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I’m writing this on the couch at a beautiful country home, a remodeled old farmhouse with original restored wood flooring and new woodwork all throughout.

None of the downstairs windows have window coverings so the morning light is streaming in and I can see trees and flowering daffodils and tulips outside. This home doesn’t need privacy cover downstairs because it’s far enough off the road and away from scattered neighbors that I could safely walk around with no clothes on, if I wanted. (I don’t want to. It’s a little crisp in Minnesota, still.)

Chad, Avery and I are currently staying at my aunt’s home in rural Grygla, not far from where I grew up and my parents still live. The home has been standing mostly empty for a while and my aunt is generously letting us stay here as we look for our new place in Bemidji, where my husband will start his new job June 8.

But I need to go back. Before we arrived here, two nights ago, we stayed at my husband’s parents’ home in rural Frazee, Minn., from April 23 to May 13. I’m so grateful we had such a wonderful place to stay! They live on 40 acres in the woods with sloughs where we saw a turtle, muskrat, Canada geese, wood duck and several wild turkeys, including a mama on a nest of three eggs. They also have trumpeter swans not far from their house. His parents cooked us wonderful meals and our daughter had a lovely time spending time with grandma and grandpa and their pregnant cat, Rascal. Avery added a wild turkey and blue jay feather to her collection of bird feathers.

While there, Chad and I got busy looking for work. On Wednesday, May 6, thirteen days after we arrived, he had his first online video call interview with staff at the hospital in Bemidji. They told him it would be a week or longer but by the next day they called back and offered him the position, which is in the specialty he was interested in at a higher salary than he expected. He accepted it the day after that. Although he applied for a lot of positions and multiple interviews lined up he got an offer on the first interview he did.

The Bemidji area is beautiful. My paternal grandmother grew up there and both she and my grandfather are buried there. I’ve visited many times but I particularly remember a summer when Avery was about 2 years old, camping with my family. Chad and I talked at that time about how beautiful it is there and how we wouldn’t mind living there someday. It’s an area similar to where my husband grew up, in Detroit Lakes, Minn., with lots of woods and lakes. We found a townhome there and we’ll move in about three weeks from now, right before Chad starts work.

I signed up at some work from home websites, sent out some resumes and also reached out to connections I had in the blogging and journalism world. I got two paid bylined blogs from a friend I met on our travel nursing adventures and a freelance ag news assignment from a past editor. I need to keep looking for more opportunities but it felt like a good start. It’s true what they say, networking is the best!

This has been a tough time and neither Chad or I are exactly thrilled about having to settle down right now. We loved our adventurous travel life! But things are starting to look up and we’ve had some very lovely moments, especially exploring the outdoors at Chad’s parents’ house in the country and here.