Here we go again..

I mentioned a few days ago that there were some big things potentially happening soon. Well, that potential has turned into actually happening. What's new for the Thomas family?

Ethan is going back to school to take prerequisites for dental school. What? I know.. it was unexpected for us too. But there's more. We are moving to North Carolina in 2 weeks to take those classes. And if all goes as planned, once he's gets accepted to dental school, we are hoping to join the Air Force through its scholarship program.

Surprise!

This all came about Thanksgiving weekend when we were at my sisters. We were all hanging out and discussing futures, jobs, etc. Ethan grew up wanting to be in the medical field, but when he got back from his mission, he decided to go the business route. He worked hard, got his degree in business management and has been working ever since. As we started evaluating where we want to be in 5 or 10 years, Ethan just didn't feel that climbing the corporate ladder was something he wanted to do. We had been praying to get some insight as to where and what we should be doing.

Cue Kara and Steve. We mentioned that he always wanted to go into the medical field and they basically said, "Why don't you?" It truly felt like a lightbulb had gone off. Why don't we?

We went up to bed that night and spent some time researching different options, looking at prerequisites, the works. We continued to talk about it the rest of the weekend and continued to get as much information as we could.

Fast forward to Thursday of last week. We had prayed and researched, and prayed a researched and finally came to the conclusion that we were going to do it. We called all of our family and let them know. While there were some who were a bit surprised at the change, we have felt nothing but love and support from all of them. Ethan will be attending University of North Carolina-Charlotte, and we will be living at his parents house until we can find a place of our own.

I'm not going to lie, I have some raw emotions running through me. I am so excited for this new journey, but I know it's going to be a long, hard road. I love it here. I love this home that we have been fortunate enough to live in. I love the friends that we have here and it's hard to think we may not see them again. Sure, we have social media and technology, but nothing can beat sitting around the table with some food and just talking about life. I am going to struggle with being so far away from my family. My mom and sister are two of my best friends. Moving to California was hard for me because I was moving away from my parents, but I knew my sister was just a drive away. I no longer have that. I can't just pick up one weekend and decide to visit. And while it may not seem like a big deal, a two hour time difference is a lot when you need to have a "good cry" with your mom. And knowing that I'll probably only see her once a year.

While I have all of those emotions and feelings of anxiety and sadness, I know that this is going to be an awesome experience for our little family. We get to be around a lot of his family, and Nixon will get to know his Grammy and Pa better than he ever would have, had we stayed out here. People keep telling me I'm going to love it out there. And you know what? That's probably true. I want to be the kind of person that can love anywhere they live and can make it home. That's my goal. To embrace this and enjoy it, because for right now, it's only for a short period of time, and then we'll be off somewhere else for dental school most likely.

So there is it. Our big news. Talk about ending the year with a BANG!