(Originally written in August, 2025. We are now settled into a new home – more on that soon.)

It’s sticky in my parents’ garage where my daughter and I are labeling boxes, taping them shut, stacking them up.

We’ve been packing, and packing, and repacking, for over three months now. “This is the last time, girlie,” I say, I promise, as we hold a box shut. “The next time we see this box it will be in our new house!” She looks wearily at me, blearily at me, and we soak in the relief of that for a moment.

This overseas transition thing has been a lot. A. Lot. As I lay in bed one night in a hotel, I tried to count up the number of beds we’d slept in over the last two months. Was it 14? Or 15? It’s fine, enough to acknowledge that it has been a lot.

And yet. We’d had countless meals with good friends, reminiscing on the memories of life together in past seasons; weeks of time with our families, making up for lost years. We’d visited our churches, shared many stories, reflected on God’s faithfulness. There is so much goodness and there are so many graces in this season of transition that I wouldn’t trade it.

God has been good to remind me throughout this season that this is a process. We will not be in this chaos stage forever. One day, and likely soon, we will unpack these boxes. We will set our feet on the front stoop of a new home. We will find our place in our new church, and build the beginnings of new friendships in a new community.

And God has been good to remind me that his love never ceases, his mercies are new for each morning (Lam. 3:22-23). Though the days are chaotic, and we still can’t find our checkbook, I am learning to ask of God, “what do you have for me today? Who is there to bless? What does each person in my family need from me today?” I am trusting him for the strength for what each day brings, and seeking to set aside the worries and the overwhelm of the future.

So for now, we keep packing, and we lean into the goodness of God today.