Less than two months ago, we were leaving my parents’ house in Port Orchard to go ski and Jim joked, “Hey, we could move to that house,” as he pointed to the house across the street. We have joked about moving back to Port Orchard after 18 years away for quite some time, because most of our family lives there and our favorite ski lake is there. We’ve never been serious.
Then we found out that the house was going to be for sale, but hadn’t been listed yet, so it was kind of for sale by owner. So we toured the house and… we loved it. Then we found out that we could possibly sell our house for enough to make sense financially. So we made the owners of the Port Orchard house an offer and… they accepted. Then we spent a week making our house ready to sell before we left for ten days of camping. So we listed our house while we were gone and… it sold. We looked at each other and said, “Are we really moving to Port Orchard?”
Because we really, really love Maple Valley. We’ve been here for 11 years, and we have great friends, great services, and a great church. It is convenient for all of our jobs. The school system is excellent. We spent a couple of weeks prayerfully agonizing over every pro and con on the list. But when it came down to it, we decided that God could make it happen, or God could shut the doors. We’re just required to walk through them until the end. In the end, God kept opening doors for us to move, and so we are. On August 21st.
Yes, we are both keeping our jobs. Yes, it will be a longer commute. Yes, it involves a ferry and a bridge toll. The kids are excited to live closer to family, and they say they don’t mind making new friends at school and church. We are thrilled to have more space – both in and out – and be able to let our kids play in the woods behind our house, park our boat in a garage, and spend more time with our family. Most importantly, we know we’re where God wants us to be: trusting in Him!
Today is our 14th anniversary, and we’re starting our 15th year with an entirely new season, with mixed emotions and a lot of packing to do.
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| Artistic Rendering – Not to Scale |
The Keene Family 