A Brief Story

This was the talk I gave in our new ward in Kalamazoo today. I wanted to add it here because it tells our story.

Good morning, my name is April Bean. As many of you know, our family has just moved to Michigan and joined your ward. We have four amazing children, whom most of you have met already. While the adjustment is slow, we are delighted to be here…and let me tell you why. 

Four years ago my husband, David, was CEO of a software company in Charlottesville, Virginia. He had been at the company for 15 years and had worked his way to the top. However, this came with much sacrifice, including 15 years of international travel and very few family dinners. He missed birthdays, soccer games, school concerts and so much more. We knew a change needed to be made. Yet, however difficult this lifestyle was, it was also comfortable. We fell into our roles easily and just got things done. It felt scary to make any real changes, and we weren’t sure what those changes even looked like.  

Then the opportunity to sell his company came along, not from one buyer but from several interested investors. As we prayed, we knew this was the right thing to do. We knew the time had come that would allow David to go back to school. There are so many details regarding going back to school that I won’t include here, but just know it was still a hard decision. 

Then about half way through his MBA program, he started looking for his potential new business opportunity. He got involved in several small start up companies, none of which we felt super great about. But we knew we still had time until we really needed to worry about things. Then, the most dreaded word of all time…COVID happened. He graduated in May of 2020 in the middle of a global pandemic. No one was hiring and no one was really even working.

It was at this time that we realized we needed to turn things over to the Lord. We needed to show Him that we were ready and willing to do anything and go anywhere, as long as it was what He had planned for us. All along I was just waiting for the perfect opportunity to come along that allowed us to stay in our home and in our community. I was not willing to ask the Lord what He wanted for us, for fear of what I might be asked to do.

In this past General Conference we were asked why we sometimes put off inviting Christ to be the author of our story. Sister Johnson said, “Perhaps it is because we don’t have the faith to accept the answer we might receive. Perhaps it is because the natural man or woman in us is resistant to turning things completely over to the Lord and trusting Him entirely. Maybe that is why we choose to stick with the narrative we have written for ourselves, a comfortable version of our story unedited by the Master Author. We don’t want to ask a question and get an answer that doesn’t fit neatly into the story we are writing for ourselves. 

Frankly, few of us would probably write into our stories the trials that refine us. But don’t we love the glorious culmination of a story we read when the protagonist overcomes the struggle? Trials are the elements of the plot that make our favorite stories compelling, timeless, faith promoting, and worthy of telling. The beautiful struggles written into our stories are what draw us closer to the Savior and refine us, making us more like Him.”

After much prayer and fasting we felt like we should put our house on the market in March as a way of showing the Lord we were ready to do whatever was required. We weren’t sure how this was going to turn out but President Nelson has asked us to consider what we could do if we had more faith in Jesus Christ. With more faith in Jesus Christ, we could ask a question to which we do not know the answer—ask our Father in Heaven, in the name of Jesus Christ, to send an answer through the Holy Ghost, who testifies of truth. If we had more faith, we would ask the question and then be willing to accept the answer we receive, even if it doesn’t fit our comfortable narrative. And the promised blessing that will come from acting in faith in Jesus Christ is an increase in faith in Him as our author and finisher. President Nelson declared that we “receive more faith by doing something that requires more faith.” 

And boy was more faith going to be required because our house sold in a matter of days!  Suddenly we were without a job and without a home. David began his own consulting company and was successful with this for several months, but we both knew this was not what he really wanted to do. 

This was probably the darkest time for me. We had so many unanswered prayers that I began to feel forgotten or unworthy of any blessing from the Lord. We prayed and prayed and prayed and no answers were coming. Would we get to stay in Virginia or would we have to move was the constant question for months. During this time David was so wonderful in helping me see the Lord's tender mercies. He was able to make money through consulting and through many generous friends, we always had a roof over our head. The Lord was blessing us, but not in ways that we had expected. We were not forgotten! 

Then just in October, through a crazy fast turn of events, David was offered a job here in Michigan. In a matter of 3 weeks we accepted the job, bought a house and moved here. Now, don’t get me wrong, everything hasn’t just gone that smoothly and we are still very much adjusting to Kalamazoo, but we truly felt led here by the spirit. And we are so grateful that we decided to turn things over completely to the Lord and allowed him to be the author of our story. 

Why do we want the Savior to be the author and the finisher of our stories? Because He knows our potential perfectly, He will take us to places we never imagined ourselves… He will stretch us and refine us to be more like Him. The things we will achieve as we act with more faith will increase our faith in Jesus Christ.

I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ. I am grateful for this time of year that we can reflect more on His life. He was born into, lived and died in the most humble of circumstances. He healed many not only physically but spiritually as well. I have felt myself going through a spiritual healing the past year. I am grateful for that balm of Gilead that can heal us all. 

November 2021

In a crazy whirlwind of events we went to Michigan Halloween weekend. We looked at dozens of houses, explored the area and felt good about things. We stopped for a family council and burgers at a place called Nonla Burger and here David whipped out his laptop and signed the acceptance offer from Whirlpool. On our way home we picked a house and put an offer on it, with the contingency that they had to be out in 3 weeks! David had to be back to start work on November 29th. Things happened very quickly!! Which we kind of thought would be the case all along. At least we didn't have a house to pack up. Everything was already in storage pods, except for the very basic necessities we had carried around since July. 

This was our official announcement to the world:

 Time to Spill The Beans…The Beans have baked in the sun in California. Then we felt whole again when we returned to beautiful green Virginia. And now we’re taking on the Great North with a move to Michigan! We are so excited for this new adventure and can’t wait to fall in love with another location (and hopefully the snow)!

Aliza turned 15! We squeezed in a little celebration between all the final wrapping up of things in Virginia. I didn't have our traditional birthday banner because it was in storage, but found this one in one of the kitchen drawers. I just love this girl. She always just rolls with the punches, she's smart and kind and a great sister. 

Part of my mama heart misses that "little Liza" on the left there, but I sure have loved watching her grow into her own person. 

The young women's group through a surprise going away party for the girls. I still can't believe we are leaving this amazing ward. It really makes me sad that we won't have all these girls to help influence our own. I have no clue what our new ward is like, but I at least hope there are some good young women there for my girls. 

It's a really good thing that things are happening so quickly, because if I had too much time to dwell on it, I would become super sad. One really sad thing is that there is no rowing in Michigan. This seem like such a shame with all their amazing lakes there. So Carmen had one final regatta on her home waters at Beaver Creek. I just love this sport so much and I don't even do it myself. It's so graceful to watch the boats glide across the water, yet still knowing all the hard work and grit that it takes to get that boat to move. 

I like that this last regatta was at Beaver Creek because it allowed me to get up close pictures of her in action. 

And I was able to capture this stunning picture of the dock. I think this may become a Christmas present of some sort. All the boats lined up and ready to glide across the foggy water in all the glorious Fall gorgeousness. 

This was her boat mate, Jillian, for most of the season. They really had to learn to work together. It didn't come easily for Carmen, as Jillian was a novice, but they made it work. 

It also didn't help that it was Fall and Virginia was showing off her colors. I sure hope Michigan has beautiful Fall colors like this. This is the view from the bus stop in the morning with Dallin. It's so late in the Fall that we are now standing out here in the pith dark in the morning waiting for the bus. We have to bring a flashlight along. This was just have the sun started to right and the day started to lighten up. 

Koda loves to come to the bus stop in the morning! 

Charlotte and Dallin chose to have a farewell party with their friends at JUMP.  With all the craziness going on our last week in VA, this was about the last thing I wanted to do, but it was important to them to get to hang with their friends one last time. And it actually turned out super fun and I'm so glad we did it! My kids have the greatest friends! 

Adonyah has been the sweetest friend for Aliza.

And Dallin has many friends, but these two might be his most favorite - Case and Matt. 

There's already been many tears about having to say goodbye to his buddies. 

Case, Dallin, Matt and Liam

And Charlotte has some pretty great friends too that will be hard to leave. 

Now Dallin has the extra hard time of saying goodbye to his Meriwether friends that he's been with since Kindergarten and then also saying goodbye to his brand new Crozet friends that he just met. He's actually know these two a while from church, but just now got to go to school with them: Peri and Cash. 

Cash became his new best buddy since August. He just moved here and the two hit it off, so he understood about how hard it is to leave friends. 

And Carmen is just getting so wrapped up in her EMT course! She loves it so much. She didn't care where we moved to as long as they offered an EMT course that she could slide right into. Which luckily we found a great school that can make this happen for her. 

We had a final goodbye dinner with some of our closest friends, the Sorensens and the Flanders. We talked and laughed for hours until we were finally kicked out of the restaurant.  There just wasn't time to say goodbye to everyone we love so much in Charlottesville, but I'm glad we made this dinner happen. 

And then we were off! With the back packed to the brim, a dog and a cat and 4 kiddos. David drove the truck and pulled the trailer with our kayaks. Oh, we also were both equipped with brand new vehicles with all wheel drive to help us get through Michigan snow. 

We arrived Sunday night and stayed at a hotel and patiently waited until morning when we could pick up the keys to the house. Also, it was freezing when we arrived! 

When we first got to the house these hoodies were waiting for the girls. That is so sweet that someone was thinking of them! They'll be attending Mattawan High School. 

The Beans have arrived! A family selfie before going inside. We only just saw this house 3 weeks prior to this and only for a few minutes. I hope we love it as much as I think we will. 

And now we wait for the moving trucks....they didn't come until the next day. But we spent our first day in Kalamazoo buying beds and stocking the fridge. So many times over the past 6 months I've tried to imagine what our new place would be like. Every time we have bought a house, I just knew it was the one. This one felt right to me the very first time I looked at it. While it's not a dream home, we are so so grateful to have a place of our own again. And yes, we will be celebrating Christmas in our own place, even though I had doubted. We made it happen! 

And there they are!!! All of our stuff, some of which we haven't seen since March when we first staged our house to selling. 

We had to buy a lot of new furniture since we got rid of so much beforehand. We just couldn't possibly store everything that we owned. This couch was bought back in Virginia before we moved, but this was the first time we were actually seeing it. It fits the space perfectly. 

And since we moved in the days before Thanksgiving, my cousin Elise, who lives about 90 mins away in Indiana, invited us for Thanksgiving Dinner. It was a welcome relief to see familiar faces and to have a nice meal and a place to sit. In the past we have always hosted Thanksgiving at our place on Ivy Springs, so this was a welcomed change. It was fun to watch my kids play with my cousins kids. I have so many great memories of playing with my cousins during holiday dinners. 

And as we drove home from Indiana, we experienced our first Michigan snow. It felt exciting, but I'm sure we'll be sick of it in a few months. 

My kitchen is all unpacked! Now on to the rest of the house. I'm glad you can't see the mess behind me. 

And these two are off to their first day of their new schools. I'm so nervous for them. When we moved the kids in the middle of the school year 5 years ago, I said I'd never do it again. But here we are doing it...and it's not easy and I'm so nervous for them and I don't envy them at all. They are brave little humans! I didn't get a picture of Aliza and Carmen had actually gone back to VA for one more week to be able to wrap up some things with some of her classes. Her being gone for a week definitely made me realize that I'm not ready for her to be gone off to college! Only 1 1/2 more years to get ready. 

And there you have it....the Christmas tree is up and the stockings are hung. Team work makes the dream work! David had a dream just 2 months ago that he was going to celebrate the holiday in his own house. I seriously doubted it could happen because he'd been job hunting for over a year and nothing was coming up. But I guess it took just that extra bit of faith and works to make it happen. And we are thrilled to be here! Phew, what a month. Now let's get all unpacked, oh and onto Christmas shopping.

 

October 2021

October started with a few regattas, one in Northern VA and another in Philadelphia. I love this capture of Coach Craig. He's so kind but also expects so much from the kids. 

Reception time! Because it was being held at the house, I was put in charge of food and decorations. But at the same time...I had COVID. The end of my quarantine was the day of the reception. It made things tricky and I had to call in reinforcements, but it turned out beautifully.  

They wanted an apple theme, so we had apple cider and cider donuts among other goodies. 

The bridge looked beautiful all lit up as the guests came across. 

The Harris family played some of their famous Blue Grass music and brought the party alive. 

 I find so many selfies of Miss Aliza on my phone. And she doesn't get mentioned nearly enough here. She is thriving in high school and rolling with the punches with our nomadic lifestyle the past few months. 

Here's a picture of the raging Moorman's River across the fjord. This is an example of when we couldn't drive across.

Charlotte surprised us all and decided to play middle school basketball! I was thrilled to be part of a new sport. It's one of the more fun ones to watch. She did a great job and they ended the season well. 

Spirit week at the high school. The girls had to raid Amy Schill's closet (she's on a mission) to find some blue and gold things, but I think they look adorable. 

More Saturday soccer action! This kids was on fire today!

Recently David was in Costco and saw that the Christmas decorations were already out. He was overcome with the desire to have Christmas in our own home, no matter what. At this point with no job offer in site and very few homes on the market, I'm not sure it's even possible. He had been interviewing consistently for  weeks now. I still don't understand why it takes a company so long to make a decision about hiring someone, but it does. These past few months have been very trying for us. We are all just ready and will to go wherever the Lord leads us. And it would be great to celebrate Christmas in a home of our own. I'm proud of David and how he has really stepped up the job searching these last few weeks. 

Just a few random photos of us - its the small thing I really want to remember in these books. We love going to football games. 

And Koda probably gets morel one than all of us. He's so wonderful and patient with the kids. 

And in a last ditch effort to celebrate Halloween, we carved some pumpkins.  Poor kids haven't been Trick-or-Treating for years now because we always seems to be out of town. This year we'll be at a regatta and then heading to Michigan to scope the place out as David was offered a job with Whirlpool. He's actually been offered a couple of jobs, from all the interviewing he has done. (The Lord loves effort!) We aren't sure yet if this is what he'll choose, but we want to check it out first.