Moving to where?!?

A new adventure to an exotic location. A commitment to a new way of life for an extended period of time. That's where Matt and I are headed. It's official. We are moving...

...to ALASKA!

Why you ask? Well, why not? Is my response. Just kidding...kind of. It does help that Matt's job is relocating us. All the way up to Anchorage, Alaska. Have either of us been there? No. But we've done quite a bit of internet research to help educate ourselves. However, I am excited to see what it's actually like in person soon. The pictures of it do look beautiful! Thankfully I've always had a deep love for mountains - of which Alaska has abundance of. And I've always found joy in adventures and new experiences - of which I'm sure we will encounter.

This will be our future new home. Beautiful.

Matt and I have been discussing this idea for a little while now. Not sure if it would or could actually happen, but we were open to it. And recently we found out that it is a reality. And that is happening very quickly. But that's how it usually works, doesn't it? And that's why God invented airplanes so we wouldn't drop of the face of the earth for the next 3-5 years. We can come back to our home states of Texas and Oklahoma when we'd like. Or friends and family can come visit us too (hint, hint).

But as I have educated myself on Alaskan ways, I shall too inform you of such wonderful features, and often misconceptions, of such a beautiful state:

• Anchorage is actually pretty big. It has a population of 280,000 people - larger than Plano, Texas if you need a comparison. It has all the major conveniences of a typical larger city - a mall, Khol's, Costco, but more importantly Barnes & Nobles and Starbucks. I think I'll be able to survive.
• No, it isn't pitch black for half of the year. Apparently (of which I'll soon be learning) it's like dusk for majority of the day for about 3 months during the winter, but you still get sunlight for about 6-8 hours. And then during the summer it's daylight for like 23 hours. Can we say black out curtains?
• It's not technically on the other side of the world, as one might imagine. It's actually only 3 hours behind us here in Houston. It's just really far north. Ok....really far north!

• There is no sales tax. Ever. Maybe that will help with the increased cost of living up there.
• The state pays each citizen to live in Alaska. In 2009 it was around $1,300. Apparently it has something to do with the oil being drilled out of there. I'm not going to argue with them. But I'm sure you could google it if you really wanted to know why.
• Weather. It's actually considered "mild" due to being so far from the Arctic Circle (in relation to whose map, I'm not sure). The summer has lovely weather in the 60's and 70's and the winter brings temperatures in the 20's - like Colorado, my favorite state so far.:) It also has low humidity, praise Jesus! And I'm guessing - lots of snow.
• And of course there are the northern lights. I cannot wait to experience the beauty of that part of creation!

Anyways, this is just a small light into the world of which Matt and I will soon be apart of. I intend to continue to write about our adventures as we continue on this journey. In just a couple short weeks we should be heading up there to introduce ourselves to Anchorage and hopefully find a home. Then we shall come back, sell our home, renovate a recently purchased Oklahoma investment property (again, God has a funny way of timing things, doesn't He? and there will probably be updates on that later), hopefully spend some good time with family and friends and will permanently arrive at some point in June. (Unsure of the exact timeline as it takes about 6 weeks to ship all of our belongings over 4,000 miles. Who knew?)

So, if you are interested, please check back. I hope to have some wonderful, eventful stories ahead that I would love to share.