Move to the Sticks

So one day Nathan starts telling me what a great idea it would be to move to Arizona because of the incredible housing market. Arizona?!?! Are you kidding me? A slow and painful death sounded more appealing. No way, not gonna happen, not in this life. Buuuuuttttttt, the thought was always in the back of our minds.

I avoided talking or thinking about it for months. Then finally we decided to pray about it. I was petrified of what the answer would be. The answer I got was, "You should move to Arizona." For the next couple of days, that answer played over, and over in my mind around the clock. There was no ignoring it and I couldn't have been more devastated.

That was it. It didn't make sense, it wasn't by any means what we wanted, it was insane, and reckless. We packed up, say good-bye to friends we loved, and left behind the most beautiful city we'd ever seen, and made our descent into Hell.

Or so it seemed. When we drove into Arizona, Nathan and I were both crying and saying, "what have we done? what have we done?" It was the ugliest, most depressing scenery. I still stand by that claim, from the months of April through October, when the mouth of Hell gapes open and spews fire for 6 months straight!!

It was August when pulled into the driveway of our new home. Home was now a small, rural community with a handful of stores and stoplights called Queen Creek. It was 113 degrees and there was not a single living thing within sight.

Long and painful story made short, moving here to the Sticks was a life-altering experience. I have never prayed so hard in my life. I never read my scriptures more than I did those first 6 months here. I've never cried so much. After the panic attacks, and nightmares subsided, I began to see why Heavenly Father wanted us to move here. Why He wanted me to be here.

Moving here, to our little town brought us closer as a family. We were forced to focus on the family, and the gospel because there is nothing worldly around us. We are removed from a normal city life. Being so isolated forced us to focus on food storage because we only have two groceries stores in our little town.

Moving here forced us to think of our ward as a real family, because most of our loved ones live out of state, so we truly have to rely on each other. I would never have had these (and many other ) experiences or growth if I had stayed in CA. It is by no means easy or enjoyable to live out here.....but at the same time I am grateful for the fact that moving here and surviving has changed me.

Although it's still a love-hate relationship, we now lovingly, and affectionately refer to our little backward town as Queentucky.