Home is Where the Heart is...

It is with a wild mixture of emotions, that I announce to everyone, that our family is moving. We are leaving our beloved small town and heading back to another type of home...the "home" that began our family's journey, the "home" where we were married and where our first baby was born. We are returning to Knoxville. This move has in some ways been years in the making, and in other ways is very sudden. My heart especially, has stirred each time I've come home to visit my mother and my sisters, my nieces and nephew and best friends. Each time I leave to return to Mascoutah has been bitter sweet...not wanting to leave my family behind in Knoxville, hating to miss out on all the family activities here...but also always thrilled to return to M-Town, which we also consider very much our home. We have ties there. Strong ties. Strong foundations. Strong relationships. Intense friendships. Mascoutah is a remarkable place to raise a family and until very recently, it's the place we have envisioned raising our family forever...the place we imagined grandchildren coming to visit. It's small, yet a big city is just down the road. It's quaint, it's safe, it's schools are amazing, the sense of community is fabulous. It's new and old fashioned. It's everything wonderful about small town USA. And we're leaving it. My eyes keep filling with tears when I think about leaving..leaving the football program in which we've invested so much of our hearts. Leaving the amazing friends we've made. And yet....the excitement of coming "home" to Knoxville is also so real and so...long awaited.

Our family has experienced some recent challenges that I won't go into here, that make returning to Knoxville now a wise choice. We have family here, support here, resources here. We can be of help and resource to my sisters just as they can be to us. It's a good choice. It's a happy choice. It's also heartbreaking. Anyone who knows me knows...I love Mascoutah with my whole heart. I'm a Mascoutah Indian through and through.

So, that's our new news. Family wise, everyone is well. The kids are all enjoying summertime. The girls have had the opportunity to spend a couple of weeks with their grandparents in Chicago. I knew they would have a good time, and enjoy themselves...I did not know they would be over the moon excited to have spent that time with their grandparents and I'm thrilled to say that their attachment to Albert's step-mother has really blossomed. They loved her before of course, but now they are deeply attached to her and I can't express my thanks enough for the time she spent taking care of them this summer.

Brice is finishing up his first season of baseball. He seemed to like it pretty well! As you all know, football is our family's main sport so having a child take up a major interest in something else is new for us, but we did enjoy it! The girls finished up a year of dance- they took tumbling, ballet, tap and hip hop. Like Brice, they really enjoyed these new activities and when we get settled in Knoxville next month, we will be looking for a dance studio here so that they can continue. I love to see them all take part in activities that they enjoy. You just never know what will spark a child's interest, what will become their passion or their talent...it's been a lot of fun watching them try out new things.

So, we are all a flutter in finding new jobs, securing housing (I think we've accomplished this one for certain), moving over important things like bank accounts, and preparing mentally for the chores of gathering shot records, doctors appointments, birth certificates, social security cards and all things necessary to register all the kids in new schools. I expect that will be daunting, but alas, a necessary step. Then loading up all our possessions and hitting the road. I can't imagine the swirl of emotions I will feel pulling out of M-Town on that day, or upon pulling in to K-Town for that matter. It feels bittersweet...sad, overwhelming, tragic, joyful and like sweet relief all at once.

In the end though, "home" isn't really a set in stone place at all. Life changes, throws curve balls, leaves you unsure why you ever thought you had things all mapped out to begin with. "Home" it turns out, will always be, where ever our family can be together. At the end of it all, family is home. And with family is where we'll be.