Moving is Bittersweet

Oh, yep, that’s an announcement. If you don’t follow my Instagram or know me personally yet, here’s the news. We’re moving this summer. It will be just shy of a 3,000 mile move, literally coast to coast, from California to Virginia. It’s going to be an adventure!

Nine years ago, we made a similar move from New York to California, but our family was smaller then. Now with six kids and school-age kids with friends and connections, it’s harder.

Leaving behind the good from a place is the most difficult part. When acquaintances have become friends, when people I once only smiled at in Mass become kindred spirits, when the view from the back doors takes my breath away, when the place has rooted in my soul because here is where I grew and died to self and grew again . . . it’s terribly hard to uproot from that address.

I’m probably going to cry right now thinking about it.

And yet–this is also terribly exciting.

There is promise and hope in this change. Leaving behind the good from a here is no joke, but we have so much to look forward to. (And I’ll be honest: We have a lot of crazy ugly stuff to leave behind and I’m so glad to able to shake the dust off our feet from those negative things.)

I have been praying about the place the Lord is preparing for us for some time now. As soon as we found out where we’d move, I prayed, “Lord, show us the perfect home for us in the perfect community for us. Help us to quickly meet a group of people to become our friends. Prepare a place for us in a new church community, where we can grow and flourish in our faith–where hopefully our teens will be Confirmed, even one who may choose RCIA. Prepare us for the communities we will be part of, and show us just where you have called us to live.” Over and over, with various words, a Saint Joseph novena, and plenty of soul-groans for the Holy Spirit to interpret and intercede for me.

All that to say, I’m leaning in to hope for the good things to come, and trust that we’ll quickly find our home, our church community, new friends. 

• We’ll be within a day’s drive to family we haven’t seen in years! I can’t wait to meet my nieces!
• I’m looking forward to catching up with friends we’ve met through the years.
• I’ll have the chance to meet more friends from Blessed Is She and blogging circles, ladies I’ve admired and grown to know over the last several years.
• Speaking of Blessed Is She…I hope to make it to the Shine Retreat in Maryland this fall, since I’ll be able to drive the distance!
• A new job for my husband holds the promise of so many good things–please pray with me on that!
• New parish community
• More opportunities within homeschooling and/or public schooling
• New trails to run and bike with our family
• New community sports/school sports for our kids
• Monuments and museums and historical sites to visit

I’ve never lived in Virginia before; so if you live there, let me know all the things, like the best places to visit and the best coffee shops and your favorite weekend day trips. And if you’re a runner, tell me about some fun trails and races! Also, any tips for this mountain-state native and California beach-loving West Coast girl to adjust to the East Coast lifestyle? I’m going to need them.