On the Move Again...

Well we purchased another 4wheel drive, which seems pretty stupid for a family of Texans, but this family will soon be calling themselves Pennsylvanians. We found out Thursday Cory's boss really wants him up in Pittsburgh, so soon the Ruiz's will be North easterners. I am no stranger to moving, this will be my 25th move since Kindergarten and my 8th state to live in, but Texas is as far east as I ever thought I would live. It is so strange to me that my children will think of themselves as from the northeast. Overall however, we are excited.
PROS
The area is beautiful with numerous outdoor activities. Pretty much an outdoor lovers paradise. Upper Saint Clair or Peters, the 2 townships we are considering living in have absolutely amazing public school systems with 96% going on to college. Cory's office is actually located about 5 minutes from the area we are going to live in, so there will no longer be the battle of a commute. The neighborhood is actually outside of the city. Maybe, comparable to living in McKinney or even Anna. I know you are probably asking yourself now what about the winters, but I grew up in Montana and below 0 was a normal part of life. I am not excited to return to months of winter, but there is a ski resort 45 minutes away. I grew up on the mountain and think it will be fun for Caleb and Makaylee to have the opportunity to enjoy this activity. There are other things we are excited about but these are the main things that Dallas doesn't necessarily offer.
CONS
I guess the biggest thing is leaving our loved ones. We have built so many amazing relationships here and I can hardly even think about leaving these behind without tears coming to my eyes. There is rarely a day that goes by that Caleb doesn't ask for Hampton and Jackman or say he wants to go see Ellie, Anna and Mr Mike. He loves all his friends, as do I. We just had him enrolled in school were Aubren will soon be his classmate and Holly and LeeAnn are his teachers. Oh, it is so hard to say good-bye.
At times it has been hard living so far from family, but it is only a short 5 hour drive to Grandma and PaPa. Pittsburgh well, it is a bit further. I know this transition will pose its challenges to say the least. We will work it out though Gammaw don't worry.
Basically, we need to processes this with our Community group and barring no red flags I think the plan is to move at the end of May after birthdays are over, some of the precious new babies have arrived Reengage is over and my sweet friend Alyssa is married. I feel really good about what needs to be done. LeeAnn helped me see how amazing the Lord has been to pave the way to make this transition as doable as possible. Back in October we sold our house and have been living as simple as possible for the past months, so packing up will be easy. We thought we were moving up there back in July, which would have posed many challenges with a newborn, but now Makaylee is sleeping through the night and then some. We know more about our current market, so housing wise we know what we want to do. And finally and I think most importantly, Cory and I have learned so much about each other and our marriage from when Pittsburgh was originally put on the table. I think we thought then we could handle living up there to some degree in isolation at least until we found friends, but looking back we would not have had the last 8 months to process with people that love us some areas of our marriage that growth was necessary. I think we are on a great path. I am alittle scared because it really has been amazing doing life with people, but I see the tremendous value in this type of relationship. I know I will be diligent to pray for the Lord to provide this up in Pittsburgh. Besides, I have recently become a face book freak, so I can always commune through cyberspace.