On July 23rd we made a big announcement on Facebook. Here is what we said: "We are excited to announce that soon we will be beginning a new chapter in our lives. Ryan has accepted a job in southern Virginia with Twin County Regional Hospital and we will be moving in about 3 weeks. We will find it hard to bid farewell to our family and friends in this wonderful community but we know that this is the right path for our little family to follow at this time. It is going to be a fun new adventure for all of us."
We had begun thinking about looking for a new opportunity before leaving for our Virginia reunion. We hadn't really decided yet, but we put in some applications at various places. We got several responses, including one from a town called Galax in southwestern VA, while we were in Herndon visiting my family. We liked the look of this opportunity so Ryan decided to go ahead and drive down there (a 5 hour drive) and pay them a visit and have an interview. This was just a couple days after we had visited the temple in DC, as we mentioned in our earlier post, and we had been thinking a lot about what we should do. Ryan liked what he saw in Galax, and they liked him. They gave him an offer the next day and after we thought it over for a few days and prayed a lot we decided to accept. Of course the hardest part of the decision was knowing that we would be leaving Mom and Dad and the rest of the Laie family behind. It was a very difficult decision to make but we really felt that Heavenly Father was leading our little family along and that it was the right thing for us to do for our family at this time.
When we got back to Hawaii we had 3 weeks before our big move. We could have pushed back Ryan's start date at the new job but we wanted to get there in time for Cora to start Kindergarten at her new school with all the other kids, which meant leaving in 3 weeks. We knew it would be a big transition for her, just starting kindergarten, not to mention in a brand new place, so we wanted to make sure she made it for the first day where everything was new for all of the kindergarteners together, and they could all adjust together.
Once we made our decision we felt like everything began falling into place. We were able to find a nice place to rent in Galax. Another worry about leaving Hawaii was making sure the property that we were managers over would be taken care of. Then we found out that our friends from the ward were looking for a new situation and they turned out to be a perfect fit for the place and the job! We were confident that they would be great managers for Lynne and since they were in our ward she already knew them and was comfortable with the change as well. They also bought some of our larger pieces of furniture which was nice since we were able to keep them in the apartment.
We booked a POD for the move and set about figuring out what to send in the POD and what to keep with us as we had to live out of our suitcases for over a month before our POD would reach us in Virginia. We sold most of our furniture and our cars. My amazing mom flew out to help us with the crazy move, since our timeline was so short and Ryan was still working most of the time. We definitely could not have done it without her! We also had a lot of help from other wonderful friends- people from the ward who watched the kids so we could pack up, and who helped us move boxes and furniture into the POD. (And then move it again as we tried to figure out the best configuration and distribution of stuff and weight inside the POD. That thing was a giant heavy 3D puzzle.) Cousin Megan was a huge help as well, spending lots of time with us helping us pack up and move. We felt so blessed by all of our wonderful family and friends!
We spent most of our time and energy preparing for the move but had to take some time out to do some Hawaii things, like a last hike to beautiful Laie Falls with Megan and Jeff (who very kindly watched Betty for us while we went along the last tricky part of the trail).
When we got back to Hawaii we had 3 weeks before our big move. We could have pushed back Ryan's start date at the new job but we wanted to get there in time for Cora to start Kindergarten at her new school with all the other kids, which meant leaving in 3 weeks. We knew it would be a big transition for her, just starting kindergarten, not to mention in a brand new place, so we wanted to make sure she made it for the first day where everything was new for all of the kindergarteners together, and they could all adjust together.
Once we made our decision we felt like everything began falling into place. We were able to find a nice place to rent in Galax. Another worry about leaving Hawaii was making sure the property that we were managers over would be taken care of. Then we found out that our friends from the ward were looking for a new situation and they turned out to be a perfect fit for the place and the job! We were confident that they would be great managers for Lynne and since they were in our ward she already knew them and was comfortable with the change as well. They also bought some of our larger pieces of furniture which was nice since we were able to keep them in the apartment.
We booked a POD for the move and set about figuring out what to send in the POD and what to keep with us as we had to live out of our suitcases for over a month before our POD would reach us in Virginia. We sold most of our furniture and our cars. My amazing mom flew out to help us with the crazy move, since our timeline was so short and Ryan was still working most of the time. We definitely could not have done it without her! We also had a lot of help from other wonderful friends- people from the ward who watched the kids so we could pack up, and who helped us move boxes and furniture into the POD. (And then move it again as we tried to figure out the best configuration and distribution of stuff and weight inside the POD. That thing was a giant heavy 3D puzzle.) Cousin Megan was a huge help as well, spending lots of time with us helping us pack up and move. We felt so blessed by all of our wonderful family and friends!
We spent most of our time and energy preparing for the move but had to take some time out to do some Hawaii things, like a last hike to beautiful Laie Falls with Megan and Jeff (who very kindly watched Betty for us while we went along the last tricky part of the trail).
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Betty took advantage of our large and nearly empty living room to practice her rolling skills and got all rolled up in her blanket. Cora used to do that in Pocatello when she was about the same age!
Bye stuff! See you in a month!
Some of the wall art I made for the kids room that we left behind,
Bye Rex Rondo! We'll miss you. We bought this car when Cora was a baby in Idaho and we loved it! Once Betty came along though we needed something with an extra row in back.
Bye orange van! You were pretty and easy to find in the parking lot but a little too recognizable driving around a small town - no aggressive driving or bad parking or picking your nose in the car when everybody knows who owns the orange van! ;)
Most of the toys were gone - so the kids colored on the boxes for entertainment.
Saying goodbye to their favorite climbing tree in Auntie Connie's yard.
Betty chilling with Uncle Johnny while we load up for the airport.
One last picture before leaving for the airport. We sure love these guys!
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