Whirlwind of Events

Well it has been a crazy few months with the new baby, but even crazier few weeks. The Batsche clan is moving out of Arizona! It has been a shock to everyone and a little bit to us as well. After a lot of discussion we have decided to move to Texas. I never never never thought that we would end up in Texas, but that is what is happening.
Let me start from the beginning. In July/August of last year Zach and I had been discussing and debating moving out of Arizona and moving someplace a little closer to family. We love being in Arizona with my sister and her family and we love the weather in Arizona, but there were a lot of cons to Arizona. Zach and I are midwest people. We like the change of seasons and the midwest feel of living. More importantly to the small petty things that we like we realized that we wanted our children to grow up around grandparents and more extended family. Again, we had my sister and her family and Chloe loves to play with her cousin Allie who is just about 6 months older than her, but we still really wanted to be around grandparents. We started talking out the pros and cons of Texas and Indiana as our families don't live in the same state so we would have to choose one side or the other. Of course I was rooting for Indiana and Zach Texas because that is what we were accustomed to, but it wasn't about us anymore. The move would be about our family and children.
After we made the decision that we wanted to move we soon found out we were expecting Levi so we put the move on the back burner as we didn't want to move until after the baby was born. Once Levi was born we again started to look. We again discussed which would be a better place to live for our family, and again we found that either Indiana or Texas would be a great place for us and that there were pros and cons to both places. We decided that it was time to put it in someone else's hands. We started applying for jobs in both places and prayed about it and just said we would take the path where the doors were opened. We didn't want to pick favorites or sides of the family we just wanted to go where God had opened doors for us.
I had dreams of living back in Indiana and having my kids grow up with my friends' kids and my favorite house that I lived in growing up was for sale. So in my mind it was clearly a sign that we were going to Indiana. I had already moved back to Indiana in my mind and was picturing my life back in a familiar place. A place with great family, friends, food and churches galore. I never once had dreams about living in Texas because I didn't know Texas and I was more comfortable with the idea of Indiana, but it was quickly realized that there were more opportunities for us in Texas. Zach had multiple interviews and I had options as well, but we were only getting positive feedback from Texas. This was a hard pill for me to swallow and I really had to just take a leap of faith that it will all work out how it is suppose to work out. Not being in control is a hard concept for me, but I knew that I could only push and hope so much and then I would have to give up control for the rest.
On May 31st we were offered a position in Dallas and we would need to start the job June 25th. This didn't give us much time to get everything ready. As soon as we found out we called our realtor and put the house on the market to start the process of getting the house sold and got boxes and started packing. We had a garage sale to get rid of some items we didn't want to pack and take with us. Zach's dad and two brothers are coming out to help us drive out to Texas. All the plans quickly started coming together and we will be making our way to Texas in just a few days!
When we moved out to Arizona five years ago we moved out for the two of us and didn't really think far into the future and whether or not we would want to raise our children in Arizona. We just loved Arizona and moved for the two of us. Now that we are a family of four we have to do what is best for our family. It hasn't been the easiest few weeks. There have been a range and rush of emotions. We are excited, scared, nervous, sad and everything in-between. I'm excited for the change and to explore a new state, but extremely sad to leave my sister and her family. She is my best friend and even though I know that won't change it is still sad and something that I can't really even think about without tears. I'm sad that my parents will have all three of their children in distant states. I'm sad that Chloe and Allie won't have their weekly play dates anymore. But I know that I have to look at the big picture and even though this move brings a lot changes to our relationships the change is necessary and hopefully after a short period of time we won't remember what it was like before we lived in Texas as this will be our new normal and we will continue our relationships in a new way.
There have already been many tears shed and I'm sure there will be many more. I'm hoping that the more I tell myself this is what is best and these are the doors that were opened for us then I will start to really believe it myself. So when you think about us the next few months just remember to say a little prayer for us as I know that the next few months will bring big changes and new challenges for us.