We Are Moving!

For years Micah had mentioned the possibility of getting a temporary position in Washington DC with his employer, but he was waiting for the right opportunity to come along. At the beginning of the year there was a job posting in DC that looked interesting to him, so we decided he should apply. But then COVID hit, and we didn't hear anything, so we figured it wasn't going to happen. Towards the end of April, though, Micah was contacted about the position. He was told that he had to decide if he was really interested in making the move before going through the interview process, as they only wanted to interview serious candidates. Since we were in the midst of the Stay at Home order due to COVID we were a little hesitant when thinking about moving, but ultimately we decided he should go for it . We were shocked when he was given the position! We have been all over the place emotionally around the move, especially since a cross country move is daunting to begin with, but especially during a pandemic. But overall we are all excited to live somewhere different for awhile. We have been in Albuquerque for almost 10 years already and, besides this temporary move, we have no plans to leave New Mexico.

May 2020 at the top of the Sandias in ABQ

Although we spent the first 8 weeks of our Stay at Home Order enjoying a bit of a slower pace, once we were told on May 7 that we were moving to DC, we got busy with purging stuff we no longer needed, tackling an ever growing list of house projects, finding renters for our house in ABQ, researching where to live in the DC area, and researching homeschool curriculum, plus Micah has been extra busy at work in preparation for this transition. I know many people will look back on their quarantine and remember their extra family time, or maybe even being a bit bored, but this has become one of the busiest seasons of life for our family.

Micah’s position will take us to the DC area for 1-3 years. It sounds like most people end up staying for 2 years, but it all depends on how things are going with the job. Knowing we are coming back to ABQ definitely helps with the sadness around our move as, although I haven’t always talked about the city in a positive way, it truly has become home for us. We will certainly miss our community (and the weather) while we are gone!

Of course, one thing that makes this move harder is that it happens to be during the middle of a pandemic. Although we are becoming accustomed to wearing masks in public and such, it definitely won’t be easy to find a new community while we should still be avoiding other people. We also are leaning towards homeschool since starting at a new school with part time school / part time distance learning doesn’t sound ideal. We’ve also already switched our kids to two different schools for Kindergarten and First Grade, so going to a third school in three years doesn’t sound great either.

As of right now, the kids and I plan to leave ABQ on July 13. My mom is flying out here and then her and I will drive to Michigan with the kids. We are going to stay with my parents through the end of August while Micah wraps things up with work in ABQ. The kids and I are definitely looking forward to our time in Michigan since so much is closed in ABQ right now and we don’t even have access to a private pool. For us, summers in Michigan include a lot of swimming in pools and lakes, and we can’t wait for that. I'm also looking forward to having the stress of getting ready for the move behind me, and a long stop in Michigan along the way to DC should be relaxing (plus I'll have the help of grandparents). 

Christmas 2010, two months after we moved to Albuquerque and Micah started his job at Sandia

May 2020

Alexis, Jack, and Faith at 9 months old. This was taken one week after we moved into our current house in Albuquerque. It will be hard to leave the house that the kids have spent the majority of their lives in!

April 2017 when Graham came home from the hospital. He has spent his whole life in this house.

Mother's Day 2017

Our only "pool" in Albuquerque this summer