It all comes full circle.

This story actually starts a year and a half ago, when my baby was small and the world was covered with snow.  When Christmas was no more than a few weeks away and our world, mine really, started to take on a precarious tilt toward the unknown.

December 2010

We took a trip that wasn't as much a get-away, as it was a let's see if we can get away with this life-style.  We headed to the North Shore of Lake Superior at the beginning of December in 2010.  The scenery was beautiful, not overly cold and not too much snow - until we drove home; then it snowed like the dickens.  During the 10 hour drive back to the relative warmth of Missouri, we discussed the pros and cons of such a huge move, the quickness of their time-frame for wanting Uriah to start, where we would live and how insurance would work, switching schools in the middle of the school year for Abby.  The timing wasn't right for us (I'll be honest - mostly for me.) and we ultimately stayed in Missouri until Uriah took the job in Iowa last year.

And Iowa, for the most part, has been good to us.  We reveled in the small-town life, the ability to walk to the grocery store and the park.  We made library friends and Abby walked to school every single day.  It afforded us the opportunity for me to stay home for awhile and work part-time when I decided I needed to get out of the house and Finn needed some small-person interaction.  Iowa gave me the time to loose some weight, to get on a healthy eating plan, to embrace exercise.  Abby thrived in her school, playing volleyball, basketball and being part of band and choir.  Yes, Iowa has been good to us.  

June 2012

Earlier this summer, however, circumstances in Iowa changed for our family, and we took a family vacation that was equal parts fun and work to the same place we were a year and a half ago.  Once again, we asked ourselves: can we get away with this life-style now?  We dived head-first into the area, looking at neighborhoods, schools and parks.  We discussed the pros and cons of changing schools for the third time in as many years, loading up a U-haul again, getting to know a new area, a new way of life, being a longer distance from both of our families.  And based on so many discussions that I'm pretty sure I was ready to move to Australia (where it never snows), Uriah accepted a job on the North Shore of Lake Superior last week.  

We are moving our family once again, this time to Minnesota.  This time, everything seems to have come together smoothly.  And I am comfortable with the move...I am looking forward to it, even.  Maybe not so much the snow and winter (Duluth gets about 5 feet of snow annually), but I plan to tackle that only when I have to and not a moment sooner.  Abby...well, she'll make her own way in a new town, with new friends to make and a new school to conquer.  She always comes through smelling like roses, that girl.  Finn will get to see trains and big boats pretty much on a daily basis and our new house is only 2 blocks from the park.  Uriah's already talking about learning to kayak on Lake Superior and camping in the state parks that abound up the shore.  

I'm just happy to have Minnesota license plates again.