How we came to make aliyah by accident

The story really begins when we moved to North Riverdale in February of 2007. Over Pesach,we got invited out to lunch and the husband worked at Microsoft. At the time, Donny was not so happy with his job in Stamford, CT, so he asked our host, Mike, to pass along his resume at Microsoft. Yadda yadda yadda, at the beginning of July, Donny started working at Microsoft. Good: Discounted software! Bad: 1.5 hour commute (each way) to Hauppague, Long Island from Riverdale. (Directions: Go out to the middle of nowhere. When you think you can't go any further, drive another half hour and you are there.)
Donny was great fit for Microsoft and loved the job, and we, like so many other young families in Riverdale, were starting to look for the place we were really going to "live." We lived in Central Riverdale for 7 years, and loved it there, but since we lacked the proverbial rich, dead uncle, we could not afford to make it our permanent home. We were never "aliyah people" because we would never consider going somewhere where the job prospects were iffy. But now, Israel became a possibility. Microsoft had development centers there, so Donny could theoretically transfer there and we could make a home for ourselves. Maybe it would be better to wait and gain more Microsoft-experience... but "if you're going to do it, you should really do it now. Your kids are young; now's the time." So we put the plans in motion.