Changes are coming

Tree hunting prior to Christmas 2017

My last post was written sometime in 2015. Things have changed a lot since then. My girls are turning into young women at 11 and 14. As they have grown and as I have had the opportunity to listen to the voices of adult transracial adoptees, I have come to know and understand that they need to spend the rest of their growing up years in an area that includes a lot more people that look like them ("racial mirrors").
To that end, we have researched all sorts of places. We came to the conclusion that the Twin Cities is the best fit for us as a family (job for me, opportunities for them, not too huge for their small town mom, etc). I am excited to announce that we will be moving to Minneapolis in June. My last day in my clinic will be June 8 and we will move sometime later that month.
I have spent the last several weeks figuring out how I was going to tell my colleagues at Hardin Clinic, and today I finally announced. Today has been one of the more emotionally exhausting days that I have had. I am completely overwhelmed and grateful for the love and support that has been expressed by my co-workers. I pray that my friends and patients will understand as well.
I will be joining the faculty at a Family Medicine residency program associated with Hennepin County Medical Center. I am excited to spend more time teaching and bringing the rural perspective to the next generation of Family Medicine physicians.
My girls are excited about all of the possibilities being in a bigger city brings. They can get reconnected to their birth culture and learn Amharic (maybe even the language of Wolaiyta), learn to make injera, and all sorts of other things.
We are all both excited and terrified of the coming changes. Change is never easy. However, I know that this is where God is leading us next and He will take care of all of us in the process.