got so excited for a second, thinking how absolutely divine it would be if we got one of the jobs today. Well, we did. Saint Faustina and the Divine Mercy Chaplet, with Saint Jude as her sidekick, answered so very many prayers!

I am so thrilled. After so long and intense a year, we are finally getting to move on and have normal life. We are going to have beds and a house. We will have clothes (we had some, let me stipulate, but not many), and furniture. This Christmas, God willing, we will have our decorations and our celebration in our own house.

So many people take so much for granted. And I must confess that, until we lost everything, I did, too. It's very easy to do. But after having nothing, you suddenly realize that it doesn't matter what you lack because God is always there. He is so incredible. He just blows me away.

I must thank everyone for their prayers. You all will never know how much they meant. And there were those who sent other things, too. You know who you are. It all meant so much. But most of all, my friends meant the world to me. I've never really had friends to speak of before. And now I have many. The way you all stepped up and prayed and listened when I needed it so bad meant so very much. You all are such a blessing and I honestly could not have made it through with out you all. Thank you all. I don't deserve any of you.

We will need some more prayers for a little while longer, until we get settled. But now, praise God, they will be happy little prayers. And the Smith Family will once again move on. We, as in the past, go in search of God's will. But now, we will be a much happier moving family. And we won't be in Kansas anymore!