An Update on Our Move

Since our last update, we have been thinking hard about where to settle when we return to the States come December. We have been praying fervently that God would give us insight and direction, and we believe He has done so.

Our summer travels gave us good time to consider many locations. We talked to many people, we considered churches, we looked at different homeschooling opportunities, and we weighed different UBI work arrangements. Even though we were open to all options, we were not seriously considering the west coast because (among other things) we simply couldn’t afford to live there.

However, as we continued to pray, we received two unrelated and unexpected offers in Northern California which would enable us to afford rent in the area. The help offered in both cases was quite unexpected, and since we had been praying that God would lead us, Katie and I chose to lean in and consider more seriously a move closer to her family.

Soon after, Katie and I left for our annual personal spiritual retreat. We spent several days praying and thinking about what God seemed to be showing us. When we came together afterward, we both felt we should move forward with the offers we had received. After several discussions with those involved, we decided it was time to commit to the move.
This location probably seems obvious to some of you. The area certainly honors much of our original motivation to leave Slovakia: we want to be closer to family, we want to be available to help our parents, and we want to have a better support system around us. With Katie’s family literally just down the road and my parents only a two-hour drive away, in many ways it does seem like a straight-forward decision.

However, one of the other reasons we were not considering the west coast was because of the 10-hour time difference with Ukraine. Ten hours will make aligning my work with UBI more challenging. Also, this location is the least convenient of all the places we were considering for flying in and out of. Yet despite these challenges, we feel strongly that we would prefer to give this arrangement a try rather than always wonder whether or not we should have.

We are approaching this move as a six- to twelve-month trial period. Looking at it in this way will lower the stakes and allow us to adjust to life in the U.S. without feeling we must quickly make a more final decision about where we’re going to settle long term.

 After much prayer and reflection, we both feel good about this opportunity. We ask that you please continue to pray over this transition. We have begun selling our things here, and we are all feeling a little sad about saying goodbye soon. These next three months are starting to feel pretty heavy.

Thank you all for your words of support and feedback.