GO PANTHERS!

I have been WAY putting off telling everyone, whoops. 

Here goes: this family of three is moving to Charlotte, NC in the fall. 

“Moving, again?!? But you just built a house!”...I know, I know. Simmer down, Susan. 

Of course some people have known about the move, sorry if you haven’t made the “short list”, ha! You can blame Riley and how busy she keeps me. I have been putting off telling everyone for good reason, and that is that this is NOT going to be an easy move for us. Also, have you ever BEEN the ones moving? You don't always get the warm & fuzzies being those people. Our hearts live in Boston, Hampton Roads & Charlotte. Each city has amazing people that are part of our everyday lives and who have made huge / lifelong impacts on everything that we are! So there’s really no easy solution. We are going to miss out on differing things (i.e. weather / childcare / careers etc.) and most importantly we are going to continue to miss different folks... no matter where we end up, unless of course everyone decides to move to us & trust me, we are trying!! 

At the end of the day though the long list of pros & cons for each location didn’t really matter. The answer was clear: GOD.

We felt / and continue to feel called to Charlotte by our amazing God. We feel that this is what HE has planned for our growing family and we are super excited to see the details because, man... he never does disappoint. One huge reason for moving back to Massachusetts was infertility coverage. Did you know only a handful of states cover IVF/IUI/diagnostic testing and all the good stuff that went into creating Riley?! After paying $30,000 out of pocket in Virginia only to end in miscarriage, we needed a solution. So we packed up and moved back to my hometown, built an adorable little house and found jobs we love. We got to spend two years back with my family, and James can officially say he has lived the Yankee lifestyle!! While in MA, the Lord placed an amazing and Godly daycare provider in our path that has raised Riley like her own & Suvi and her daughters will ALWAYS be a part of Riley’s life. Unfortunately we never did find a church home here...not for lacking of trying. Also, James’ commute is...unsustainable, to say the least, about 3.5-4 hours a day.

You might be wondering, what next? What about the cost of baby #2? Well...good question, God already worked it allllll out. And he stared this years ago. Pull up a chair while I explain. 


In 2011 I moved back to MA from my 4 years spent in Boone NC in undergrad (Go App!) I randomly applied to a dozen jobs, my plan being I would make a little money while I completed my masters. Well, one of the companies asked me to come in for an interview and (embarrassingly enough) what I thought was an interview for maybe a part time receptionist? I can’t remember at this point, turned into an interview for a full-time staff accountant in public accounting. Yowzers, my first big girl job!! I accepted the amazing offer and cut my masters workload down to just two classes. Fast forward a year and I am a newlywed military spouse moving to a city I have only heard of on the news, and not a feel good news story, ha!. I was extremely sad to leave the firm (as well as my MA family), but the managing partner handed me a t shirt that said “Team Rodman” and told me if I ever moved back... the job was mine. We spent 4 years in VA & finally the time came to move back to the area. I emailed him and asked if the offer still stood. I was reemployed and life was good!!! In the last year, the company has established the ability to work remotely. This means I get to KEEP the job I love. KEEP infertility coverage through the state of MA... all while losing my 2 hour commute (read: two extra hours with my Riley everyday, PRAISE!!!)

So to the family & friends in Massachusetts - we are SO sorry (and we know you’ll actually only miss Riley girl)!! Thank you for loving us, supporting us and growing us these past two years. To our VA “family” - James will be transferring to the guard unit there which means I will be tagging along from time to time (he will be there one weekend a month). And to our CLT family and friends, see you in September 💗 we’ve missed you!! I hope this blog will be yet another way for us to all stay connected, so feel free to follow along with what God is working out in our little world.

@therelocatedyankeemama on instagram

Ten Elsas & A Glue-Gun Burn

When you’ve waited & waited, and then waited some more, to get your miracle baby, I think it’s (fairly?) common to feel like all of THIS is somehow not actually yours. There is this unwelcome feeling that surely you are seriously delusional and it’s only a matter of time until you’ll snap out of it and this is all gone. I had this feeling that eventually we would be back to the very familiar circumstance that we had grown so accustomed to, the circumstance that, honestly, we were a little comfortable living in. I don’t doubt that these feelings were intensified by the fact that we grieved a loss, a very BIG, and very real loss of our first pregnancy.

Fast-forward through the sleep-deprived-pumping-feeding-hormone filled summer to that first fall as a family of three. I had this unanticipated feeling of gratitude on Halloween. I’ve never really loved Halloween, and we weren’t planning to dress R up for this first holiday of hers...but sure enough the day came and I got the festivity bug (or maybe it was a little Mommy guilt?). Whatever drove the decision, we 100% needed to celebrate.

Somewhere between handing out candy to the tenth Elsa that night and burning myself with a hot glue gun (Riley’s cotton balled wig pictured), I suddenly & overwhelmingly felt like a Mom for the first time. Riley was five months old at this point...and I never felt like she was wholly mine, until this photo of us was taken. I know this might sound like a very sad truth, maybe a little messed up on my part, ha! But I just see it as part of our beautiful / unconventional journey to and through parenthood. I will always love this picture and the genuine joy that it holds!