The Decision

So here goes ... the decision you've all been waiting for ... the answer to the question everybody wants to know, LeBron James style:

In the fall, Jordan has decided to take his talents to Memphis, Tennessee, and attend Southern College of Optometry!!!!

This was a hard decision for us. We had some wonderful opportunities to be near family in Arizona or Southern California, and of course, I've been talking about spending the next four years at Disneyland and the beach from the beginning. But in the end, we came to know that SCO is definitely the right choice for us, and we're very excited!!

It's actually funny how things work out sometimes. When Jordan told me he wanted to apply to SCO in addition to the three west coast schools, I just gave him a funny look and said, "Whatever." Like we would ever leave the west where we've both spent our entire lives and where everyone we love still resides. But Jordan said tuition was cheapest at SCO and that's where most of the BYU grads go so he wanted to apply. SCO was the first school to offer him an interview, but I think we were both still looking ahead to the others. But a funny thing happened on the way to my endless afternoons with Mickey Mouse - Jordan loved SCO. Within a three-week span, he interviewed at all three schools he applied to, including the California school we had both thought was our top choice. But neither of the others felt as good as Southern. And of course, the more he talked about it, the more I fell in love too. We started looking at apartments online and checking out all the cool things we could do in Memphis - the annual BBQ festival, the children's museum, a world-famous zoo. And it just felt good. We know we want to settle in the west where our families are so this started to seem like an adventure, something we would never do otherwise. Why not go somewhere new and different while we have the opportunity?

Now, as exciting as this all sounded, I still had some grave concerns, the most important being money. Optometry school is incredibly expensive when you factor in tuition, books, rent, food, etc. (we're talking $200,000 here), and my Dad had made us a very generous offer to live with him in CA if we went to school there. So we made it a matter of prayer and just decided to find out what Heavenly Father wanted us to and do it, no matter what. Then Jordan got a phone call from SCO offering him a scholarship ... a big one. And we knew that was our answer, particularly my answer.

So off we go!! I'm still a little concerned about Maddie not getting to see her grandparents and cousins very much over the next few years, like somehow I'm depriving her of being spoiled and loved. And I'm really not sure how Maddie will survive without "It's A Small World." But there's no denying that this is where we're supposed to go. And it's definitely a fantastic feeling!!! We're both already very excited to get out there and get going. Kudos to my husband for being incredibly outrageously awesome to get all these offers and for having the wisdom to forego the easy option for what's really best for our family! Get ready to boogie down :)