The Beginning of the Journey: Our Reason for Moving

If I told you this journey has been an easy one and that we've handled it with nothing but grace so far, I wouldn't be telling you the truth.  This has been a tough transition back to Ohio.  Let me explain. 

After graduating from college and getting married shortly thereafter, Adam and I spent 4 years together in Ohio.  Life was good.  Family was close by, we both had great jobs, and things were pretty simple with just the two of us under one roof.  However, a career opportunity arose for Adam, and we decided to move on it. Off to Philadelphia we went.

The more time we spent in Philadelphia, the more complex and beautiful our lives became.  It's hard to explain what makes one's life beautiful, but here's my personal definition: the mileage on a marriage (through both good and bad), the raising of children, the interdependence formed with friends, family, and community, and the growing closer to Christ through it all.  I loved our life in Philly.  So why would we move?

Moving back to Ohio was two-fold and oh so bittersweet.  Bitter because we would be leaving the place where our lives had grown so much, where our three children were born and raised, and where our friends and neighbors (who had both become like family) and some extended family resided.  Sweet, however, because we would be moving back to where our family was (parents, brothers, sisters, nephews, and niece), and furthermore, Adam would be able to pursue a dream.

After working in residential construction for almost five years and in a facet of the commercial construction industry for eight, all the while working for someone else, Adam wanted to try working for himself.  He wanted to rehab homes for resale. 

With the disparity in housing costs, it only made sense to move back to Ohio from a business perspective.  We sold our lovely home in the greater Philadelphia area (thanks to all the work Adam had done on it over the eight years we lived there) for two hot messes in the greater Cleveland area.  One extremely hot mess would be the flip house.  The second and more moderate hot mess with a few acres of land would be our new home.

More about our "hot messes" to come...