Last week, my emotions were running high. The news that we will be moving this Spring hit me hard, and I felt nervous, scared, sad and unsure of everything. Thankfully I have some amazing friends and family who helped me to see that this move is going to be a big blessing in our lives. I just needed my loved ones to point it out for me.
So as of now, we will be moving to the village/community of Beaver Creek, Yukon. This town is a border town, and we will be right on the Yuokn/Alaska border. The population of Beaver Creek is a big whopping 100 people. Yes, you heard me right, 100 people. Our closest grocery store will be a 1.5 hrs drive from us and that will be in Tok, Alaska. Whitehorse (where we currently live) will be a 6.5 hrs drive. Our post will be a 2 year posting and we will be living in what is called Force Housing (government owned housing). Of course with all things, changes could happen, but for now, I am pretty certain that we will be moving there.
So you can probably understand why I was a bit out of sorts last week. It's pretty overwhelming to think of packing everything up to move to such a small community, but like I said, I now have a new and positive outlook on this whole move and am actually excited to start our adventure.
The biggest positive aspect of this move will be the family time that we will gain from living in such a small and quiet community. I really think that someday when my children are grown and gone, I will look back on these two years and say, weren't we blessed to have so much time together as a family? Our children are still so young. They actually want to be with us and we are the most important people in their lives right now. Isn't it a blessing that we will have this time together to do the simple things that so many people wish they could do? Baking, hiking, snowshoeing, skiing, art, play... I'm going to make it my full time job to give my children the best that they can get. I'm pretty stoked for it.
The other exciting aspect of this move will be the parts of the Yukon and Alaska that we will get to explore. I'm pretty excited that Fairbanks Alaska will be only a 5 hrs drive from us and that Anchorage will be 8 hrs. These distances may sound far to some, but when you live in the North, it's all just a part of the way we get around.
And so that is our big news for now. I won't have much more information about our move for a while still. We now have to wait until we hear about the next steps.
And so a little recap of this week.
This week included:
~ sledding
~outdoor time
~ a movie with my friend Leanne
~ a delicious snack of baked brie with caramelize onions and peach chutney
~ Katia and Daddy naps
~ a performance by a children's musician- Norman Foote. He was great!
~ a coffee date with my 2 little ones (just us, it was nice)
~ a walk around downtown on a relatively "balmy" day (-9)
Noah and his Daddy look so cute in their matching balaclavas!
ReplyDeleteI've never commented before even though I'm a fairly long time reader but I just had to today. Two and a half years ago we moved to a village of 400 people an hour from the nearest town with a grocery store in northern Alberta. We also moved here for my husband's job and live in housing provided by his work.
ReplyDeleteEven though we are not as isolated as you I can understand those tears. I'm not going to lie to you, the first year (especially the winter) was hard. But it got so much better after that. I threw myself into crafting and "homeschooling" my kids (1 and 4, so not real homeschool but just doing fun stuff with them, but we will actually be homeschooling my daughter next year). I had figured out somewhat how to grocery shop and we've set up a life for ourselves. You are so right the family time is amazing, so much more then in the city. It's great how much time my husband gets to spend with our kids when they are young.
Anyway I want to wish you well as you embark on this new adventure and if you ever want to chat feel free to email me
thank you for sharing your experience with me Tricia. I tried to see if there was a way for me to write back, but there is no email attached to your profile. If you want, can you email me at johannarosolen (at) hotmail (dot) come
Deletethanks so much!
How exciting! Small town northern living is the best. I hope you enjoy your experience and learn to thrive with the changes!
ReplyDeleteWe will be embarking on an adventure this summer. We are moving to an isolated community in northern Saskatchewan where the closest grocery store is 2 1/2hr away and the closest big city is 6hr away. Like you, I have been a range of emotions lately thinking about our move. I feel like we are finally settled, made lots of good friends and now it's time to go :( but I am excited for the family time and opportunity to save money for our future.
ReplyDeleteWe have the same fisher price house! It was mine as a child and I saved it for my kids.
ReplyDeleteWow Johanna! Such big news for your family. I was just rereading the beautiful card you sent me not that long ago that said you were writing amongst the boxes of your last move. Your positive attitude, creative spirit, and the love that your family has will surely serve you well no matter what the next adventure holds!
ReplyDeleteKnow that even if you are in a small physical community, you have a big community just an email away!
Thinking of you all!