Where Our Feet Will Land.

Dustin will be all finished up with the masters program by July of 2013, our cars are paid off, & we're renting a home. We've dreamed, prayed and thought about where we wanted our family to plant our feet and build a home for ourselves for quite sometime so it seems like next year would be our year to box our life up here and see where God would have us plant our feet for a while. We've been talking and thinking (for years now) and with nothing (almost nothing....) holding us back, we're feeling really ready for a change.

We've talked seriously about Austin Texas, recently we've talked about NewPort, Ca and also the possibility of what our lives would look like in Portland.... All three places live three of my dearest friends, so the thought of living near any of the three of them would just be superb. Also, all three cities are cities where Dustin could transfer, which is a bonus.

The hardest part of dreaming this dream is the thought of leaving our families. I don't know how I'd survive without my mother in law (hangs out with me when Dustin is at school, watches the kids 2-3 times a week so my photography business can thrive-I can edit-go to coffee shop to work & of course, go to shoots.) Having the support of family is so wonderful, I don't know that we could move to a city without friends there to be like that family that we'd be leaving behind.

Also, so many great things are happening in the birth community here in Vegas, I'd hate to leave when we're on the brink of so much change and growth here. I so want to be apart of that revolution that I'm seeing take place of families taking back their birth experiences and the difference that the birth professionals here have made in so many of my friends lives. It's just awe inspiring and uplifting to witness. It would be hard to get plugged into a new group of woman in another city when I'm already so woven into the fabric of these woman's lives. The midwives, doulas and this birth community have meant so much to me as a new mom.

Dustin has a really great relationship with is boss who is well known in the engineering industry. She has been mentoring him and grooming him over the last 3 years and we feel like it was totally God that put Dustin in that roll at the right time when so many of his classmates still have yet to find a job. He has moved up quickly and has received lots of praise for his talent and it would be hard to start from the bottom (so to speak) in a new city. I am so thankful that he has such a wonderful boss & mentor.

But I'm realizing that when things are "hard" it doesn't mean that they aren't worth the work it takes to fit comfortably into your place where ever that may be. We're still praying, dreaming and trusting God to place us somewhere where we can use our abilities to better our community and glorify God.

{After I watched this video}

this week, I quickly texted Dustin this text, 

"We're SO moving to Portland!" 

Then excitedly asked him if I could go visit my friend Sarah 

one weekend and scope out the city.....