The Move... our story

So
once upon a time, not very long ago great amounts of stress existed in the Slichta household.  Jeff, the father was gone more than he was home which added obese amounts of burdens upon me.  Each of the 4 children had their own package of irritations and vexations to carry which began a spiral of thoughts in the head of the mother.  The thought of moving was nauseating to all of us, however the thoughts of moving to Utah began to "press upon my mind" without ceasing.  I really couldn't help it.

When I wrote out my list of pros vs. cons of why we should move to Utah, the pros side won. However, when I shared this list with Jeff his only answer was, "there is NO way we are moving to Utah!!!!!!"  (with many exclamation points following.)  It pretty much was not up for discussion, but what was I to do when I couldn't stop thinking about the good things that could come from moving to Utah.  After all, if Jeff was going to be a traveling hard worker, couldn't I be a single parent in any state?   (but let me remind you that it didn't mean that I really was liking the idea of moving... anywhere.)
Here are some of my Pros and Cons list:

Cons about why NOT to move
we already were living in the Garden of Eden state of beauty.
so many fun things to do in WA
Great ward
Great friends
Maryn awesome dance team
Ady amazing gymnastic opportunities
Fantastic piano teacher
Emmy superb harp teacher
Kaden best ever friend, JP
Hate starting over

Pros on why we SHOULD move
Live by family!... finally
Could have more time and money to vacation to the NY family 
possible school opportunities
the kids will have dance, gymnastics, sports and music opportunities in UT... maybe more
cheaper cost of living
finally get out of the financial burden of our house
Jeff could travel for work and I could have support of family
Great influence of church in UT
Lots of opportunities in UT
Beautiful there too.

It was the emotional things that kept us in WA but it was the tangible reasons that kept me thinking about the blessings of UT.  I was literally at the point where I said, "I can not keep going on living this way." The kids needs at school were so demanding that I was the tutor for ALL of them every night.  I was the car pool queen for everyone... driving 40 minutes to dancing and 20 minutes to gymnastics 3 times a week each.  I was hanging on my last nerve every second of the day. 
A turning point came when we went and registered Maryn for high school at Skyline.  Walking in the doors I had this yucky impression that said Maryn should not be there.  The expectations are humongous at that school, the school is ginormous and it has a reputation of having entitled kids who get involved in naughty things.   However, I didn't know what else to do with her and I knew I wasn't going to home school her again, so we continued through the registration process. 

Another turning point  came when my brother, Merrill, got a job at an awesome charter school in West Valley City, Utah... American Preparatory  Academy.  The more I learned about it and the more he shared with me the more I felt that this was exactly what MARYN needed for her school experience.   But, I also knew that it was a looooooong shot because there are literally thousands on a waiting list to get into the school.  We weren't going to move just with the hope of getting in.

The last turning point came (lots of turns) when we were in Utah visiting for our summer trip in August.  We were camping with my family in Coalville.  Merrill told me that the school needed more 9th graders.  What are the chances of that??... Maryn was going into the 9th grade! Merrill's school, APA was doing some placement testing for kids while we were camping and so we scheduled a time for her to get tested... since we were in town, what would it hurt to get tested?  Someone suggested that we might as well get all the kids tested while we were around.  Why not?  It seemed crazy but we did it anyway. 

All the kids were tested.  I literally was feeling like things with this school were being propelled forward without any conscious effort on my part.  Two days later Merrill texted me while we were camping and said, "the 4 Slichta children have been accepted into the school."
"WHAT?!"
What did that mean?
We didn't even officially apply.
I was so confused.
I knew what I wanted but wasn't sure if that's what was really best for everyone.
This school seemed too good to be true.
How could we make this happen?

Jeff was NOT on board.  He was uptight and not agreeing with any of this.  We talked back and forth and prayed and talked more and more.  Finally Jeff said, "What do you want me to do?  What should we do?"  I said, "Jeff, let's just do it!!!"  As soon as I said that I a rush of peace cover me from head to toe.   I knew that it was right.

And that's exactly what we did. 
Amen.