We're Moving!

Thats right folks, you read it correctly.  Geoff and I are moving to Lincoln, Nebraska in July!  Since Geoff has been working at CED he has really enjoyed it and has decided to enter the management training program.  After completely destroying the entrance tests (I've got quite the smarty pants on my hands) he was offered to enter the program at the Lincoln, NE store location.  Two weeks ago when Geoff asked me what I thought about this I was really leery, in fact I kind of thought it was crazy.  Me a southern girl, moving to the land of corn huskers?  I love my fried chicken and time by the pool to be that far north, and I couldn't really form an opinion about Lincoln because I had never been there.  So after doing about two weeks worth of research we headed up there this weekend to check out the store and to discover Lincoln in person.  At this point I was almost 95% sure we could do this, I just needed to go there first. 

We arrived in Lincoln Friday afternoon.  Geoff went to the store (or as CED calls it the PC or Profit Center) to meet with the manager and the rest of the staff.  I decided to chill out and watched a really good Lifetime Movie back at the hotel.  When we got there, it was SNOWING!! Yes snow in late April, yuck.  After turning on the head and adding some layers we met Bryce (the manager) and his family for dinner at Fireworks, a wood fire grill restaurant.  Then we drove around and decided we better walk off dinner at one of the malls in town.  The more we drove around and saw the more we liked it. Well everything but the snow. 

On Saturday we woke up and Bryce picked us up at the hotel to give us a tour of the town and took us to lunch at a really fantastic pizza place, I think it was called The Isle.  Even though Lincoln is a rather large city and the capitol of Nebraska it doesn't feel huge.  There aren't any major freeways and for the most part the streets are no more than four lanes and are pretty easy to navigate.  The most exciting thing happening this weekend in Lincoln was the University of Nebraska spring football game.  Let me tell you, these people LOVE their football, especially Corn Husker Football, much to Geoff's dismay.  The town was pack to the max with Red and White and Nebraska stuff everywhere!  That might take a bit to get used to.  After lunch Geoff and I ventured out on our own.  We knew we wanted to check out a few apartment complexes we had seen online to at least narrow down our search.  We first went to a complex that was brand new and was really, really nice.  Unfortunately it was nice enough for our taste, but too nice for our budget.  So on we went to stop number two.  This complex was older but still pretty nice.  It had a dog park so we knew we had to see it for Roscoe's sake.  This apartment was a bit too much like dorm life for our tastes so on to the next place. 

We made our way out to the north end of town to visit The Links.  This is a chain of apartments based out of Fayettville.  Geoff's dad had an apartment at their Bentonville location when he was managing the CED there.  Geoff knew that it was built on a golf course, had a swimming pool and tanning beds and a fitness center and pretty much everything we could ever want.  Lucky for us they would allow our 45 lb basset hound to be waved of the 15 lb pet limit, so off we went in the golf cart around the complex to see our options.  After viewing their floor plans we decided we liked the two bedroom, two bath model. And lucky for us it was in our price range!  Pretty soon we found our selves applying for an apartment and putting down a deposit. Geoff had told me that we weren't going to decided on an apartment and put down a deposit until later, but we both commented on that it just felt "right."  They would even hold an apartment on the first floor facing the golf course for us until July!  And this evening we received a phone call saying we are approved and will be living at the Links come July 9th!! Praise God!!  Here is there web site: The Links.

After driving around some more and checking out a few shopping centers, we had really started to fall in love with Lincoln.  There is so much to do there!  Every one is really active.  All over town people were running or biking or walking their dogs on the city trails, fishing at the lakes, visiting the brand new penguins at the zoo or out shopping.  That evening we went downtown, amongst the Corn Husker fans, to the Haymarket District for dinner at Lazlo's, which was fantastic!  Then it was back to the hotel.  I was exhausted and I know Geoff was too plus we had to get up in the morning to drive the 6 hours back to Joplin. 

Overall this was a fantastic weekend.  I know this is where God wants us.  He has opened doors that we never thought imaginable in the past two weeks.  Its been fast and frantic but its also been easy and stress free.  As Geoff said this evening, "its got to be a God thing."  It feels so right.  Although we would have had a happy life in Eldo, we wouldn't be living at the potential God has set for us.  We had boxed God up and set him on a shelf.  What would the world be like if more and more people didn't place limits on God's amazing grazce, mercy and love?  I am so excited to see what He has in store for us next! 

The only question now is will we be Lincolneers, Lincolnites, Lincolners, Lincolnians...?