Ohio Bound

I don't know that I can write much here.  I am not prepared to get emotional at this time.  I did want to drop a brief update.  If I haven't shared (I don't think I have here.) we are moving to Cincinnati, Ohio in June/July as David completes his Pediatric Residency in June and starts a Pediatric Gastroenterology Fellowship for three years (or four) in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Talk about a climate change! 

In March we went house hunting, which was way early, but the only time we could go.  We thought we would only be looking for good neighborhoods and schools and commutes.  We had some good connections and were able to get in touch with a few people who knew their home would be available the time we were moving in.  They weren't "show" ready.  That is what they kept telling us, because it was a couple of months early to even put homes up for rent.  We saw four and then drove around for a few more ideas.  One house we loved.  This same house was too good to be true: it had a garage and a fenced yard (neither are common in Cincinnati, but desired by us), it had a basement, it had four bedrooms and a place for me to sew (the basement), awesome neighborhood, awesome school and awesome church...and an amazing tree in the front yard and the right house, with the right people, at the right time!

We had one contact after another.  Sunday we were put in contact with a family in the area we had been interested in.  Her husband is at Cincinnati Children's and she was a reliable source.  She said she would keep her eye out for anything other than what we had already followed through on.  That evening, she had been with a family that just signed on a home and were going to put their home up for rent.  We looked at all the homes.  This home was the one we wanted, but didn't think it would be in our price range.  The family was so sweet and really willing to work with us.  When we got back and soaked in all the information we had received, we began a few new searches in areas that we discovered while there, but hadn't had anything set up to look at.  There was a great city in Northern Kentucky that was perfect and the prices were better for the same size as in Anderson Township.  We told the family we wanted to look down there.  They were anxious to know if we wanted their home or not, but were understanding of our decisions we needed to make.  We knew we would have to wait a little while for homes to be posted.  When discussing with this family that we were looking at this price at the same size, they said if they offered the same price, would we stop looking and commit to theirs.  We said we would.  After further negotiating, we had no further to search and we committed to renting their home for three years.  We feel like we are going in a little blindly with our budget, trying to figure out living expenses in a new area and such.  This then became unbeatable and the place for us. 
 I see signs of seasons already!  We truly feel blessed and watched over.  This was not what we expected.  We had our moving truck before we knew our new address to Phoenix (two weeks before we moved in).  This is fantastic.  The owners have been so kind.  We met several from the ward/church and his co-workers.  We feel so welcome already.  It makes moving again and being away from family for three years so much easier.  It makes saying good-bye here easier, but not easy.  I have blocked that out for now and don't intend on shedding those tears now.