Broadening and expanding... my vision of where we will land.

So a couple of posts ago I wrote about how I was jealous that our neighbors are moving to Orange County, because that is where I have been wanting to move for quite some time. It's where I have envisioned us ending up. When I log on the computer a few times a week I check on houses in Orange County, I am even signed up to receive emails from a couple of different real estate agents in that area and they send me daily updates of new listings. All because in the back of my head I have thought 'that is where I want to be'. If you have read my blog before or have known me for a long time you know that I have very little family left and absolutely none here in the desert (well, none that I have a relationship with) so holidays around here can be lonely when our friends are busy. So if we moved to OC we would be closer to my brother Danny and closer to so many friends so that has been my motivation. But then....Chris started looking for a job, a new job, a new adventure. Something that will provide us a nice living and some job security. We have not had either for a while now. We had 16 years of job security for him, he loved what he did, loved where he worked and was very nicely compensated for it and then two years ago along with the economy it all came to a crashing halt. We have been dealing with it for quite a while now all the while not really knowing what was going to happen or where we were going to end up. Then we discovered a website with jobs in his field. Lots of jobs. The only thing is, they are all on the east coast. At first it was just crazy talk. I mean come on, I am a California girl through and through. I have been born and raised here and have only left the state a handful of times in my life. I have lived a very sheltered life. I have been to New York one time and I loved it. It was amazing. All the culture, I mean my God those were my people, I have never seen so many Italian people in my life!! It was wonderful, but I didn't ever consider moving there or that someday I might live close to all that craziness. But then Chris applied for a job in a little town called Amsterdam in New York and the guy called him and was interested in hiring him. As soon as he called we started researching the area (nothing like jumping the gun, right?) and you know what? It was cool. It looked like a really great town. Since then he has sent out many, many more resumes and been contacted by several people. Every single time somebody calls my daughter and I are on the computer as fast as we can researching the town/city/state that they are calling from. I feel like I have been doing a report on small towns across the country. I have learned more about the geography of the east coast and southern states than I did in high school (of course I didn't have any interest in learning it back then!) I think the best part of this has been us talking about it as a family. Discovering new areas, talking about what it would be like if we end up moving. How we would cope, what we would do to make new friends.
Chris and I are not the kind of parents that hide things from our kids or wait until we know exactly what is going to happen before we tell them things. I don't know if it's the best way to parent, but it works for us. It has been working in this situation because it is helping our kids come to terms with the fact that they might have to leave their friends. They are both sad and excited at the same time. Some places for sure look more desirable to them than others and I have had to make a lot of promises to them that I hope I will be able to keep.
I have no idea at this point where we will end up. No idea what God's plan is for us. I do know that I have become an avid pray-er. I have been praying for wisdom, guidance and strength. I pray that when the right opportunity comes along we will know it and grab it.
I am looking forward to going on this adventure with my family and hoping that very soon there will be an answer. I will keep you all posted.
xoxo