Its been so long since my last post that I completely skipped an entire move from Ohio to Indiana. And a pregnancy. And a birth. And another move.
In February of 2012, while still living in Ohio, we found out we would be welcoming our third baby in October. Then, in April, we found out we would be moving about 3 hours due west to Elkhart, Indiana. By May, we had settled into a tiny little house in Mishawaka, Indiana. I joined another mom's group and met another group of amazing moms that made being 16 hours away from Louisiana a little less difficult. The girls grew what seemed like 2 feet each. We made trips to the Lake Michigan beach in St. Joseph Michigan. We had lots and lots of play dates. Maggie went to Pre-K. In October, we welcomed our third beautiful, healthy, baby girl, Adeline. We learned to quickly adapt to life with three children. Thank goodness for the fabulous friends we made that were able to help us when we needed a babysitter! We made a trip down to Louisiana to spend Thanksgiving with family and baptize our sweet baby girl. Our trip took a terrifying turn when my mom was admitted to the hospital with pneumonia and scared the living daylights out of all of us. It was an extraordinarily difficult time, but she made an insanely quick turnaround and went from talks of ICU to being discharged out of the hospital within a week, thank you Jesus. We survived snow. LOTS AND LOTS OF SNOW. And yet even MORE SNOW. (But still, with all that snow last year, its still not even close to what the area as seen this year!) We spent Christmas and New Years in Indiana. More snow. Play dates, And then, the phone call that I never in a million years thought would come. I've said it before, but really, the stars aligned for us in such an incredible way that sometimes I still don't believe it happened. They moved us back to Louisiana in May of 2013. And just like that, I had it all back- all the people I had been missing, all the things I missed doing, the salty humid air, the wind coming off of Lake Pontchartrain. Louisiana is an incredible place to grow up. But it becomes a magical, enchanted utopia once you move away. The people, the climate, the seasons, the food. Nearly every other city
pales in comparison feels like its missing something. So, as soon as we got back, we started checking things off of our to do list- The Audubon Zoo, the Aquarium, City Park, the French Quarter, swimming, eating crawfish, snowballs, KING CAKES. We meet my parents several times a week for lunch, mass with family on Sundays, spending time with Chris' grandpa and family. We've gotten to have birthday parties for each of the girls, we had Thanksgiving and Christmas here with our families. Its been a really amazing 7 months.
But there is something about working for the Railroad that not many people know. Its completely unpredictable. If you want to move up in the company, you have to, well, move. That's why the term "railroad wife" was so lovingly created. Similar to military wife in that it involves frequent and last minute moves clear across the country (although that's where the similarities end- being a military wife is exponentially more stressful, I have no doubt). Chris frequently gets called out to work in the middle of the night for hours at a time. His grandpa (who retired from the railroad) has a famous line that plays out in my mind every. single. day. "It doesn't rain or snow on the railroad. There are no holidays on the railroad. When the railroad needs him, he goes." That's the truth. I honestly thought the railroad was a dying industry when we first discussed the possibility of him accepting the job. Yeah, safe to say I was very wrong. There is so much about the industry that so many people don't know (and probably don't care to know). But for me, the most important part of its history was that they have NEVER laid off management. That was huge.
April of 2011 we moved to Ohio. April of 2012 we moved to Indiana. April of 2013 we moved to Louisiana. Its January, and I'm having mixed emotions. My initial response to the question of whether or not we would move again was "absolutely not." We made finally made it back to the deep south, down the road from family and everything that is important to us! Why would we ever move away from here?! Well, for anyone in this same situation, having the same feelings, I will give you my explanation as to why my response has changed: Once Chris and I got married, we vowed our lives to each other. We promised to continually do what we had to do to make our lives better. There are so many different factors that we took into consideration the first time we moved. But I would say the hardest part about deciding whether or not to move away is knowing that we will be away from our family. Its an extraordinarily difficult decision, and certainly not one we take lightly. As the youngest of 7 children, my family has always been the most important part of my life. But when I think of how bad I want to stay here, I always remember my vows. My family is Chris and our girls. Our future is more important than anything else. We have to make difficult decisions now so our lives can be better later. When our marriage began 7 years ago, it was in front of God. We promised to always put Him first, then each other. Chris started out as an estimator at a construction company and I was a nurse at Children's Hospital in New Orleans. A winding, bumpy road let us to make the decision that Chris should accept a job with the railroad. The only thing that got us through moving clear across the country with our two very little girls? Faith. And as hard as it is to let go of the reigns and put our future in someone else's hands, we have to. I have faith that God will be there if and when we get transferred again. As difficult as moving away will be, I have to believe that God knows better than I do. I think about the beautiful friendships that were made and experiences that we had while living in Ohio and Indiana and how scared I was to move, but God knew better. With every move comes a promotion (always a good thing!), an adventure, new friends, new memories. And even though it will be hard to move again, God will be there, making my marriage stronger, and my faith deeper.
There are a few things that I dread about moving, aside from the obvious. I just hate the sight of a cardboard box. I HATE UNPACKING. Thank goodness for moving companies who come pack my every belonging for me, because if it were up to me to pack, we'd still be in our first house in Louisiana. Keeping track of three small children while my house is being packed away? SO not fun. Can't worry about that now, just have to cross that bridge when we get there. If we end up moving again in a few months, I'm going to need something a little stronger than coffee. Pass the merlot!
But there is something about working for the Railroad that not many people know. Its completely unpredictable. If you want to move up in the company, you have to, well, move. That's why the term "railroad wife" was so lovingly created. Similar to military wife in that it involves frequent and last minute moves clear across the country (although that's where the similarities end- being a military wife is exponentially more stressful, I have no doubt). Chris frequently gets called out to work in the middle of the night for hours at a time. His grandpa (who retired from the railroad) has a famous line that plays out in my mind every. single. day. "It doesn't rain or snow on the railroad. There are no holidays on the railroad. When the railroad needs him, he goes." That's the truth. I honestly thought the railroad was a dying industry when we first discussed the possibility of him accepting the job. Yeah, safe to say I was very wrong. There is so much about the industry that so many people don't know (and probably don't care to know). But for me, the most important part of its history was that they have NEVER laid off management. That was huge.
April of 2011 we moved to Ohio. April of 2012 we moved to Indiana. April of 2013 we moved to Louisiana. Its January, and I'm having mixed emotions. My initial response to the question of whether or not we would move again was "absolutely not." We made finally made it back to the deep south, down the road from family and everything that is important to us! Why would we ever move away from here?! Well, for anyone in this same situation, having the same feelings, I will give you my explanation as to why my response has changed: Once Chris and I got married, we vowed our lives to each other. We promised to continually do what we had to do to make our lives better. There are so many different factors that we took into consideration the first time we moved. But I would say the hardest part about deciding whether or not to move away is knowing that we will be away from our family. Its an extraordinarily difficult decision, and certainly not one we take lightly. As the youngest of 7 children, my family has always been the most important part of my life. But when I think of how bad I want to stay here, I always remember my vows. My family is Chris and our girls. Our future is more important than anything else. We have to make difficult decisions now so our lives can be better later. When our marriage began 7 years ago, it was in front of God. We promised to always put Him first, then each other. Chris started out as an estimator at a construction company and I was a nurse at Children's Hospital in New Orleans. A winding, bumpy road let us to make the decision that Chris should accept a job with the railroad. The only thing that got us through moving clear across the country with our two very little girls? Faith. And as hard as it is to let go of the reigns and put our future in someone else's hands, we have to. I have faith that God will be there if and when we get transferred again. As difficult as moving away will be, I have to believe that God knows better than I do. I think about the beautiful friendships that were made and experiences that we had while living in Ohio and Indiana and how scared I was to move, but God knew better. With every move comes a promotion (always a good thing!), an adventure, new friends, new memories. And even though it will be hard to move again, God will be there, making my marriage stronger, and my faith deeper.
There are a few things that I dread about moving, aside from the obvious. I just hate the sight of a cardboard box. I HATE UNPACKING. Thank goodness for moving companies who come pack my every belonging for me, because if it were up to me to pack, we'd still be in our first house in Louisiana. Keeping track of three small children while my house is being packed away? SO not fun. Can't worry about that now, just have to cross that bridge when we get there. If we end up moving again in a few months, I'm going to need something a little stronger than coffee. Pass the merlot!
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