Our last day in our Oklahoma house!

When Chris first mentioned the possibility of us moving to Oklahoma I’ll be honest, I was not very happy. Most every Texan knows the age old saying “I may not have been born in Texas, but I got here as fast as I could!” That’s how I felt about Texas, I just love my “home” state. Although, as we’ve departed Oklahoma I find myself realizing how much I have LOVED Oklahoma! These past 18 months I have learned more about what “loving your neighbor” looks like, then I could have ever hoped to learn. I’ve seen and felt what it looks like to truly love your neighbor and what sacrificing for one another looks like. Our family has been so loved on in Yukon, Oklahoma, more than I could have anticipated for only living in this dear town for such a short time.

Just a few weeks after we moved into our house we joined an amazing church and met some amazing friends. One family offered to help watch our older 3 girls while I was in labor with number 4, and sure enough just a few weeks later, we had to take them up on the offer! Split between 2 homes, we had to rely on our friends to help with our kids while we spent the next few days in the hospital with our new baby. While completely amazing, the help did not stop there, for the next 3 weeks we had meals delivered to us as we adjusted to life with 4 kids by the wonderful women of our church community!

I could go on about how friends rallied around us as we prepared to go overseas! Friends who kept 3 of our children while we visited Rome, Italy for almost 2 weeks, friends who came and sat in my living room and cleaned my kitchen while I showered, cookies appearing in my mailbox “just because,” friends who came in and watched our girls so Chris and I could go on a date, friends who “adopted” our girls so they could have “grandfriends” and friends who offered their garage to store our worldly possessions while we travel the states in preparation to go overseas! Honestly, this is just the tip of the iceberg of our Yukon community!

The love we have felt over the past 18 months has been a balm to our souls that we never could have imagined we needed. While we leave in tears and sadness, we rejoice in knowing we are not the same people we were when we came to Oklahoma. We have learned so much about truly loving our neighbors, and we have first-hand knowledge on the impact that it has on a family’s life!