Did God just say, "No"?!?

So Bob put in his papers to retire back on Jan. 10, and his work told him he would retire on Aug. 1 of this year. We've been talking about possible jobs, and I've figured out roughly how homeschooling is going to work next year. But then last week Bob started getting some puzzling calls from USJFCOM down in Suffolk--the place they gave us orders to. One guy left a message saying he was our sponsor, and another Col. called 3 times, trying to "nail down when we'd be getting there". Hmmm . . . did they not get the memo? Bob is retiring!

But then Bob called AFPC, and they wanted to know why Bob hadn't responded to their assignment notification email, which they sent to him on 21 Jan. Well, Bob never received any such email, and he also told them that he had already submitted his papers. It turns out that doesn't matter. He has to respond to this assignment notification email by sending in his paperwork to AFPC--THAT is how you start the retirement process. And then it also turns out that when the people at Bob's work updated Bob's unclassified email address back in May, they miss-spelled our last name. They put 2 L's in it, next to each other, which definitely doesn't jump out as a mis-spelling. Just looks sort of blurry. So who knows how many other unclassified emails he has been missing over the past several months?!

Anyhow, the gist of it is that he didn't receive the email, and as far as AFPC cares, we are scheduled to report down in Suffolk on May 31. We have until tomorrow to decide (again) if Bob is going to put in his papers. Ack! We already made this decision! But now it seems that God has batted this back into our laps. Is he saying, "Try again--you picked the wrong option"?! Humanly speaking, there don't seem to be many pluses about moving. All the hassle, but it's only a few hours away. No new culture or different scenery. Farther from my parents, Amy, and Bob's family. No homeschool network. No church family. No close friends.

So why does it keep coming back again and again? What on earth? We just don't know. And if we don't go, are we really screwing up? I had just told my friend Christine that I didn't want to homeschool through jr. high/high school by myself (as we discussed this new co-op we were going to do together)--and now I would be, since it takes about a year to get involved and even to see what options would work for our family in a new place. So is this going to be a big testing time? Ack! At this point, I really would much rather stay here. I'm excited about this co-op next year (I was planning on blogging about it after a planning meeting next Sunday, but maybe it will be a moot point). The boys are worried about not being able to play sports (or, in Luke's case, the problem of playing sports with no one they know, LOL). But even he came and said that although he definitely doesn't want to move, he can't think of a good reason not to. And thats the rub--we want to be where God wants us to be, believing that he knows best for our family. But is he using this admittedly weird set of circumstances to tell us to go? Other than the circumstances, there really is not any other thing drawing us down there. None at all. So if we don't go, are we being disobedient? I just don't know. We are praying for wisdom and clear direction--but maybe God has already given that? I just don't know.