Tell Me About Life in Ft Wayne!

[SheBear]

Dh has visited several times as the guest minister of a church there, and the whole family is going to go on a trip with him at the end of this month. Furthermore, there is a chance that the church there may call him as pastor.....if they did (and if he accepted!) we might be moving in the near future! :eek :D

So......I'd love to know everything/anything about the area....political climate, birthing climate (legal status of midwives/homebirth?), crunchy factor, weather, schools (we homeschool, but dh's secular job is in education, so that's important for us to consider) etc. etc. etc.....

I'd looooove to hear from anyone who lives there--it'd be so comforting to know that if we do end up there, I'd have a "familiar" and friendly face to cling to! :lol

[Jazzmin]

I just saw this, did your DH get the job? I recently moved back to Fort Wayne after living in Bloomington (the best town ever) for a few years. Hopefully I can give you some useful info.

political climate- conservative, even though there is a democratic mayor.

birthing climate (legal status of midwives/homebirth?)- Not good. Lay MW's are illegal. Homebirths are legal if you say it was a UC. Drs and CNM will not attend in your home and it is illegal for a lay MW to be present. One of the two big maternity hospitals here stopped allowing VBAC's :(

crunchy factor- there is a co-op, you will find some crunch there but not many other places.

weather- it is IN so there is crazy weather. Traditional seasons with days thrown in that you just wouldn't expect (ie 60's in January)

schools (we homeschool, but dh's secular job is in education, so that's important for us to consider)- FW community shcools are iffy- really depends on the actual school your child attends. SW and NW schools are known for high test scores and more affluent children and parents. There are local hs groups that meet pretty frequently.

[SheBear]

Wow, somehow I wasn't getting email notification for this thread, and I didn't realize anyone had responded! I was coming here today to bump it! :)

Thanks so much for the info, Jazzmin! I saw the thread about the yahoo group and I just joined it! DH was called by the church, and we are moving up there in Dec! Should be there before Christmas! :D

We are all very excited, although the actual process of moving leaves much to be desired, LOL! Every day the kids ask if this is the day we are moving to Indiana, LOL! Actually, my almost-3yo ds says "Andy Anna", isn't that the cutest?? :love

We have managed to find a house in FW, it's on the Southwest side of things....only a few miles from our church, which was the main thing, but I don't know much more than that. I haven't even seen the house yet.....actually, neither has dh!! :eek We had help from a realtor and from a couple members of the church up there, so other than their judgement (which I'm sure is good) we are going in blind. :lol

Thanks again for the information! I can't wait to get up there! :joy:

[Rosegin]

birthing climate (legal status of midwives/homebirth?)- Not good. Lay MW's are illegal. Homebirths are legal if you say it was a UC. Drs and CNM will not attend in your home and it is illegal for a lay MW to be present. One of the two big maternity hospitals here stopped allowing VBAC's :(



Home births are legal no matter who attends. It is illegal for DEM or CPM, but not illegal for the mother. There are a few CNMs here in Indiana who will attend home births, also.

[bobandjess99]

I agree with Rosegin, CNM's are legal to practice in home or hospital, my CNM attends homebirths in the northern part of the state, including Ft Wayne area....and despite being illegal, there ARE some DEM's and CPM's that practice......the area just west of Ft Wayne is actually pretty decent, because of the high percentage of Amish. Right to homeschool is absolute and there is NOTHING required to do so..nothing at all, and please don't complete ANY papers the schools might try to give you, the only thing required is...nothing. *IF* your children are currently in public school and tyou are taking them out to homeschool, you DO have to notify the school they are being withdrawn...otherwise...there are no tests, no papers, nothing to fill out or file. YAY!!

[Rosegin]

I agree with Rosegin, CNM's are legal to practice in home or hospital, my CNM attends homebirths in the northern part of the state, including Ft Wayne area....and despite being illegal, there ARE some DEM's and CPM's that practice......the area just west of Ft Wayne is actually pretty decent, because of the high percentage of Amish. Right to homeschool is absolute and there is NOTHING required to do so..nothing at all, and please don't complete ANY papers the schools might try to give you, the only thing required is...nothing. *IF* your children are currently in public school and tyou are taking them out to homeschool, you DO have to notify the school they are being withdrawn...otherwise...there are no tests, no papers, nothing to fill out or file. YAY!!
I wouldn't say homeschooling involves nothing. You are required to keep attendance records and report the number of children you are teaching and their grade levels to the state superintendent (if asked). But other than that, it's pretty easy. lol

[SheBear]

Cool! Thanks, ladies! :thumb

RE: midwives...we aren't even expecting ATM, so it's not a huge deal, and our MW down here also has to operate outside the framework of law, so I'm no stranger to that game, LOL! :wink It'd just be nice to not have to pay out of pocket for the next baby (if we're blessed with another), and to be able to go to a MW for well-woman stuff would be awesome too!

As for schools, we are already homeschooling and intend to continue, but the people we know up there have said that the schools on that west side are good ones, regardless. Dh's current (secular) job is with the public school system, and since the church he'll be serving is quite small, he'll likely be looking for a job asap. I hope he'll be able to find one soon--preferrably at a school near our new home.

Cool about the Amish factor--we mill our own grains for baking, etc., so that may prove to be a good source for grain once we run out of what we have in storage.

I'm sure I'll have even more questions soon....oh, hey! Any really good thrift stores around, where we can find children's clothing (esp. winter stuff) and furniture? I loooove thrift stores, and we aren't likely to find the kind of winter clothes that we'll need around here, LOL!

[Jazzmin]

Hello :wave

I live on the SW side too! We will be neighbors :)

Hopefully you can make it to a playdate,

[FreshDidysOnLine]

SheBear, I just happened on your thread here looking at the Ohio threads and was surprised! My BFF just moved to outside of Ft Wayne!!! Tell me if you end up going and I can get you hooked up with her!! I'm going to be extremely jealous (although Ft Wayne isn't really a place I'd really like to live:) Keep me posted with what you are going to do!

[deny_zoo29]

Hi There,
Just found your thread. We live in Fort Wayne, though we are still in the TTC mode right now, no little ones yet. My in-laws live on the SW side of town and specifically moved there for the better schools and neighborhood. We live on the east side of town for now, with hopes of moving when we can get our house sold! Hope all is going well for your move!

[SheBear]

Thanks, everyone! I'm so glad to have made these virtual connections! It makes leaving here so much easier....we've lived here practically all our married life, and all our kids were born here, so just picking up and leaving a good church, good job, nice home, great community and wonderful group of friends feels a bit crazy.....or maybe a LOT crazy, with only occasional moments of lucidity, LOL! But this move feels *right*, and the responses to this thread make me feel so much more at peace, sorta like there's already a support group up there waiting for me! :grouphug:

I'm so excited, but there is SO much to do, and the time is fast running out! :eek Dh is not freaking nearly as much as I think he should be, LOL!

Autumn, I'm so sorry that I haven't been in touch....this has all happened so suddenly, literally just since Sept., and it's been a bit of a whirlwind. I just got back last night from spending a couple weeks in AZ with my parents (drove out there with all the kids, boy what a TRIP!!!), but I'm hoping I can make it to LLL this week. I'm gonna try, anyway. Maybe I'll get to see you then, and we can make plans to get together before the craziness of the holidays starts? It would be really cool to meet up with your friend once we get settled in up there. Right now, the plan is to leave the 19th of Dec, spend 2 days on the road (incidentally, the 19th is our 10th wedding anniversary, and the 20th is Bethany's first birthday!) and get up there just in time to start unpacking before Christmas! :eek Good thing we never do a lot for the holidays....it's gonna be paper plates and pizza instead of turkey this year, LOL!

And, I can't wait to make it to a playdate, Jazzmin! That will be so much fun! I've been lurking on the yahoo group, and on Google maps, trying to figure out where everything is, LOL! This is the first time I'll have lived actually in town, so it is kind of exciting to realize that we can actually WALK to a park from our new house, rather than having to prepare for a half-day adventure just to go to walmart, LOL! :wink