Sweet Home Chicago

I've fallen off the blogging wagon again, but I have good reasons. The last week and a half have just insane -- just about everything has changed! In a nutshell, I took a new job in Chicago that starts in a week!

Here's the longer version of the story. Dave and I have been wanting/trying to move back to Chicago for about a year or two now, but good opportunities just haven't come up. We decided to put our house on the market (we have to do a short sale, no choice) to find something closer to work and that has three bedrooms (we were making do with two bedrooms upstairs for the girls plus a finished basement for the two of us). We planned a trip out to Chicago for the last week in July to visit family and attend a baptism.

Randomly, I received a phone call less than a week before our trip offering me an interview for a job out in the Chicago 'burbs that I had applied for back in June. The job is basically my dream job -- awesome district, close to our families, half-time with the potential to go full time in a year or two. I decided to interview, but thought that there was no way I could accept unless Dave had a job, as we would not have health insurance if it was part-time.

I interviewed and absolutely loved the district and the position. As we were wrapping up, I was informed that the position comes with FULL medical benefits. And the hours are just awesome for a mom who wants to be home more with her girls. I was offered the job on the spot. After some deep conversations with Dave (and his family, where we will be staying until Dave finds something), we decided to just take a leap of faith and go for it. I feel like this position was created for me, and we have to have faith that things will work out. But, the position starts in a WEEK!

We decided that it would be too much stress/hassle to bring the girls back to RI, pack up, and drive back to Chicago in less than a week. So, Dave and his dad flew out to RI on Thursday night and are currently loading all of our belongings onto a moving truck! Just CRAZY. I am so sad not to be able to say goodbye to our house, and more importantly, all of our friends, our girls' nanny whom we ADORE, and all of our "Rhode Island Family." But, I know that this is the best way for the girls, and I want to plan a trip back in the fall for me to see everyone.

The next step is for Dave to find something (he teaches history -- if anyone knows of anything in the south or west suburbs, let us know!) and for us to find a place to live. It feels so good to be back, and the girls are just soaking up all of the grandparent/cousin/aunt/uncle/etc. attention. I know this was meant to be.

LOTS of pictures to come -- Dave is bringing my computer back from RI as we speak. :)