About Us

Let me first tell you a little bit about us. We are a happy, little family of 4 (dad-Jon, mom-Michelle (blog author, will often be referred to as "I", kids- Nathan, 3 and Emily, 1). I am a stay at home mom, Jon is a music teacher. We currently live in Michigan, where we live a great life. I moved to Michigan when I was just 11 years old so I consider Michigan to be "home." Jon has lived in Michigan his entire life. Despite this being "home" for both of us, we have often talked about getting out of Michigan. We find places we think would be exciting to live in and dream. Never did we actually think we would be leaving Michigan for real.

In April, Jon was informed that due to declining enrollment and budget cuts he would be laid-off at the end of the school year. Knowing that job prospects in Michigan would be bleak, we decided to look out of state. Jon attended a job fair where he spoke with recruiters from several states- Texas, the Carolinas, Alaska, and Kentucky to name a few. All sounded like they could be fun...well maybe not Alaska for this warm weathered, sunlight craving woman (after all I do have a summer birthday, I live for summer time). Application after application was completed, emails back and forth with various recruiters, and yet, still nothing.

Then a little over a week ago (on a Monday) a friend of Jon's that he went to college with saw Jon's Facebook status about looking for work and she sent him a message saying she had a friend in Arizona who worked in a district that was looking for a music teacher. Connections were made and by Friday Jon was offered the job. Contracts have been signed and we are moving to Arizona!

This is going to be a HUGE change for our family. I have never been to Arizona and Jon went to the Grand Canyon once as a child. We will be leaving behind our family and friends, to move over 2,000 miles away and start a new adventure in our lives.

One thing we find comfort in is knowing that since our church is worldwide that is one thing that will stay very stable in our lives. We know where we will be attending church, what to expect when we get there, and know that we will have instant friends!

We will hopefully be pulling out of Michigan on June 28th, just a short 5 and a half weeks away. The adventure has already begun though, as we start packing and getting things in order for the move. My goal for this blog is to keep people posted on our progress in getting ready to leave, documenting the journey to Arizona, and then just sharing with family and friends what living in Arizona is really like once we get there. This blog will replace my previous blog and will be my main blog for as long as life keeps us in Arizona.