Twenty-seven years ago my wife, daughter, and I moved nearly 100 miles away from where I worked to enable our 16 year old daughter to continue attending a Seventh-day Adventist academy while still living at home. The academy we have moved near two years earlier was closing. It was only 35 miles from work. Before marrying we had committed to keeping our family together throughout academy years for our children.
Well, our daughter graduated from Battle Creek Academy, graduated from Andrews University along with Western Michigan University, and lives today in Phoenix attending the Camelback Seventh-day Adventist church. Our granddaughter attends Andrews University and our grandson attends Thunderbird Adventist Academy.
Until 8 years ago our daughter and family lived near us and my wife taught in a Seventh-day Adventist church school nearby. Until now we never moved back to where I continue to work. I interviewed a few times nearby but all potential employers required weekend on-call duty for IT workers and weren't interested in hiring me. One potential employer did interview me three times.
Now my wife is transferring to a school back in the area where I work. So for two years I lived more or less near to work and I expect to continue to work three more years before retiring, again close to work. So it appears that I may retire after 32 years with 27 years a nearly 2 hour drive away from home and only 5 years within normal commuting distance. We make choices in our Christian life to live forever with family in heaven!
