Brock and I found ourselves very content with where we were; newlyweds; in a beautiful town home, with our amazing Puggle Koda, our wonderful roommates; Jen and my sister Christina, and we were finally done with school. We truly felt like a little family. I graduated from Liberty University with a degree in Elementary Education and was working part time at Bed Bath and Beyond. Brock had just completed his four years at Liberty University playing Quarterback for the Flames football team and was working full time at Thomas Road Baptist Church and coaching for the football team. We really had a lot on our plates and we found ourselves super busy!
So many things had happened after the wedding. Brock was in the NFL draft and we experienced the ruthlessness of the industry. We spent month after month getting our hopes up as teams lead us on. We were left feeling pretty disappointed. We were determined to move on and start our lives in a new place with our new careers. Brock and I started planning our move to Naples, Florida and before we knew it he had a potential job opportunity with a Sports Outreach Ministries Program and I had a teaching job opening up for January. Our plan was working out perfectly! We set our moving date and we were moving forward! We started saving money so that we could finally settle down and nest in our own home (with all our wedding gifts:]).
As soon as we set our plans, God told us His. The football coach of the Milan Rhinos team contacted Brock's football coach, Coach Danny Rocco, and expressed his interest in having Brock join their Italian team as Quarterback. At first Brock and I were very uneasy. We had closed the door to football in a sense and we were looking forward to some stability in our life. We were certain that we were in God's will because every door had opened for us in Florida. We sought out lots of council and advice from our mentors and family members and it seemed as if everyone agreed that this was a wonderful opportunity. After receiving this opportunity we spent about 3 weeks in prayer, seeking out God's will. Brock was excited and motivated! He saw the positive possibilities that this opportunity had. Me, on the other hand, handle the situation like any emotional woman would whose heart was set on moving to Florida to be close to her family...I cried and cried. I prayed that God would change my heart and help me see His will but Milan just seemed so far and so out of reach.
I found myself having a change in my thoughts: "We always wanted to travel." and "We don't have any kids." or "Now is the time to do this." Slowly but surely my excitement grew. I partly retained my excitement out of fear of being let down if this opportunity fell through like all the other ones had. I was also scared, nervous, afraid, and sad to leave our family and friends. Brock eased my anxiety by reassuring me that this was ultimately my discussion. I began to see that God was blessing us in the biggest way ever. He was giving Brock the opportunity to play football again, He was giving us the chance to have the ultimately honeymoon after a busy semester, and He was giving us the desires of our hearts to travel like we said we had always wanted to.
Brock signed the contract and on January 31st we are leaving for Milan, Italy. There, we will live in our very own apartment. Brock will be playing for the Italian Football League for their 2010 season. His contract is January to July. All of our expenses are paid and we are truly provided for. God is good and we are excited to leave. We are even more excited to share all of our new experiences and adventures with our family and friends.
