Michigan or Bust (Part 2)

It was a whole year before Brinks planned to move their family to Michigan, when Bill and I joined our friends, Bonnie and Gary, and their three young children, and moved to Michigan without jobs or homes, and with just a few hundred dollars. For a few months before we left Nebraska, we had subscribed to the local Michigan newspaper, the Traverse City Record Eagle, so we could acquaint ourselves with our new home territory. The Brinks had made arrangements for us to stay with some friends of theirs in Manistee, about an hour south of our ultimate destination of Interlochen, so after driving for a couple of days, and staying in motels along the way, we finally reached our first stop on the third of July.

I don't remember the names of the people we stayed with, camping out in their living room for a few days. They graciously asked us to accompany them to their community's bi-centennial celebration, so we didn't miss out entirely on that year's fabulous Fourth, and they fed us all supper several times, while we spent our days exploring the area. It wasn't too long before we realized that we were overstaying our welcome, so Bill and Gary unloaded our moving van into a storage unit and, with Bonnie and Gary's family, we rented a cabin on a lake for a few days, until Bill and Gary could find jobs, and we could secure permanent housing.

Before we left Lincoln, Bill had touched base with a small manufacturing company, located several miles north of Traverse City, and affiliated with Notifier, his previous place of employment. They hired him immediately, and he started work, assembling electronic components, while we were still living in the cabin, 50 miles away.

After checking out the housing market in the Interlochen/Traverse City area, and determining that rental costs were much higher than we had anticipated, Bill and I prayed together with Bonnie and Gary, asking for God's guidance. Then, we took the unconventional step of deciding to share a house.

We looked at two houses. The first was a sprawling, rather run-down, ranch home that had plenty of space for everyone. It was in a good location, not too far from Traverse City, and it would have been a good choice for us except for the lake that bordered the unfenced yard. With three young children to consider, it just wasn't a safe option.

The other house was a quaint, green chalet in the woods, a few miles outside of Interlochen, and within walking distance of Green Lake. The owners had built the house themselves, but had recently moved to one of Michigan's cities for a job opportunity. It was a rather small home, with the tiniest three bedrooms I had ever seen, and only one little bathroom, but it had a wrap-around deck and a great room with a fireplace, open to the kitchen and dining area, and a large loft that would provide some privacy for Bill and me. It didn't take us long to decide to sign a one-year lease and move to the house in the woods.

Our green chalet in the woods, near Interlochen

Gary soon found a job with a surveying company, and Bonnie and I settled into the house with the three kids. Our house was seventeen miles from Traverse City, but there was a small grocery store in Interlochen, as well as a grade school, where Bonnie promptly registered Isaac for kindergarten. She looked in Traverse City for doctors for herself and baby Adam. We soon set up a cooking and cleaning schedule, taking turns making supper every other night. We tried out a few churches, eventually settling on a thriving Friends church in Traverse City.

Isaac and Megan, in front of the fire

Initially, Bill had not wanted me to find a job, but he soon realized that I needed something more to do than just help look after someone else's kids, adorable though they were, and take care of a shared house. Besides, we needed the extra income. I was ready to look for a job when I burned my hand quite seriously, which meant that I had to wait another month to start my job search. Then, in late September, I started working for a small optical lab in Traverse City, mailing out finished glasses to the optometrists and ophthalmologists who had ordered them for their patients.

It is sometimes amazing to look back and see how God has worked in our lives.

The office manager for the optical lab was married to the principal of Trinity Lutheran school. When she found out that I had a teaching degree from a Lutheran college, she insisted that I needed to use my education, lobbying with her husband the next spring, when he needed to hire three new teachers at once, and encouraging me to apply. So, I worked for the optical company for about eleven months, before starting to teach kindergarten the following September.

That first year in Michigan was a growing experience for all of us. Learning to share a small house with another family was harder than any of us expected. The cost of fuel oil for the furnace was a huge shock. Commuting a long ways to work was costly and time-consuming, especially during the winter. We missed our families and friends back in Nebraska. And after the snow began to fall on Bill's birthday, November 2nd, we soon learned why that house in the woods was readily available and affordable: we had all been clueless about northern Michigan winters. That year, it snowed every day for months, without end. The weather never varied; it was always 20-some degrees and snowing. Bill and Gary spent at least an hour a day blowing snow from our mile-long, unmaintained road. We didn't see bare ground again until May.

Our view from the deck, from November until May

Yet, throughout that first year in Michigan, God showed us, over and over again, that he could be trusted. He provided for all of our needs.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” Lamentations 3:22-24