A bittersweet, but mostly sweet, departure

It's 10:23am on Sunday, our last day of living in Rochester, Minnesota. Jacob enjoyed his rice cereal and pears for breakfast, while Mom & Dad savored buttermilk waffles with fresh blueberries, homemade maple syrup, and sausage (eaten in shifts, of course). With the rhythm of Jacob's breathing keeping pace on the baby monitor while he recharges his batteries during a morning nap, Nik and I have been talking about leaving Rochester, and while eager to leave and move on to Hastings we've been reminiscing some short-lived but amazing events that we've experienced while in Rochester.

Most obviously, it is here in Roch that the Sinclairs went from 2 to 3, with yet another January birthday added to the families long list of January births. Rochester will always be remembered as the town where Jacob was born, saw his first snowflake, ate his first spoonful of cereal and fruit, babbled his first "word", cut his first tooth, and went for his first walk (to name a few memorable moments).

Rochester is also where Mom started work in her new career as an esthetician, where Dad transitioned from an Air Force uniform to jeans and t-shirt (my uniform of choice by the way), and where Nikki later started a second career as full time Mom. It's where we lived in a modest town home sandwiched between a rodeo clown with an affinity for loud clown music and a sweet family of four with whom we traded pet sitting duties while one of us was away. Here is where Jacob felt his first chiropractic adjustment, and Scott went under the knife for knee surgery (Nikki says I completely over dramatized the event, but I still say that it was quite traumatic). Perhaps most notable, it is here in Rochester that we learned that when faced with life's challenges-reuniting after a long year apart, raising our firstborn, balancing needs of self, spouse, and baby-that even in the midst of those challenges we still stand strongly united when we look to God for our guidance and take time to appreciate these many experiences.

Rochester has been good to us, but it's time to move on. To new careers, a new house, a new church, and a city we hope to be calling home for a long long time. We will look back on our time here Rochester with many fond memories, and look forward to making many more a few miles north of here. Look out Hastings, here we come!