California. Here we come.

God.
I just really want this.
Please just make this happen.

This is not a usual dialogue me and God have. This kind of request, if it ever gets voiced, is usually followed up with a..."but whatever you want it what I really want." You know the whole, "Delight your self in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart", deal where if I just want what he wants, if I'm delighting in him, well-then I'll be happy.
Not this time. Not this prayer. I just really wanted it.

And the funny thing is, it happened.
AND I'M MOVING TO CALIFORNIA.
I'm not excited at all...if the all caps aren't a dead give away.

I'm going to be working at Alliance Redwoods in northern California. An hour and twenty mintues from San Fransisco. Twenty minutes from the Ocean. In the redwoods. The REDWOODS.
And as if that alone wasn't enough to make me drive 2,323 miles, I'm going to be working with fifth and sixth grade kids, facilitating high adventure activities and teaching outdoor "science" curriculum.

Somebody pinch me.
It's exactally what I want to be doing at this point in my life. I'm sure in a few years I'll embark on a new path, with a totally different focus, but for now, it's undoubtably, unquestionably, exactally where I want to be. My usual indeciveness didn't even make a peep when I called back with an emphatic, "yes" to the job offer. It just feels right. A teensy bit frightening, but mostly just right.

I leave the beginning of January, after the first of the year. Bringing in 2010 with a move across the country. I cannot think of a better way to start next year.
I know I'll most likely be working a lot of hours.
I know there will be days where I wonder what in the heck I am doing.
I'm sure there are days were I will be lonely. I'll miss the people who really know me, I'll miss my favorite places in Grand Rapids, I'll miss my family.
But despite all that, I'm so freaking stoked about this next step. I'm thankful for the blank space beneath this newly titled chapter.

So to quote the O.C. theme song, [ingrained into my memory thanks to Rach, Ro and Jenn who decided to watch all the seasons AGAIN our junior year]

California.
Here we come.