A New Adventure

Life has been so amazing the last 3 months. I have seen God work and watched him put things in place. Daily miracles if you will, more so then ever before in my life. Just the time line to me looking at it and how things happened is mind blowing!
It has been no secret that the Lee household is homesick for MN, family and friends. We had decided as a family that we would stay in CO through Caleb's senior year, but God had other plans. Without the events leading up to it and the things that Caleb endured we would have clung to the idea that he needed to stay here in CO through his senior year. God is wondrous, he knew that to have a change of conviction and heart for first Caleb and then us as his parents was the only way we would move on and seek the opportunity God was lining up for us.


It hasn't taken a rocket scientist to notice that the Lee household doesn't exactly 'fit' here in CO. The culture and people are vastly different then the old Norwegian's we are used to. Cowboy hats and boots along with belt buckles that take up half the stomach of the wearer, the Lee's could never pull it off. We aren't cowboys, not a one of us. The attitudes and beliefs also are different. Being kind isn't enough. I won't go into details about what has happened because it doesn't matter all that matters is God putting those situations, those people, and what was done and said to open our eyes and have a change of heart. I thank him everyday for a conversation one night, it hurt my heart and crushed me because of what this person had become to me, but it made me realize and reevaluate exactly what I had thought to be truth. God is so all knowing and when he chooses to open your eyes and show you a glimpse into a situation you had thought to be a good friendship, someone you would have stood with now matter what and backed up and cared about. Accepting them for who they were even though what they were doing did not measure up to what they were saying and telling others. I have never had God reach down and sitting across the room from the person have God open my eyes and hear, for the first time exactly what this person is saying through all the words. I will tell you it shook me to the core, I walked away shaking. I didn't say anything to anyone and actually told Caleb to do something this person had asked even. Three days later Caleb came to me and without me saying a word about anything, he sat down to talk to me and said out loud EXACTLY what God had revealed to me.


This was the first in a line of miraculous acts God has done int he last 4 months. The end of that conversation with Caleb is him looking at Paul and I and saying to us, "It's time to look for a job elsewhere Dad. We need to move Aaron and Isaiah away from here, they need to know real friendship, and have people who won't talk bad about them one day and want to be best friends the next. I will be fine and succeed anywhere, graduating from here does not matter to me. The only thing I will miss is Aubree. Come college it's kind of inevitable we are going to be apart. We will either make it or we won't, besides tickets from Denver to Minneapolis are only $74 so we can see each other. It will be hard but I'll be okay. We need to move." This conversation was serious and we all thought it through, Paul and I still weren't activly looking for anything because Tom and Susan Walsh (Paul's boss) have been great to us. Paul likes his job. So we said we would start praying about it but we weren't in any hurry to actually do anything, I felt if we were going to move it wasn't going to be just anywhere. We all decided we needed to move to MN. Jonathan and Caleb both attending college there and planning to, the positives would be well worth it, in State tuition, being able to see them on college breaks, being closer to Family, and being able to be in my niece and nephews lives and the cousins to be able to know each other.


Job's in MN are not very open, the job market especially in Paul's line of work is pretty tight. As a family we started praying and individually. Paul got his resume in order. About a week went by and a friend sent us an ad that she had seen in the paper. We looked at it for 4 days, it wasn't with a John Deere dealer and as most of you know Paul has been with John Deere in one form or another for around 20 years. We began talking about it one night, and he decided to e-mail them a resume as a getting his name out there again kind of thing, never expecting any return. The job was 30 miles from my parents, and my brother we would be close to family again. At 9:30 pm on a Wednesday night Paul emailed his resume to the dealership. At 6:30 am Thursday morning the manager from the dealership called him here at home. Paul and he made arrangments to talk later that night since Paul was on his way to work and didn't have time to talk much, so Thursday night Deric (the store manager from the Case IH dealer) called back at 7pm. Paul and he spent 2 hours on the phone and the boys and I prayer for 30 minutes of that that if God wanted this to happen his hand had to be in it all. By the end of the phone interview Paul had been offered a job over the phone and told to name his price. He hadn't accepted, you know when you kind of feel that feeling, this is way too good to be true?, well we were there. God had never answered our prayers so clearly or so fast before. We thought about it and prayed over the weekend but were hesitant to take the job over the phone without a meeting in person. Then we got a call that my Grandmother had passed away and the funeral was going to be the following Tuesday,also wanting us to come so we could sing at the prayer service. I wanted to go and we were making plans for me to return to MN for the funeral. We went to bed that night kind of forgetting about the job. At 2am both Paul and I woke up together for some reason turning to each other and saying, wait a minute if we all went back for the funeral he could then meet with Daric on Wednesday on our way home. Taking one extra day seemed to be just God given. So that is what we did.


Paul met with Daric and also was surprised to walk into the meeting and have Mike the Regional Manager there too, but he liked them both immediatly. Titan Equipment has 80 dealerships and they were looking for a Parts Manager who specializes in inventory control. Paul's question to them was how much time on the counter selling parts would he spend, and their reply, Why would you be on the counter selling parts? If you are needed on the counter then its time to hire another parts person.


Paul still didn't accept the job. He wanted to but we wanted to make sure it was right. They wanted him to start July 1st, and Jonathan and Caleb had jobs here for the summer. There was so much to think about, should they stay here? Where would they stay? Should we leave? Where were we going to live? Could we find a house to rent? So once again we started to pray that if this is what God wanted us to do the answers would just come. I am still blown away by how fast and easy every thing fell into place. I put out a request for prayer to help with these things, with the announcement we were moving but there was still things unsettled. Within an hour, two people offered a place for Jon and Caleb to stay. Within 2 days we had a place for them to spend the 30 days between the time we leave and they leave, so they can finish out the summer both with a job. Within a week people had forwarded me leads on houses, and I had placed an ad in the paper. The moving was another concern, how to move us with only 2 drivers going back and four cars? Leaving 2 drivers and 1 car here. Within 5 days that was solved and worked out. One vehicle got left in MN and Jon flew home, y parents went down and picked up the van from my sisters on a trip they were making anyway, so no extra traveling even. Which leave us with 3 cars to get back. some friends had moved a year ago and they had used this truck service where you pack it and they drive it, checking into that we decided that was perfect for us. Paul then called and accepted the job, we were still worried about the cost of the moving truck and then another prayer was answered. We were going on faith at this point and only faith, we didn't have the money for the truck but we rented it and decided to act out in faith that God would provide. During the acceptance conversation, Paul brought us his concerns to Daric and Daric asked for the number of the moving company. Within 2 days the truck was paid for. Another answer to prayer, and we also have 30 days storage if we need it and don't have a place to move into right away. Paul will drive the Ford and pull the Madza, I will drive the Buick leaving the Olds for Jon and Caleb to drive back.
On Sunday we got a call and answer to our ad. A 5 bedroom house 2 blocks from the school for rent. We have accepted the house, only glitch is they need to find a place to go because they are living in it right now. So once again I will trust and have faith that God will find them a place in the next 30 days and it will be a seamless move.
So Paul will finally be able to do what he is trained to and loves to do, be the inventory control person and manage the parts department.






We are still praying for which school to put Caleb in, along with the place to open up so the move will be seamless, and they can move out before we get there; our biggest prayer is comfort for Aubree. It is going to be so hard to leave her. It will be hard for her and for us and I know there are lonely times ahead for us all but I am praying god will keep his comfort on us all and that the school schedule's will work out so that Caleb and I will be here to support her in the big moments (and prom) and she will be able to come to MN for Caleb's big senior moments too.
In all this I have learned so much. God is so concerned about our everyday lives! I have always known that and read it in the Bible but I had never felt it so profoundly until the last 4 months. I have also learned valuable lessons and things about myself. True friendship is such a gift. Being more aware and selective about who I let get close in our lives. Most importantly though~ Be true to who I am never let others make me bitter or my children bitter, LET GO and LET GOD! He knows and see's so much more then we do. We are swayed by friendship and are easily taken in but God knows the truth. So trust him, let God lead. Forgive and move on being true to who God has made you and who you have become even if you get hurt let God heal and let him take care of the retribution. It isn't our place. We are called to love as he loves. So as for me and my house we will follow the Lord~ we will love and forgive and let go and let God.