Closing in on one chapter, opening up a new

Well well well....it's almost been two years since our plane landed here in Northern Florida. We were moving from cold snowy Wisconsin to warm sunny Florida. We had absolutely no idea what life would bring us as we held our GPS. We moved into a house we knew nothing about. We led ourselves blind as we put ourselves out there to make friends. And oh my, two years later, who would have thought....I have tears in my eyes as I am writing this thinking back to our first few days here in Oakleaf, to our last few days here in Oakleaf. Wow, what an amazing journey it has been. So many milestones we've reached together as a family unit, and also as individuals. I never dreamed that I would be the one who would live in Florida, let alone live in Florida with my husband and 2 children. However, life takes us in so many different directions, sometimes you just have to go with the flow. For that we are so thankful.

It's time my friends for us to close this chapter of our lives and move onto the next. As bittersweet as it is to leave, leaving behind so so so many close friends, who substituted as family, we feel it has been the best decision to move back home and call it home for good. Brad got the news last week that he will no longer have a job come January 30th. Our homeowners called the next day and told us they need their house back due to some life changing events as well. That was a sign, a huge sign for us to make up our minds and run with this and call it an opportunity.


So, we don't have a plan in place yet as life has been full of craziness, however, we will make something work and we'll keep you updated on our blog. What we do know is this is going to be a hard, but easy thing for our family to go through. Sam is taking it all in as we explain things to him at a very slow pace. He has worries, childhood worries like, "who will be my new friends" and "where will I sleep" and "who will be my new teacher" and how dare we not have a park at a 10 step distance and a pool in our backyard. Matthew is concerned his bed will be moved. However, all things will come with time as we adjust to life as we once knew it. We are so excited to make this journey work, under the circumstances. I already have people waiting for photo sessions back home so get ready friends, I'm going to be signing you up sooner than you thought!

I'm not saying good bye to all our friends yet as we have so many things coming up/going on. It will be a "see you soon" as you have no idea how much you all mean to us in sooo many different ways. Your kind words of encouragement when I need a lift me up. Those mommy day/night outs where you just knew when to call. Those awesome nights at the park where we played until the sun set and we had to pull our kids off the playground and drag them home kicking and screaming. Those pizza nights when we trashed each others rooms. To fun Bunco nights. Those families who have made us who we are today.....through tears of sadness and joy THANK YOU. Our family has grown up so much with your help and for that our family has been blessed.

Now, hang on kids, we're going for a ride!