It's finally happened- warning LONG post

Brenden and I moved to Nebraska 2 weeks after we were married in July of 2004.  If you do the math, that makes 9 years we've lived here!  This boggles my mind to think about. 

We moved to Lincoln so Brenden could do his masters degree in History at UNL.  We planned on moving right after the masters but that obviously wasn't the Lord's plan.  We stayed in Lincoln to do his Ph.D.  

There was a job opportunity at ASU right after he finished his Ph.D. coursework.  I just knew this was the opportunity for us!  I was pregnant with Emmie and had it worked out in my mind just how perfect it would be to live right by family, but this obviously wasn't the Lord's plan.  After they flew him down to interview, the job was shortly cut so we stayed in Lincoln and Brenden finished his dissertation.  

Brenden finished his dissertation and graduated in 2010.  We just knew this was our year and Brenden would get a tenure track job and life would be grand, but this wasn't the Lord's plan.  We stayed in Lincoln yet another year while I had Peter and worked full time.  This was by far the hardest year for us, but we have fond memories of that year. 

 In 2011 we had planned yet again to get that great tenure track job, and yet again the Lord had different plans for us.  We moved to Kearney, NE where Brenden got a job as a Visiting Assistant Professor in the History Department. We have lived in Kearney for 2 years now and have loved every minute.  We have made friends here that we were supposed to make. 

After 5 attempts to move and 5 years on the job market, we finally got that permanent job.  Like every other time we have attempted to plan, the Lord had different plans for us.  We didn't get that tenure track history job.  Brenden will be working as a historian for the LDS church working on the Joseph Smith Papers.  We are delighted!  We get to move to Salt Lake City which is the perfectly located between Arizona and Washington.  We will see so much more of family, we will get to live in a beautiful place with mountains, we will be reunited with great friends from Lincoln, we will have a Costco... 

We have been blessed.  The Lord truly knew what was best for us.  I don't think our plan would have even compared to the experiences and memories we have made in Nebraska.  I cried when I moved here and I will cry when I leave!

You would think that after that many years Brenden and I would clue in to whatever the Lord was trying to teach us.  I do think we learned some valuable lessons from our time here.  Here are just a few:

1.  The Lord will answer your prayers.  Just an example- I was terrified to move to NE.  I had never lived outside of Arizona.  I remember praying that I would make good friends.  I can not tell you how many times over this prayer has been answered.  

2.  Bigger isn't better.  I thought Lincoln was so small when we first moved there.  There wasn't enough to do or so I thought.  I couldn't understand why people had lived there... forever.  It took me a long time to get it.  There is something to be said for smaller town life.  You get to know your neighbors and have friendly conversations with strangers in the grocery store line. When we moved to Kearney this was even more apparent.  I began seeing the same people everywhere I went.  I love it!  I also like having a 2 minute drive everywhere I go.  I will miss this. 

3.  It made me grateful for what I had.  Even though my life didn't pan out the way I had planned it, I was always blessed.  We have 2 delightful children, we always lived in a comfortable house (not always the most up to date), we had great friends and had fun!  These last 9 years forced me to slow down and recognize my blessings.

4. Patience, patience, patience.  Blessings will come as long as we are patient and have faith! Despite all of our best efforts the Lord always knew better. 

   Whoever came up with the state motto is correct.
Nebraska: The good life.