I haven’t wrote in a long while. For a time, I just didn’t have any updates at all, so I didn’t know what to write. When April came and everything regarding us moving started taking place, I had so much to write and process but couldn’t! April and May felt very lonely, scary, distant, but at the same time exciting. It felt like we had this huge, life altering secret that we really couldn’t talk about yet. For those who have been following the blogs, you know they started to bring awareness to infertility. It was a way for me to reach others who may be going through the same thing or something similar, but it has benefited me in the fact it is extremely therapeutic and allowed me to process. If you only follow the blogs, then you have no idea what all has taken place in the last few months!
About a year ago, Jv and I were walking around the neighborhood, and he looked at me and said “I don’t think we are going to have a baby in Rome.” That struck me because I had been feeling the same way. Deep down, I knew we would not bring a child back to our home in Rome. I didn’t know where, when, or why, but I knew our baby wouldn’t come until we stepped into what God’s next for us was. In a way, that was hopeful, but at the same time extremely scary and discouraging. Jv and I love Rome. We’ve made a life here. All but 4 months of our marriage has been in Rome! Our best friends and second family are here. I didn’t want to have to leave to have a baby, but I knew that was what we were going to have to do. In a sense it made me nervous to get pregnant, because I knew then we would leave not soon after. After that conversation, we went on with our life and just kept that in the back of our minds. Last July, around the same time of this conversation, Jv started to feel God preparing him for a transition. Again, not knowing to what, when, or where. I for one was super against moving, so Jv began to pray that whatever God’s will was, He would reveal it to me Himself. Throughout the next few months, we had some doors open and slam in our face. Some doors that we shut we tried to pry open (word of advice, that never works!). In December, Jv said the Lord gave him a word in the gym and gave him a verse of scripture with it. I don’t remember the exact verse, but I know it was in Exodus 33. It was about taking your people and going to the land He’s called you to take ground. Jv told me and then we went on throughout our day, not exactly sure what that all meant. .
As always, Jv starts the beginning of each year with a fast. This year was different, as he extended his fast and made it more restrictive. He said he felt this is what he needed to do to know what God was calling us to do. He said his two words for the year were “hear” and “obey.” During this fast, one door swung open for us, and though it seemed like an amazing opportunity, we both knew that wasn’t what God was calling us to. Remember, just because its good, doesn’t mean its God! Winterfest came around, and Jv was given a word by one of his mentors. Jv told me what it was, but we both kind of forgot it. All I remembered was “Don’t be afraid to take the step that seems impossible,” and it was about God calling us into something that seemed pretty intimidating. I was thinking “okay Lord, what are you about to call us to?!” Anyone else been there? Ha! It’s scary! Overall, March was a pretty “blah” month. We were both miserable without an explanation at the time. We now know it was because we were completely out of the will of God. The job that I have always loved, I dreaded going into. Though we loved our youth so much, youth group seemed redundant. Nothing seemed to excite us. We knew something had to change. April came around and that’s when God hit “fast forward” on our lives. On April 2nd, we went to small group. We were taking turns giving scripture, and that’s when the Lord took Jv to the same verse he gave him in the gym. Jv said he was like okay Lord…. What about it? What does this mean?
After this, different people kept calling Jv and giving him a word that someone else would then call not much later and confirm, saying almost the exact same thing the person before them said. These people didn’t know each other, and they definitely didn’t know what we were wrestling with. One Wednesday night in the midst of this, our youth worship leader Savannah came up to us after church and was just like “hey, so God showed me the other week yall are about to leave and wherever yall go, I’m going to.” She proceeded to tell us that since last year, she felt God called her to us, so whatever we went next in ministry, she was to go to. We were blown away! One day after what Jv says was the “best round of golf in his life,” he said he came home and was just completely miserable. He said all he knew was to go into our front room and pray. He said while he was praying, God plain and clear told him to call a person. He said he was confused, because he knew of this person, but didn’t really know him that well personally. Regardless, he called. He said the man picked up chuckling, and said he knew Jv would call. He said that morning while he was in prayer, God told him a mighty man of valor would call today, and to give him the word and scripture God gave him. He said God told him he would know exactly who this word was for when he saw the name on his phone. The man proceeded to talk to Jv and pour into him, giving him a very similar word and scripture Jv had been previously receiving. At this point, Jv knew God was calling us out of Rome. The man told him don’t be afraid to do what he feared most, which deep down was to plant a church and be a lead pastor. A little back story on that, back in 2017 Jv told me one day, he felt he was going to plant a church. He said this just in a passing conversation, but I didn’t know he had gone to the lengths of writing down in his phone the name and mission statement of the church. In 2019, we went to stay with our friends in Jacksonville on the way to Disney, and Jv just looked at me and said “we’re going to live here one day!” I didn’t take him seriously because who else jokes all the time about moving to Florida?? I know I did! We went back to Jacksonville Labor Day weekend of 2022, and Jv said he knew then God was calling us to that area. He didn’t tell me that because he wanted God to reveal that to me. Anyways, back to the story:
Though this phone call was a huge confirmation, Jv began wrestling with God even more. As he wrestled, we just got more miserable. Throughout several conversations, different people kept saying this phrase “radical obedience brings an outrageous blessing.” We were like okay Lord, we hear you. Once we move, we’ll get pregnant! Most of April was spent having hard conversations, some tears, wrestling with God, praying, and more praying. On Sunday April 16th, we had a guest preacher at our church. When I tell you it was like he had been sitting on our living room couch listening to every conversation… we were blown away! He even said specific things in his message that only Jv and I had said to other. It was to the point where I felt so called out, I wanted to sink down in my chair, but no one had a clue this message felt straight for us. Jv refused to make eye contact with me during the message, ha! We left church and Jv came home to put a pizza in and he still wasn’t making eye contact. He was acting so bizarre. I said “so, are we going to talk about the message today?” in which he replied “what about it?” I said “the fact that was literally for us!!!” and which he replied “I don’t think it was at all.” Let’s just say I got pretty frustrated, and he finally said “okay yes! That was for us! I felt like he has been sitting in our living room for the past two weeks, but, I still need more signs!” At this point Jv was very expressive and dramatic (imagine that) and grabbed our dog and said “God, if you can use a donkey to speak to someone, you can use my dog! If you’re calling us out of Rome to do what I think you’re calling us to, my dog is going to lick me right in the face!” Mind you, our dog is not a licker. She NEVER licks. I promise you, Lucy licked him from his chin to his eyes. Jv, still being dramatic, fell on the ground and yelled. It was quite comedic. STILL Jv said, “I need more!” That night was small group and Jv said he didn’t want to go; he was too stressed and wanted to play golf instead. I threatened to tell everyone he skipped small group for golf. Ha! On the way there, I asked Jv what else he needed in which he replied, “I need signs and confirmation.” What do you know, our small group topic that night was on signs and confirmation! I looked at Jv as he sunk down in his chair with his head in his hands. They used the same scriptures and bible stories we had been hearing for the past month, and every now and again I’d catch Jv’s eye and he would just look down knowing God was yet again, making Himself abundantly clear. Jv said at one point during small group, he thought to himself “God, I know you’re real, but I need you right now to prove it. I need you to come down and sit right down in this living room and tell me what to do.” I kid you not, he said the moment he thought that Aaron, the leader of the small group said “wouldn’t it be nice if God would just come and sit down in this living room and tell you what to do?” Once he said this, Jv jumped up in front of everyone and yelled “yes!! Yes, it would!” Aaron then looked at him and said, “well then, what would faith be?” Jv said he felt about a small as an ant because he knew he was right. After that, someone in the small group stopped and wanted to share a story. This story was wild! It was about how an older woman’s husband in our church died, and as she was packing up her house to move, a dove came and sat on her front porch. They said it just sat there for weeks and it would just let you touch it. When the woman moved across town, the dove followed her to her new home and did the same thing! They said that dove did not leave until she felt she had finished grieving. Jv said at that moment God spoke to him “Exodus 33, my peace will go with you.” Jv said at that point, he knew he had to give in. On Monday, April 17th I was at work and my cousin randomly texted me and asked if I had ever considered moving to Florida. I was like um, what? That was random! And she was just talking about the income tax there and then asked if Jv had ever read the book about the pastor who went up north to plant a church and open coffee shops. She was like “I can see Jv doing something like that!” At this point, I hadn’t told her a thing. Florida was just in passing conversations with Jv and myself, but it wasn’t anything concrete at this time. I texted Jv that and he said he thought to himself “oh man. God is working on her now!” The same day, a friend posted a podcast from Sadie Robertson and for some reason I clicked to that podcast channel, and the podcast that was released for that day was titled “Don’t be afraid to do the things that seem impossible”… sound familiar? It was about Abraham and Sarah stepping out in faith, not knowing at the time where God was leading them. I listened to that podcast and immediately sent it to Jv. I was like um.. I think she did this podcast for us. Ha! After that podcast, I remembered that Jv had that word from his mentor, and I knew it was about this transition. Of course, at the time I didn’t, but then I knew. I called Jv and told him to call Alex, because I knew that would give some more confirmation (not like God hadn’t already given enough). Jv called and Alex had written that word down and read it to Jv. It was like he was reading a narrative story on our past month! He told Jv he knew what he was called to do, he just had to do it. He asked if he could be honest with Jv, and when Jv said yes, he told him that our disobedience has kept us from our kid. Dang! The truth hurts sometimes. But Alex told Jv to call me, because I knew the answer (no pressure, huh?). Without being able to explain how or why I knew, I told Jv God was calling us to Florida to plant a church. Jv let out a big “UGHHH!” because he knew it, now I knew it, now we had to do it. That next day he called my brother and was telling him everything and how he was still wrestling with it, and my brother said the exact same thing, that our disobedience was keeping us from our child. At this point, I was like Jv…. What else do you need. He said “I need one more thing.” He better be thankful God is so patient and loving because I would have been fed up with him at this point! He didn’t tell me what he needed, but he needed approval from my dad. Before he called my dad, he prayed and told God that if this is really what He was calling us to do, my dad wouldn’t be skeptical and ask questions etc., He would just say “you want my approval, and you have it.” So, he called my dad and told him the whole hour long story of the month of April. He said my dad stopped him and said he hadn’t felt the unction of the Holy Ghost like this in a while, and if we didn’t go, we’d be miserable. Then he proceeded to say without Jv asking “son, you want my approval and you have it.” So, on Wednesday, April 20th, Jv and I knew what we had to do and couldn’t fight it anymore. We began researching the area, I started looking at how to get a Florida license for mental health and begun all the necessary steps you have to take in order to relocate. The next month was telling our family and just a few, very close friends. It was hard going to work, hanging out with friends, and going to church and youth knowing we were leaving, but we had this ultimate peace about it we can’t explain. On Thursday, May 25th, it was my last day of work before summer at Shorter and the day we were leaving on our cruise. That morning I was packing, and I had just bought these “debloating pills” because I bloat even if I look at a cracker. The label says don’t take if pregnant, and honestly, I just knew I wasn’t and almost took them anyways. I knew my period was supposed to come around that time, but I quit keeping track of that a long time ago. I had been having issues that past week and having had a few ultrasounds done, they found some cysts on my ovaries. I had an ultrasound done that Monday and the guy asked if I could be pregnant, I said “I wish but I don’t think so.” He said “looks like there’s some fluid in your uterus.” I was like ummm I have no idea what that means! After, my friend who does these types of ultrasounds said that can happen right before your period, so I just took it as that and didn’t think anything else about it. Jv said during the ultrasound he kept taking pictures of this little black circle in the middle of my uterus, which now, we know what that was! So back to Thursday- I couldn’t bring myself to begin the pills without taking a test, so I just took a test like I had many times before and proceeded to get ready. Jv had already left, so it was just me. It hadn’t been but a couple of minutes and I happened to glance over and there were the darkest two pink lines on the test! I honestly can’t remember the next few moments. I say I blacked out haha. It was the most surreal moment. I cried, took a few embarrassing selfies with the stick, and ran to work. I got to work and just couldn’t focus. I had to buy more just to be sure! I was in shock. The day I had prayed and dreamed about was finally here! I made my friend nurse Lo go with me, so I took two more and sure enough, positive. Jv loves to read, so I went to Barnes and Nobles and bought him a book called “From dude to dad.” I got home that day and Jv was in straight packing mode. We were leaving once I got home to ironically enough head to Jacksonville. While he was distracted, I put the book with the tests on the ottoman and set up my phone to record. He came back inside and I said “I got you a book to read on the cruise.” I have never seen that man so speechless! Jv just said “shut up” for about 10 minutes straight. The next few weeks were spent telling our close friends and family our exciting news! 16 weeks ago, we said yes to moving to Florida and doing what God was calling us to do. Today, I am 15.5 weeks pregnant with our son Easton!
So, here I am typing this on August 10th, 8 days before we officially become Florida residents. My last day in the office at Shorter is tomorrow. Our last Sunday at church was July 30th, our last Wednesday night with the youth was July 27th. Even though we have already had several “lasts” and we have more to come in the next few days, it still doesn’t feel real. Everyone asks how I’m doing, and I truly don’t know how to respond. I have alllll the mixed emotions. Though it’s a lot to process and take in, God has yet again proven Himself to be faithful. On Sunday July 16th someone came up to us after church and said “God wanted me to tell you that finances won’t be an issue.” Jv needed that word because he was making himself sick over stressing about finances. That day, our house sold before it even hit the market for a cash offer, more than we asked for! Jv sold his truck in order to save that money to use toward rent to just buy an older truck so we won’t have car payments going there. We finally got insurance (PRAISE!!). Jv is going down there to do landscaping, he will begin putting up fences, pressuring washing, and mowing once we get there. We are renting a townhome in the community we desperately wanted to be in. I just got my provisional Florida license yesterday to begin counseling there and I plan to promote my photography business in hopes of getting a good clientele there. I am also staying at Battlefield virtually seeing clients, as well as staying with Shorter virtually until the end of September helping them with accommodations. Every time we start to worry about finances, God shows us that He is going to take care of us. Savannah also used to run a coffee shop in Chattanooga, so she is not only going to be our worship pastor, but she will manage our coffee shop. God loves all the details! Since they are coming sooner than expected due to Kent getting a job at Mayo (another answered prayer), our coffee shop will soon be in the works! People have already started reaching out to Jv who are there wanting to be a part of what God is doing! We plan to launch Movement Church September of 2024, but we are open to whatever God’s timeline is. Though there are so many things we could stress about, we know God has called us there for a reason and we don’t need to stress. I keep having to remind myself to do what we can do, but what we can’t, that’s in God’s hands. So, I know that was a lot! But please be in prayer for us as we start this journey, as well as for Kent and Savannah who are joining us in October once they are married. “Journey” is a word I have used a lot during this process, and little did we know the real journey we were about to embark on! This next year will be spent working to keep up with our personal income, raising money for the church launch, opening a new business, meeting people and creating relationships, and getting ready for our first son! All I know is when things don’t make sense, there is always a “,but God.”
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