Here is the summary version, still hoping to get the whole journey into writing, but that may not happen any time soon... so we won't leave you hanging any longer.

SUMMARY STEPS OF OUR DECISION TO MOVE

1) Jon grew up in Santa Barbara, California.

2) It is incredibly beautiful and there is an amazing community of people there

3) We have always wanted/seen ourselves living in California (winter, snow, flat lands... don't bring out our strong traits)

4) Jon is connected with the Habitat for Humanity (where he presently works) office in Santa Barbara through a connection with a family friend. They have some nice conversations..

5) Nice conversations turn into "maybe" they would like to talk about him joining their team in the future.

6) "Maybe" they would like him to join their team turns into they would like him to join the team... now.

7) Stacy takes all this with a grain of salt and doesn't get her hopes up, but is also very excited. Stacy looks at Craigslist and applies for a job that looks intriguing.

8) Stacy has phone interview the next day.

9) They want to talk to Stacy further...

10) We travel to Santa Barbara for a dear friends wedding, and also both have job interviews scheduled in between wedding activities.

11) Jon learns he will receive a job offer within the next few days.

12) Stacy has a great interview.

13) Jon gets job.

14) Stacy gets job.

15) We decide.. WE ARE MOVING!!

Oh yeah, and in between these steps, we prayed a lot :)

Clearly, God has opened doors for us. That has been our prayer all along and our key phrase. I can't tell you how many people we told over this past year, "Well, we aren't trying to move to California, but we are open to it, and if God opened doors I think we would run through them!" I don't think either of us expected doors to actually open!!!

As it became clear things may be moving forward, we spent weeks going through the pros and cons of moving. We struggled with not wanting to get attached to the idea, but also realizing we needed to make life decisions based off the idea it may happen. We thought about the move (maybe too much in attempt to be logical) and realized that we couldn't just pick up and move to the most expensive state in the country and just expect to make it. More importantly, the decision to leave family, friends, our Church, stable jobs, owning a home, a diverse city with endless activities at our fingertips... there are a lot of reasons not to move!

However, when we were in Santa Barbara just a couple weeks ago we had to work really hard to come up with reasons why we wouldn't move there if things fell into place. Really, it is such an incredible place- and God's beauty surrounds you all the time. Our brother/pastor put it well as we were driving around and he said- this is why the phrase "It's all good" came out of California. Because you just look from one direction to another and say, "God made this all and it is all good".

By NO means do we think Santa Barbara is perfect. The struggles people face are deep and often hidden. There is still racism/classicism and a struggle just to survive. And the state may also break off the country and fall into the ocean one day.....

It is with such joy and humbleness that we can say, this is where we know we need to go. It is a huge risk, but where would we be without taking risks? We are excited to see how God will use us and what he will teach us. We know it will be hard, but we have such a peace about it and are ready to start down this road and see where it takes us. Everyone has been super supportive (with a balance of being sad) which is also confirmation for us.

Wow. Anyway, we are super excited, and also overwhelmed. Lots of closure that needs to happen and more decisions to be made.... We are working hard to continue trusting as God has taken care of us countless times in the past, we trust that everything will work out just as it is supposed to.