Kick off...

Alright so a lot has been going on here in our little Chicago hideaway the last couple weeks. I've started work again, Nathan had his first birthday party and we have made a very big life decision:

WE'RE MOVING BACK TO OKLAHOMA!

In December that is.  We knew we were going to be moving back to Oklahoma after I got my IL teaching certificate and that I would just transfer the certification once we moved back. The decision to move earlier than that came after a lot of thought over what we were going to do during my student teaching here in Illinois. To complete my 10 weeks of student teaching I would have to take an unpaid leave of absence from my job. Not only that, but I would not be covered by health insurance those entire ten weeks unless we wanted to pay for COBRA. We can't afford that.

So, we discussed a variety of possibilities, including Nathan and Caleb moving down in December while I stay with a friend here in Chicago and get it done. That was not an idea that we wanted to go with. Being away from my 18 month old for 10 weeks? I couldn't do that. It wasn't until Caleb suggested I look into the alternative teaching program in Oklahoma that we started to come to this decision.

I looked it up and it is a very quick process if you have a Master's Degree, and although I'll have to retake two of the tests I already took here in Illinois, I could have my certification quicker than I would my Illinois certificate if we stayed.

That's the basis of our decision. We will be leaving Chicago on the 22nd of December and moving to Bartlesville. Right now we're going to be moving in with Caleb's parents to save money and get situated. Once we both have jobs and get a little money saved up we'll probably move into an apartment until we can afford a house. I'm really hoping the house issue will be something we'll get to look at in the next year or two.

Anyway...as you can see a lot has been happening here with us. A big decision we thought was a year in the future is now only 4 months away. Crazy. I'm very happy to be moving back, I will miss Chicago (well except for driving) but I love Oklahoma and I know this is the best thing for us as a family.

In other news...college football starts today: GO POKES!!