Although the search for this opportunity only began a few short months ago, the wheels had been spinning for quite some time. And before that, the desire was building, the desire for something more than this. If the past ten years living in Boston have taught me anything, it's that I am a lover of urbane life, and that I am deeply deeply sensitive. These two qualities often exist paradoxically. They battle to eclipse the other. In the end, my love for living in this sensational hub always seemed to trump my sensitivity toward the edgy sensibility, the cruel anonymity, the outright violence sometimes of city slickin'.

Becoming a parent really magnified these feelings for me, and I began to feel a strong tension as to whether I was living here for my children or myself.

I feel like I've made the Pros (awesome, progressive city in gorgeous New England) and Cons (wicked spendy, far far from family) list 54,000 times and I always got zero steps closer to any resolution.

And then Lovey Loverpants is no help. And by that I mean the fella I love is in love with Lady Boston, despises change, and would probably live in this cramped condominium until they carried him out feet first.

After we had Baby Girl, I really thought maybe we would stay here forever. I told people we would probably be putting down roots here.

After we had Little Man, though, I realized we couldn't do this anymore. We couldn't work as much as we did to pay a mortgage and flights home and not suffer. We couldn't afford private Christian school if that was our desire and not have to make other large sacrifices. We couldn't keep straddling this feeling of Just Making It and not leave an imprint on ourselves and likely our children that we could be one illness away from really losing it all.

When Loverpants got pneumonia this past summer, this last truth manifested itself. We needed to make some kind of economic change.

Beyond all the logistics, though, there was a tugging on my heart. You have an important ministry. Your ministry is your family.

I felt as though I needed to be somewhere that the ministry to my family was more encouraged and supported. I wanted to be able to continue to teach but I wanted to be with my children and I looked down the long tunnel of adjunct work, loving it and putting all of my energies into it and making no money and being with my children even less and still not being able to afford the schools where we wanted them to be.

So all this presented itself and I was looking for That Teaching Job.

And I found it.

And they found me.

And they liked me, they really liked me.

And now we're moving...

(To Be Continued...)