What it's Really About

Each December I put together a simple slide show with pictures taken throughout the year. It has become one of my favorite traditions to watch this video each Christmas Eve.

This morning as I was organizing photos and choosing background music, I felt overcome with nostalgia and gratitude. This life is really all about family. Nothing is more important than those relationships that God gave us. He wants us to cultivate them more than any others. The people in our families are surely the ones that are meant to teach us the most meaningful lessons. The lessons that will help us learn what we need to learn in this life and in the next.

Next spring my family will be making some big changes. We will pack up all our belongings and move across the country to Montana. This was a decision filled with a lot of emotion and a lot of deep consideration. We have a great life here in Maine. A really great life. Why would we uproot our family again and make so many dramatic changes?

Because of family. That was the main driving force in our decision. We want our children to have more time with their grandparents. More time with their cousins. More time with their aunts and uncles. And Montana is just an eight hour drive from family.

I have told Ryan for some time that the only thing that would pull me away from Maine would be a really great job closer to home. Truthfully, I never thought we'd find it.

But we did. He did. And as I watched my little slideshow, scattered with pictures of cousins and grandparents and family, I felt so much gratitude for all these people that God has placed in my life.

When people ask me why I would uproot my kids again, this is my answer:

It's about family.