How Quickly Life Changes

Mike and I have some big news. First off, no, we're not pregnant...still time left on that one.

As you know Mike put in his notice at the Club a few weeks ago. Since then we've been trying to figure out what the next step is: where will he work, etc. He was offered a position at The Little Nell but it came within days of him flying out to Virginia to check out a care-taking position there.

Yes. Virginia. About an hour and a half from Val & Rudy (Mike's sister/brother-in-law).

This all has happened in the past 3 weeks. Faster than we ever imagined could/would happen. We came across a listing and Mike emailed right away. The owners/employers emailed within the hour and it sounded perfect. They live in the city (DC) and work for the government so they only come out on the weekends - every weekend. They have 3 horses, one of which she has had for 15 years. They just want someone to love them like they do. No problem there for us as you know if you know us well. They have a separate little guest house; it's bigger than what we have right now and it's two stories. They had no problem with our 3 dogs and said we could bring a horse if we wanted to.

So Mike met with them and the current care-taker (she's leaving because her husband is coming home from Iraq) and he loved it. He said he felt at home.

After a lot of talking we have decided to move. This was and wasn't easy for us. It feels right - that's the easy part. But we are leaving a great last 5 years here and so many wonderful people. But we feel that it's time to move on and start out in Virginia. It's a beautiful area, I can get my portrait business really going (it's definitely horse country), Mike's been making some phone calls to area restaurants but is open to whatever comes his direction, and we'll be close to some family. Mike will be leaving in just a couple of weeks. They needed someone right away and he was open to that. It'll be weird not being around him for a couple of months but we'll make it happen. We'll be OK.

You're most likely thinking we're nuts. But we have faith in ourselves and our capabilities and we're not worried about what's to come. We know that we need to come together and spend more time together because we certainly don't feel like that's happening much now. We want to get on a path for our lives and future so we can spend more time with family and expand our own little family.

So to answer a few more questions.

1. My job. I will be staying in Colorado until September to get us (Alice Koelle Photography) through our busy, busy season. Perhaps I will even work some from Virginia - that's the great thing about digital - everything can be done on computers from where-ever. We are looking for someone to take my place but no one has popped up yet.

2. The ranch. Jokingly, I offered the job to my sister, Mandi. Seriously, she accepted. You are thinking she might be able to do it? So, if she can't, she can't but if she's willing and wanting to try who am I to stop her? She's a big girl and can make/did make this decision on her own. She had already applied to CMC so would be going to school as well. If Scott is willing to offer her the job then that would be a great relief to us, the animals, and Waldo.

3. The rescue. Alecia is considering moving back to Colorado - if so she would take it back over. If not, we are open to adopting Kali and Cisco and moving them out with us in the fall. They will all be taken care of. I'm sure we're not done in the rescue-ing business but we need to re-group, and re-focus and someday we'll come back to the cause.

We know this is a huge shock. It's a huge shock to us but we're open to it and we're looking forward to what we can make happen in our lives out there and we appreciate support. We realize the risks, we've thought them out and we're OK with our decision.

We will definitely keep everyone posted. :)