It was late December. Christmas had just passed. Our house was filled with boxes and bags ready to be moved. It was a bittersweet time. We loved our home and more-so our family. Kory and I knew we would deeply miss them. We would miss our friends and church as well. We were confident, however, that this was the journey we should take. After two years of praying, planning, and preparing, it was time for “I love you’s” and “see you laters,” but not “goodbyes.”
The day of our move was beautiful. The morning sunrise was stunning. There was excitement in our hearts, but also fears to overcome. There was joyful anticipation over the new journey and people we would meet, but also sorrow over departing from loved ones. A verse from Ecclesiastes 3:1 became an encouragement as we pioneered our way across country: “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” This was a new season and a new time, and we didn’t want to miss all that God was going to do in our lives and in the lives of others by focusing on loss from the past. So “trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6). That’s what we were committed to do each and every day–acknowledge God and trust in Him, for He is much more capable of leading and guiding us than we.
Our boat was docked in Charleston, South Carolina. We were under contract, and the deal was set to close February 1st, 2023. We deemed it best to move to Charleston for a month prior to the closing to prepare for the big move upon our new boat, Hope! We rented an AirBnB on James Island near Folly Beach, about 10 minutes from the Charleston City Marina where the boat was docked, and about 20 minutes from a storage facility where we would store our furnishings and household goods that were not going to go on the boat. Charleston has since become our hub when we are in the United States. Our good friends live only a couple of hours away from there, and have graciously agreed to store one of our vehicles so we have a car when we come back to town.
The AirBnB we rented was a darling apartment on the second floor, above a handyman business. It was fully furnished and had everything we needed during the month of our stay. The bed, however, was as hard as a rock and gave us daily backaches. And the barking dogs in the downstairs apartment, and the busy highway nearby, kept us up many nights. But we were thankful for the roof over our head, the fully stocked kitchen and bath, and the great location to all that we needed. We could hardly wait, however, to get a restful night’s sleep on our new boat and have a quite and peaceful night on the water. We counted down the days!
