Day Eight: 8

My attempt at being artsy.

It's a frosty day 8 on our farm, so instead of fighting my kids about why they shouldn't write on the frosted windows, I figured I'd join them!

Today is one of those days that you want to just bottle, if you're like me. I'm a fall girl, which is ironic because at the bitter end of harvest time, I begin to hate fall, but if I were just a city gal enjoying wearing boots over jeans and a puffer vest at a football game, I'd be all over it and in my happy place.

But, alas, I am not a city gal. I'm here, in the country, writing on frosted glass, searching for inspiration on the number 8.

Here's a quick "8" story...

8 years ago, Joe and I had a baby, a house in a cul-de-sac, and a big conversation. We were two hours from each set of grandparents and with Joe traveling quite a bit for his job, I needed help if we were going to continue to have kids. And by help, I mean, grandparents. 

We sat on the floor of Anna's room, on the yucky carpet that needed to be replaced if we were going to stay much longer, and finally got it all out.

While we loved our friends and our life and our church and our home, we needed to be closer to family. We longed to have more space, and Joe longed to have cattle. 

On the floor of our baby girl's room, we decided to move. 

8 years ago, in the fall of 2005, we changed our life plan.

Looking back, there are days. Oh there are days...when I wonder if we made the right choice. We miss our friends, although love our new ones. I miss running on the Lake of the Woods Trail, marked and safe and less than a mile from my house (even though I love my running partner). Being so close to our alma mater, we enjoyed college life as alumni, enjoying ball games and hosting friends during homecoming weekends. Heck, Anna even went to the Psychology department as a toddler, watching puppet shows performed by grad students who were observing her every expression! 

Although our location seemed ideal...Target was less than 10 minutes away, people...8 years ago, it just didn't feel right to be there. We felt moved to, well, move.

So, we did.

And, again, there are days that I wonder, I know that we did the right thing for us at the right time. We are challenged every day, mentally, physically, emotionally, but it has made us evaluate what's important (you tend to do that when you're on a budget), and consider what could have been, but we're here right now, living this life, and although I daydream about what it would have been like had we stayed in Champaign, I know that for us, right now, this is what we needed to do, when we made that choice 8 years ago.

So with that...I bid you a happy day 8 of this quest! Go write on a window or wear some boots or something today!

Linking up with Holly here for her 30 Days of Blogging challenge!