24 hours later I was back on a plane in the opposite direction. Joel has accepted a new position in Syracuse, New York. The timing is very tight to try to get the kids into school before the beginning of the school year, so we hopped on a plane the very next week after accepting the job. It's a bit crazy to be returning where I grew up. Home inventory is very limited in this area, so we were a bit concerned about finding something that fit our family. The process was both frustrating and also fairly miraculous. We looked at several homes, and they all had huge issues in upkeep or layout. One house had such low ceilings that Joel would have hit his head over and over again getting out of bed and using the bathroom. Halfway through the realtor told us she had some friends preparing to put their home on the market, but that it wasn't listed yet. She asked if we wanted to go see it even though it wasn't show ready. We went to see it, and I instantly fell in love with it. We looked at some more homes on the other side of the city, but nothing even came close to comparing to this home. We went back to look a second time and put an offer on the house that very day. They were lovely and accepted our first offer and said they'd wait for our home to sell in Kansas and not put it on the market at all. We were so grateful. It worked out so well. He is retiring from the same hospital Joel will be working at and she is a quilter, musician, and avid baker. It's a match made in heaven. We're so relieved the process is working out, and things are moving in the right direction for the move.
