Moving

Oh boy!  It is about time I write about our move to Virginia.  Some time after Mike was released as Bishop we both felt like there would be a big change coming up in our lives.  We spent time thinking and praying about what it might be.  There were some job opportunities fr Mike that we were a bit interested in and so he started looking into what they would be.  We have always wondered if Mike should to do his head quarters time near Washington D.C.  It can be a good thing for an FBI agent's career plus you get a pretty good raise.  The thought of leaving our home, friends that have become family, ward and schools always made us think that maybe it wasn't a good idea.  Leaving everything we love for 18 months especially with 5 kids is a really hard thing to do. But as Mike looked more into the jobs that he might apply for we both felt like it was what we were suppose to do.  He put in for the first job and heard back that he didn't get it.  It kind of set us back a bit because we had been certain that he should put in for it.  He decided that if it was really what we should do that he should do a short 30 day TDY in D.C. so that he could get to know what the area was like, get to know some of the people there and get a feel of the work.  So off he went to Maryland for 30 days right in the middle of our vacation home to Utah and Idaho.  We were both bummed because we look forward to our vacations together.  Maryland was kind of a hard time for Mike.  He was working on indecent images and it was long boring work.  We wondered why he had to go do the 30 days.  Why the first job didn't work out the way we thought it would.  After the 30 days Mike came home.  He had a friend in Maryland keeping an eye on all jobs that came open.  She gave him some to put in for.  The timing for the kids getting in to school and everything was way off.  We would be moving in November.  But we felt like he should put in for it.  About a month later Mike got the call that he had gotten the job.  He of course told me about it by showing me a box.  He always tells me that we are moving by giving me an empty box.  When he showed it to me, I was sad.  The all the worries about leaving everything rushed over me and then I felt peace.  I knew that it was what our family was suppose to do.  I wasn't exactly sure of all the reasons why yet but I knew that we needed to move and do this 18 months TDY.

  After all the shock wore off it was time to go to work.  There was so much to do before the date that Mike had to start his first day.  The government gives you a whopping 30 days to relocate.  That is a very difficult task when moving a family of 7.  I spent some time talking to my sister in law Chrystie who's husband is in the military and so they move alot and then spent days looking at homes to rent.  We were suppose to go to Maryland and about 2 weeks before we were suppose to be there they told us that the actually wanted Mike to take the spot at Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Alexandria, Virginia.  There is was looking at houses again.  It was horrible trying to make sure the kids had good schools but also making sure we were close to Mike's work so that he didn't have to have a horrible commute again.  Oh and a yard.  We had to have a yard for my kids.  You can't take kids off an acre and a half and take them to a home without any yard.  We finally settled on a home on Cool Spring Dr. in Alexandria.  It is an older home with some problems but it fit the criteria and the budget.
   
     Finding the home was just one of the hundred of things I had to do before we were to move.  There were a bunch of things we had to fix in the house because we planned on renting it out plus packing what we needed along with putting what we didn't need into storage.  It was a whirl wind of days and night filled with cleaning, packing, and getting us all ready to go.  Mike had all the things at work to finish up on top of all the help I needed from him at home after work.  I think towards the end we just wanted to go so that things could slow down again for awhile.  We were exhausted.  

 On November 3rd, the day before we had to move we had tons of help to get our stuff to the storage unit as well as into the 16 foot truck we rented.  I also had Kelly and Carrie to help me finish up the cleaning so that the house was left just right when we left.  We had our last good byes from people that had become just like family.  It was less than pleasant and just like everything the day in November that we were suppose to move came and we headed off together to start our new adventure as a family.

      I left earlier in the van while Mike finished everything up and drove slower in the moving truck with the red car attached.  The sight of my home and neighbors in the windows as we pulled away was horrible but by the end of the lane I was was ready to go and do the next thing that God had for us.  I knew He would be looking out for us and I knew that he would be there to make sure we were not only ok but better off for having done it.

     The drive was less than pleasant.  We were packed in the van with no place to move.  It took us about 11 hours and finally we drove up to what would be our new house for the next 18 months.  I knew it wasn't going to be as great as our house in Indiana but wow was it a sight for sore eyes.  It was old, small, broken and very dirty.  The kids that were with me all just kind of hung their heads.  I could tell that they were less than excited.  Mike's drive was horrible.  The truck was so long and big that he had to move pretty slowly and the roads especially near Washington were very narrow.  I am so glad that he was driving it and not me.  I may have had a heart attack.  I'll never forget Mike seeing the home for the first time.  He hated it and so did Wiley and Noah who had just shown up with him.  I was scared that we would be miserable for the year and a half we had to be here.

     For the next few days we tried to make this house our home.  It was hard and no one really liked it.  I think the kids could feel the stress from Mike and I which we really tried to hide but the fact was that we both were a bit stressed.  There is always so much to do when you first move.  Mike was being thrown into a very different job, being a supervisor over some people that help work cases of indecent images.  He has spent alot of time working cases of child prostitution but had not worked much of the images side.  That is when we realized why he had needed to spend those 30 days in Maryland working in those type of cases.  He needed that time to start to understand those cases so that when he got this new job he would know what to do.

     Here we are 3 months later and we are doing fine.  The kids are in school, getting good grades, making friends and getting to see a whole lot of great things out here.  We are trying to make sure that we get to have a ton of time as a family doing things that we just couldn't do while Mike was the Bishop. Mike is really enjoying his job and has been given tons of things that he is over but is doing a great job managing it all.   Over all I think we are all doing fine.  We sitll miss our friends, our ward and our home but I have a feeling we might just have a great time here in Virginia.