Our next adventure...

We have big news and big changes happening in the Friske house! Gary had an interview about six weeks ago for a job that he applied for back when he was unemployed - a position working for the VA in Washington D.C. Two weeks later, he got a call offering him the job (this was about two weeks ago now). They agreed to let him have a week to make the decision, so we traveled to D.C. two weekends ago for an extended, 4-day weekend to check it out and look for a place to live and see whether or not we wanted to accept the job. We made a list of the pros and cons, prayed about our decision, talked a lot with family and friends, explored the area, and officially made the decision a week ago to accept the position and move to D.C.! We are so excited!! This will be a huge change for us in many, many ways.

Here are a few details about what's going on right now and what our plans are:

*We are scheduled to move in just 3 weeks, and Gary starts his new job on July 20th!

*He'll be working right across from Washington Square in D.C. - you can actually see the White House from his building!

*We have a 2-bedroom, 1,000 square foot apartment that we will be moving to (cost of living is, of course MUCH higher in D.C. and we will be paying slightly MORE for this apartment than we do for our home here - CRAZY!)

*The apartment is in Woodbridge, VA - about 20-25 minutes from downtown D.C. This was the best area that we found to get affordable housing that is still in a family-friendly complex and where we felt it was safe and clean.

*Gary plans to use public transportation to get to work, and will probably spend AT LEAST an hour each way commuting. (Although, he is used to a long commute, since he is an hour away now...) However, the long commute seemed like a better decision than living somewhere closer in an area that didn't seem as safe (for what we could afford closer, the housing was not real nice at all)

*We are in the process of renting out our home here in KY. We're also busy getting things done (cleaning, fixing things up, etc.) for our new tennants.

*I officially resigned from my position in Norwood today, and am excited to stay home with our boys this next year!

*I am busy packing and labeling boxes - some to stay here in storage, some to go to our new apartment, and some to be stored at my parents' house in PA (like I said, we will have less than half of the space we do now, so it's taking some creative packing!)

We are so excited for this next adventure! It is a bit scary, and definitely seems crazy, but we really feel that this is a good decision for our family and that God has been opening many doors to us over the past month, making this an easy decision for us. We are thankful for this opportunity and can't wait to see what it brings!