Are We Moving??

I mentioned awhile back that I was ready for a change and I felt the urge to move (see that blog HERE). Well, we decided to go for it and pursue moving. I was fully confident and my husband more willing than convinced. 

Our first step was to plan a trip to our potential new area... NORTH CAROLINA! I just had that place on my heart and wanted to move there and only there. I couldn't fully explain it, though it made logical sense and met a lot of our family goals, the real reason was it was just on my heart. I wanted to move to the East Coast, to experience new culture and opportunities. It would be a change of job that my husband was seeking and a bigger space and house that I have been dreaming of. It seemed to meet all the goals.

So we booked a flight to go visit, a month off, and feverishly began work to get our house ready for sale. SO many painting projects and fixing things, every weekend we worked till exhausted.

Then came the fateful week that marked going to visit the Carolinas and our families FIRST family trip!! That in itself was a dream come true. I have been dreaming of showing our eldest two more of the world for so long.

Sunday, June 21st, Father's Day, was the first day of our trip. Driving the three and a half hours to Portland, OR where we would fly out early in the next morning. Let the adventure begin!

Monday morning we all got up super early and headed to the airport, all three of my children doing incredibly well with the early wake up time and all the new things to navigate once we got to the airport. 

We traveled all day. Flying out at 7:45am here and landing there at 7pm (time change of three hours). We made it to our hotel by 10pm in Charlotte, North Carolina and all fell asleep.

A rainbow upon landing

The following three days were spent exploring North and South Carolina. We saw HUGE snakes (harmless ones), BIG spiders, and my son got a LEECH on him while wading in a stream. We also experienced the summer weather in the south with the heat, humility, and flash floods. But more than all those things, we experienced the people... and it was different than we thought.

There seemed to be a racial divide that really bothered us. Though people were very polite there was a level of finesse us Oregonians didn't poses. We traveled to several different towns and cities in our three day stay and saw and experienced a lot! (What was MOST impactful I'll share in next Friday's post).

Then we came home.

I was so sad to leave.

We had both agreed that, despite all the potential, the Carolinas weren't the best place for our family... but I just couldn't let go of the dream even after we had flown home. I still wanted to move, and only move there, but my husband felt that it wasn't what was best for our family.

So, are we moving? 

I still don't know.

My encouragement and thoughts:

Experiences are valuable, even when you don't discover what you were looking for.

It was a dream come true to watch my daughters experience a new place and have that adventure.

Teamwork means BEING a team. It doesn't just mean my way is valid or valuable. A teamwork means doing things together or not at all. One of our greatest strengths in family is doing life together, as a team. That doesn't always mean each individual gets all they want but that we work to love each other well, including in sacrifice.

Much love and don't forget to look for next week's blog on what was the most impactful part of this trip.

-Joy