We're moving to BC!

Yup - you read that right.

We're moving . . . again.

Yes, we did just move to Port Stanley in March. And yes, we absolutely love it here. Like one of my husband's mentors says though: "you miss 100% of the shots you don't take", and a big opportunity came up for us that we just had to jump on.

We hadn't been planning on moving anytime soon. Like I said, we LOVE Port Stanley. Seriously, this place has been absolutely amazing in ways I never even expected. It's been beautiful, awe-inspiring, inspirational, and a respite from the busyness of our work lives. It's been small-town living at its finest, and I know I'll always remember this season of our lives with immense fondness. We've also been very blessed in our jobs, and had planned on staying and continuing to work here for a few more years, but a job opportunity came up for Chris that's pretty much his all-time dream job, and it just so happened to be in Victoria, British Columbia.

When he told me, I immediately got goose bumps and knew this was something he needed to pursue. We knew right away that this job seemed tailor-made for him, and it being in BC was something that made both our hearts start beating faster. For the past several years, living in BC has been on our "bucket list", and it's something that would find its way into conversation every few months. It had always been something that was on our 5 or 10-year plan though - we never imagined that an opportunity would come up for us to live there sooner rather than later!

But, God's plans are always bigger than our own, and things started to line up to make this a reality for us. Needless to say, he got the job and we'll be moving to BC at the end of September. The company he'll be working for and the work they do is awesome - he'll be working for a not-for-profit organization that takes groups of young people on trips around Vancouver Island on tall ships (they look like pirate ships for you non-boating people)  ;)  They also do 8-10 month tall ship expeditions to various locations around the world. The youth learn leadership skills, how to overcome their fears, and of course - how to sail! It's a really, amazing organization, and right up Chris' alley.

It's a pretty quick timeline in terms of us moving there and him starting his new job, but we're both excited for the adventure of it all and to see what's in store! We've already started to check off some major items on the checklist, so that's relieved some of the stress of the last few weeks. After some intense searching, we've found a great place to live in a town called North Saanich. As we're not big "city" people, (even though Victoria isn't that big of a city) we decided to try and find a place a little outside of the city, but close enough for both of us to commute in. North Saanich is on the Saanich Peninsula, about 30 minutes north of Victoria. It's surrounded on three sides by the ocean, and we've been blessed to find a home across the street from the water! It seems like a great town, and close to some amazing sights, and we're feeling really blessed to know we have a place to stay when we get there!

We've decided to drive there as opposed to flying and shipping our cars. We're also not taking much with us. We downsized a lot when we moved to Port Stanley, so we've decided to take it a step further and move with no furniture at all! We're selling all the furniture we have left, and will buy some new items once we're settled in our new home. We're just taking some clothes, toiletries, a few boxes of momentos/books/personal items, and that's it! We'll each drive a car, with Franklin hitchin' a ride in the back of the bigger car. We leave for our journey on Sunday September 28th and plan to arrive in North Saanich on Friday October 3rd. Right now the plan is to take the Trans-Canada highway. We thought about driving through the States, but decided to take in the sights on the Canadian side instead. Neither of us have done that drive ourselves, and we hear it's beautiful so it looks like we're gonna' keep it pure Canadian! We're taking 6 days to do it as we don't want to be driving more than 8 hours a day or so, as it'll just get too tiring (plus we don't want to have Franklin in the car for longer than that every day).

In terms of where I'll be working - I'm in the process of seeing if I can get a transfer. In case that doesn't pan out (we only have one large-format store there so positions are few and far between), I've started applying at other places, which is a surreal experience as I've been at the same company for so long! It's also very unconcerting to think that there's a possibility I might be unemployed for awhile. I'm someone who needs to work, so I'm determined to line something up before we leave Ontario! Now that we know where we'll be living I'm able to focus my job search a bit more to areas that are within commuting distance.

So still lots of things to do, figure out, and plan and prep for! If you're the praying type, if you could keep us in your prayers as we undertake this new adventure, that would be awesome! Pray that we get through our to-do lists with grace and gratitude, that we have a safe journey from Ontario to BC, that we remain in good health during this busy time, that our financial needs for our journey are covered, and that I find a well-paying job. Most of all though, pray that we continue to lean in and rely on God. I tend to worry about things, so my brain's been going at 100 mph the past few weeks, thinking of all the "what ifs". We know that this is God's plan for us and everything will work itself out (some of our prayers have already been answered!), but prayers for reminders of that are always needed!

I plan to update this blog a lot more as we continue on this journey - both as we wrap up our lives in Ontario and as we make the journey to BC, so feel free to check in from time to time to see how things are progressing in this next chapter of our lives. I've attached some pics of Vancouver Island (including some of North Saanich) so you can see our new stomping grounds!

Here's to new adventures on the west coast!
:) Suz