So, I've been TRYING to figure out HOW to put into words all that I am feeling about this move and WHY we decided to uproot our family and take this GRAND ADVENTURE! I think the idea was planted around the second summer that Stewart and Carrie came home for a visit. At the time they were living in Chevak, AK and I KNEW I could never do THAT move, but the idea was planted and little did we know that it would take root and grow. About four years ago, we actually started looking for jobs and even contacted a few schools in the Palmer/Wasilla area. We pursued that for a few weeks, but then decided that Blanding really was HOME and we would just be happy where we were! Even with that decision made, I found myself searching the Alaska Teacher Placement (ATP) website every few months "just to see." I really don't know WHAT possessed me to look at the website the last weekend in June, but there I was browsing through the ATP website and up popped a job posting for Coffman Cove, AK. I was floored...wouldn't it be CRAZY if we applied? And even MORE crazy if we actually GOT the job? I went home and talked to James about this, who later talked to Stewart, and OUR JOURNEY BEGAN! We had no idea that less than two weeks later, we would begin our GRAND ADVENTURE to this beautiful island!
But, even with all the above, it still doesn't answer the question WHY?!?!? To really get to the root of that answer, I have had to do a lot of soul searching. Here's the deal...THIS is my second chance!!! 5 years ago I started working FULL TIME just to pay off debt and get ahead a little. Well, after 5 years of working full time, the goals got a little blurred... Now, my job was FANTASTIC, and I was still able to make it to all the school events/activities my kids were involved in, but I kept thinking that I was missing out on MORE. I had always had dreams about WHAT I wanted to be able to do with my kids and with my family and somehow those dreams took a back burner to ALL that was going on around me...work, church, friends, service projects, etc. One friend said it perfectly when she asked, "When did we STOP living and START surviving?" I realized that that was me...I was no longer LIVING day to day, I was SURVIVING it! I wanted to LIVE again...I wanted my kids to know how to LIVE, how to LOVE each other, and how to do more than just SURVIVE. But, I could not think of a way to DO THAT. When this idea of Alaska took root, I began to BREATHE, again. I knew that if we made this move, we would be FORCED to rely on each other as a FAMILY....our children would HAVE to be each other's best friends...and I would have the second chance to be the MOTHER I had always DREAMED of being. How many people get that second chance?!?! So, I GRABBED that second chance...I said good bye to all those we love and cherish in Blanding, I GRABBED my husband and my children and we set out to make our dreams a REALITY!
Is this the PERFECT solution? Is this without trials or complications? Is this the CRAZIEST thing we could think to do?....NO, NO, and YES...but, we did it, anyways. And, except for the first morning, I have NOT looked back.
I'm not sure even THIS answers the questions that some of you have, but I hope it gives you a moment to pause and to think...what are YOU doing to make YOUR dreams a REALITY?!?!?
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