That brings us to today, and yet another excuse for why I haven't been blogging the past months. We are making a big move next week. Colossal. Huge. We are picking up and moving our family 500-ish-kms south of here. To a farm. Not any old farm. My in-laws' farm. Don't get me wrong - they aren't moving out of their house, we are moving in.
Sound crazy? It very well might end up being the craziest thing we have ever done. Good crazy, or bad crazy? Nobody really knows yet, and we won't know until we try it out. They have a huge, very old farm house (like, over 100 years kind of old) that needs some serious renovations, but it is a beautiful house on an even more beautiful piece of land. On a clear day, you can see the mountains, and on a day that is less than stellar, you can almost always see the foothills. It is full of wide open spaces, what is affectionately known to southern Albertans as 'big sky' (if you've been there, you'll know what I'm talking about), and a few animals. What could be better for raising kids? Plus, they will be growing up in the same house as their grandparents (one set, I'll get to that in a minute) and building close relationships that they will hopefully treasure for the rest of their lives.
Why are we moving? What on earth would take us that far away, leave this house that we built, my whole family, our friends and kids' friends, and our jobs?
Faith. Hope. The promise of the life that we have always wanted for our children.
Does that make it any easier to leave? Not really. It was an extremely difficult decision, especially because B and I both have amazing jobs here, and because I knew that leaving would be really tough on my family. We are a very close-knit group, and the biggest thing holding me back when we were talking about the decision was family. I knew that although we may not see each other as much, the time that would be spent in the future would be quality. Let me explain...
When we have our Sunday dinners right now, it is a busy afternoon and evening for everyone. We jam an entire week (or two) of visiting into a few hours. Don't misunderstand - I love our dinners, and will miss them dearly - I am just very much looking forward to coming for 3-5 days and being able to spend most of our time here visiting without feeling like everything is extremely rushed. Over the course of the year, we will probably spend more hours than we would just visiting on Sundays and the occasional Saturday shopping trip.
All in all, it is a really scary/crazy/exciting/sad/happy time for all of us, and while the kids were upset about the move at first, now they can't wait until next week when we can go and set up their new rooms and they can just be at the farm with all of their stuff. Will it work out and will we stay there? I have no idea. I'm really hoping so. The renovation alone is extremely intriguing for me, as I have never been a part of one that large before, and I've been wanting to update certain things in that house for years!
I will keep blogging throughout the process, and hopefully throw some parenting tips out along the way (there will definitely be one about explaining a big move to an almost-4-year-old).
Oh. There's one more thing.
There is...only...ONE...bathroom.
I'll let you know how that works out.
xoxoxo
C
Edit: I forgot to say, the craziest part of all is that it doesn't feel at all crazy that we are moving in with my in-laws. And, that I hope my kids can build strong relationships with all of their grandparents, because I am very close with all of mine, and even had the opportunity to live with one set when I was young. I always forget to say everything I want to, but I don't want to bore the snot out of all of you by overwriting every single blog. Yowzers. Long edit.
