Our Arctic Adventure

Seven weeks ago I had never heard of Kotzebue, Alaska and now I live here.

It has been a crazy ride and the story that goes along with it is a little long, but worthy of telling, so grab a seat and a warm cup of something to sip and come along as I tell you the tale of how we came to live in a native village 30 miles north of the Arctic Circle.

My husband Dave has been in need of and searching for a new job for the better part of the past year. Last spring he left the company that he had worked nearly twenty years for to go to work for a new company. It became quickly apparent that the move to the new company was not the best for him or our family. So Dave began looking for a new job.

One evening while he and I were walking through Ikea (my idea of a hot date!) we were talking about the need for a new job and the idea of taking an adventure. In that discussion we decided that we wanted to be willing to go anywhere that God led us. We wanted to take our kids on an adventure somewhere outside of our tidy little suburban bubble. Now don't get me wrong; I LOVED my suburban bubble. It was cozy and comfortable. It fit me well but after that evening we both started praying for an adventure along with a new job for Dave and I always jokingly added "I'll go anywhere as long as it's south of the 47th parallel".

In August of last year Dave got a call from a head hunter in his field that was looking to fill some positions with a company on the East coast and within a matter of a few days and after quite a few phone conversations it looked like we would be moving to the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina. We were excited, especially as talks with the company moved forward, to begin what we thought was our new adventure. Unfortunately, or actually fortunately, things ended up not working out with that company and shortly before we were to fly out to check things out in North Carolina, God closed the doors. At that the time we were very sad that this position had not worked out, but looking back we can clearly see many reasons why that was not the adventure for us.

One of the most evident reasons why that move did not happen would rear it's ugly head shortly after those doors slammed shut.

TO BE CONTINUED................