THREE BOYS & THREE MOVES

When it comes to having babies in the Keller family, we stick to a pattern; pop out a boy, and then move. We did it with Asher, we did it Silas, and- you guessed it- here we go again. Our next little guy is due to arrive in the middle of April, and our next move is scheduled to happen about six weeks after that.

When I found out we had to move into a hotel for five months a mere six weeks after having Asher, I cried. When I found out we had to move into a hotel for two months about six weeks after having Silas {and then see Thane off on another deployment}, I sighed. When I found out we had to PCS six weeks after the due date of this next little boy, I barely batted an eye. A "yep" and an eye roll was enough to suffice. We've been through so many moves and unconventional living situations that I couldn't imagine it would be much more challenging than what we've already experienced. After all, we've been in the Army for eight years now. We're pros at this game, right?

Wrong. 

As much as Army life teaches you to expect the unexpected, there are occasionally still things that catch me off guard. Way off guard. I wasn't too phased by the idea of this next move because there was a good chance we were going back to Georgia, which is familiar ground. Fort Benning was our top choice and there were two open positions there- I know, not very adventurous- but we really wanted to be back in the land of warm weather and southern comforts! We even had a long conversation with some good friends who were thinking about trying for Georgia as well. They wondered about Hawaii {our first duty station} or Germany, to which our advice was "forget going overseas, go to Georgia!"

So, you can imagine the irony of waking up to a text from Thane the very next morning that read:

"Are you ready to go to Germany?"

Yeah. That whole thing I said about not batting an eye at the thought of moving again right after having another baby? I take that back. GERMANY is a totally different ball game. And my groggy, barely-awake-at-6:40am-self could do nothing but stare at my phone as a slew of shock, anxiety, and general bewilderment washed over me. Yes, it was exciting. But a lot of that initial excitement was eclipsed by imaginary doom & gloom scenarios. Like showing up to a totally foreign country and Thane deploying the next month, leaving me alone and trapped with three kids plus a puppy that we would never have gotten had we known this was coming. It's funny how fast my professed "yes Lord, send me!" attitude takes a nose dive as soon as He sends me somewhere out of my comfort zone. I know I'm supposed to have unwavering trust in Christ through all things, but this is one of those times that my initial reaction was just the opposite.

But, I got over it! And I'm pretty excited. We all are. Asher and I have fun looking at the globe and seeing the big ocean we'll fly over and the new country we'll call home for a while. And in the moments when my reservations start to creep back in, I remind myself that we're blessed. Germany is where so many other Army families that we know want/try/maybe get to go, and it's where even I wanted to go when for our first duty station. But seven years later- after deciding we were more than content to remain in the Continental United States for the rest of our Army career- here we go! Now all that's left to do is laugh and try to figure out how to go about preparing for a move to a place we never pictured ourselves in a thousand years. It's going to be complicated, tenuous, and exhausting, and I'm not sure how the amazing opportunity to tour Europe is going to go with a four year old, two year old, and a newborn in tow. Not to mention I don't know the first thing about the German language. But, all the same, praise God for throwing a surprise our way! This is another big reminder that "the heart of a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps." {Proverbs 16:9} It took me a little while to embrace this unexpected twist in His plans, but no matter what the future holds, I know He's up to something good. He always is.