Our family is starting to venture down a different path than the one we've been on. Before we get going too far along in that journey we want to write why we're going this direction and what's gotten us to this point. It's terribly exciting to be starting something new but this change didn't come out of thin air and we feel it's necessary to record why we've come to this crossroads and the direction we hope to take from here.

Cut to the chase

I find it terribly suspenseful to read a long personal letter or story, waiting for the bad or good news to come at the end. I usually skip ahead to find out first (even when I read a book - pathetic, I know) what's going to happen before I read the "how it got there" part. In deference to all others like me I will spill the beans first, then tell the story.

Our family is planning a move to the Gaspesie region of Quebec, Canada. Returning to our Canadian homeland, though not where we are originally from.

For some of you this will come as no surprise, for others you may have suspected something was up. And yet for many of you this will be news indeed. If I hadn't been living my life out for the past year I too would find it a complete shock.

I have loved and love Maine, dearly. This is the first place as an adult that I have felt rooted. Where I feel "I belong" in a way that does not apply to my place of origin - the Alberta prairies. I love the terrain, the culture and the people. We've lived here for almost 8 years and this is our children's home, the only place they know and the state of Brienne's of birth (three children born in three separate states/provinces). When my parents moved to the Canadian martitimes almost 3 years ago they asked "do you plan to stay in Maine?" before uprooting themselves so far east. "Yes, God willing", was our hearty & affirmative answer.

Our home, my garden, Damien's steady and family friendly employment 5 minutes from our house, the lakes, mountains, farms, our community and friends. This place has everything we want and need. Except one thing... Freedom.

Why no freedom?

Freedom is what you have if you are citizen or permanent resident. We are neither. Years ago we started the immigration process and at the time it was estimated to take 2 to 3 years and nearly $7,000 - $10,000 to complete. Upon completion we would be permanent residents, with "green cards" in hand, allowing us to do whatever we want for employment and travel.

Until that time we have a working visa for Damien; Renee and Celine are dependants on that visa. Our youngest children were born here and have both Canadian and American citizenship. Under the conditions of our visas Renee cannot earn money, nada. Neither can Celine. Damien cannot work for anyone besides his employer. We cannot take extended leaves of absence from work. We are very restricted in how and where we earn a living.

We knew this going into the process. Our almost 10 years of living in the United States has had restrictions but we stayed because we liked the life we have here and then we fell in love with Maine and decided to invest the money and time to pursue staying here permanently. But we're only willing to invest so much time and money and then all bets are off. And that is where we find ourselves now.

What was going to be a 2-3 year permanent resident application time has now stretched into an indefinite period of waiting. Having been waiting two and half years already, we found out last fall we can expect to wait another 5 years. In the meantime we will have to renew our visa next year, paying thousands of dollars to our lawyer. Then we will pay, yet again, when the residency application is done. The time and cost, but mostly the indefinite waiting, is too much.

So what does it matter?

If we have a steady job, a nice house, a good community and pretty much every material thing we need why don't we want to wait? It sounds kind of selfish to say but we want more than all those things. Here's some of "things" we want:

• The freedom to create a family livelihood. We want to move away from the "mommy at home, daddy at work" model to "family at home together" model of earning a living. We are not interested in careers with retirements. We want a life of creativity, intention and honest work - now. With our children, helping them grow in their skills and talents, preparing them to raise their own families. We feel strongly that Damien needs to be more involved with everyday (the hours he's usually at work) life to see this happen.

• The freedom for Renee and Celine to earn money. Trust me, this move is NOT about money, if it was we'd stay here. But I want the freedom to sell my soap, be paid for my photography services and who knows what else. And I don't want to wait another 5 years (it's already been 11 years since I've "worked" for pay). Celine is still young, only 10. But she is soon coming to an age when she will be want to pursue her own financial goals. We need to set her up for that opportunity.

• The freedom to experiment. Damien is not jumping ship from being a computer programmer. He is gifted at that and enjoys it. But he has other ideas he'd like to try out, ideas that could generate income and would contribute to the outdoors orientated lifestyle we want to live.

• The freedom to have adventure. We don't know what else may come up and we're not basing our decisions on the unknown future but our options right now are very limited. Stay where we are, in the house we are (because it's so close to Damien's job), with the employer we have or move. There is no in between. Life has been very comfortable but we are itching for options, itching for adventure. We're not willing to wait till our children are more than 1/2 grown to pursue that.

So, now what?

Location, location, location

When we first started talking about moving (well, really we've talked about the possibility ever since we've lived here because when you're not citizens with few rights you have to be prepared for the possiblity of deportation) we always got stuck on the where. We LOVE the mountains and the outdoors. This has become a huge part of our family identity. We have grown in health, in relationships and spiritually through our interactions in nature. Being close to natural beauty, especially mountains is of prime importance for us. But Renee is not willing at this point in life to move far away from her family. Been there, done that. But not wanting to do that again.

Where on the east coast are mountains? Funny you'd ask that, we just took a trip this Christmas holidays to see for ourselves. But for more on that you'll have to read Damien's post.

Employment

Damien is a computer programmer with many years of experience. Not to mention a flawless track record of pleased employers and clients (I can say this because I'm his wife, and it's true). He is confident in his abilities to support our family working via the internet. This is how we plan to start our adventure but we hope to try new ideas and experiment with outdoor related employment and utilizing Renee's skills as we go along.

Dreaming & Saving

We are now just starting to organize and plan for this change. We have been dreaming for a long time, about what we hoped to accomplish while living here in Maine. We are carrying those dreams with us to see if we can make them a reality. Much work, in fact almost all of it, remains to be done.

Of course this all will cost money and we must first save for the moving and relocation costs before anything else can happen. While saving we will be listening to hear the still voice of the Spirit and watching to see which doors open and which close. Our ultimate goal is to live a life according to God's will as He directs us; using our talents, interests and creativity to raise our family, bless our community and bring glory to Him.

Many details remain to be resolved and hurdles jumped, this is by no means a done deal. We are watching to see the way that God will provide and it may mean an earlier than anticipated green card approval, which we are open to. But in the meantime we are journeying forward in the direction of moving.

Why should you care?

If you are not a family member or close friend you might be wondering why you'd want to follow along with this journey. Here's a few reasons you might be interested to stick around:

• We want to live more sustainably in our everyday living - the house we own, the food we eat, the choices we make. Also, although we are currently an urban family we want to become more self-sufficient in a strong commmunity setting. If we are going to move anyway we intend to me move further towards our ideals in these regards (yurt with a garden in the woods?).

• We want to move away from a mainstream separation of work/home. In this move we plan to blur the line between those two. To explore our passions and creativity and support our children in doing the same.

• We want to live a more outdoors based lifestyle, closer to nature, more comfortable in the environment with less material trappings. We want to travel, hike, camp, backpack, swim, ski, snorkel, and who knows what else and we want share those experiences in person and in writing with others.

• We are believers in the message of Jesus Christ and the truths of God's Word. We will be looking to connect with people who have similar beliefs, and those who don't, to share our lives with.

We are family of 5, not a single dude or young woman with no responsibilities, hoping to move forward in these ideals. Can a family with 3 growing children do this? You'll have to stick around to find out.