Catching Up

It's nearing the end of December, which seems like a good time for an update and a renewed effort to chronicle our family life via this blog. We've made a couple of cross-country moves in less than 5 years, so the blog serves the double-purpose of keeping in touch with far away family and friends and being a scrapbook, of sorts, for our family. The girls enjoy looking back through the posts and reminiscing. We haven't posted here since August, so there is a bit of catching up to do.

We left the Rocky Mountain West in August and made the L O N G drive to the East Coast. The drive wasn't unbearable, however. Our kids are at good ages for surviving long stretches in the car. Mark and I probably had the worst time since both of us were driving and couldn't take a break. The girls usually switched cars after every gas or meal stop, so that kept things interesting for them. Mark's car had the cat (Mr. Bingley) for entertainment, while my car mostly had books on CD. Aileen, Norah and I got through most of The Chronicles of Narnia. We also made room in our schedule for stops in the midwest. Conveniently, both sets of our parents live right along the route. We enjoyed visiting with grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and old friends along the way.



Somewhere in Iowa... still smiling!



swimming with some of the cousins at Grandma and Grandpa's house

Our first few days as East Coast dwellers were spent at a house that was "loaned" to us by a friend from back West. It's kind of a long story, but it was a wonderful place to live while we waited for the moving truck. There are so many things that can go wrong during a cross-country move, but we were fortunate and have no horror stories at all. The moving truck was a day later than we expected, but that really was a non-issue. We are in a rental house for the time being... it just seemed too daunting to choose a house to buy without having lived in the area for a while. Knowing that we will move again soon made the unpacking go quickly -- only necessary items came out of their boxes. The result is a somewhat bare-looking house, but that's OK.

BEFORE the movers arrived

We enrolled #1 at a diocesan grade school that is run by Dominican Sisters. She is in 7th grade this year and it seemed like a good time for her to return to school. We chose this particular school in large part because of the presence of the sisters and also because there is a Dominican high school close by. We don't know exactly what we will do for high school, however, as there are a couple other Catholic schools within reasonable distance. We are in the a very faithful diocese and the parishes and schools here are wonderful. #1 has made a smooth transition. Her personality is good for being "the new kid". We have found, however, that this area tends to have a lot of new families every year because we are so close to many military/government institutions.

First day of 7th grade

#2 and #3 are in 1st and 2nd grade this year. We chose to continue home schooling them. This area has so many opportunities and resources for home schooling families. We joined our local Catholic home school group as soon as we arrived. Our first activity with is a production of Beauty and the Beast. They have enjoyed making friends at their weekly rehearsals. We also enrolled them in a program which meets in a classroom-setting one day per week. They wear uniforms and pack their lunch to go, which is a really big deal for them.

First day - 1st and 2nd grade

Mark and I have settled in as well. I shouldn't speak too much for Mark about work, but he loves what he's doing and is honored to be affiliated with another well-known Catholic institution. I imagine he'd agree that the biggest adjustments have been the commute and the fact that his employer is on a different continent. In both the West and Illinois, traffic was a non-issue. Anyone who is familiar with this part of the country knows that traffic is most certainly a very big issue. Mark has always been an early-riser, however, so most days he gets into work while many of the other residents are still sleeping. 

As a family we've made an effort to take advantage of all area has to offer. When we arrived in late summer, we started off exploring outdoor things like parks and bike trails, but in the last few weeks we've switched to indoor options. We are visiting the museums one at a time, which will keep us busy all winter and beyond. But perhaps our favorite place in D.C. is the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. We have been there enough times now that it feels very comfortable and we all have our favorite parts. It is an awesome place and we'd love to show you around next time you visit Washington D.C.!

visiting George Washington's estate, Mount Vernon

the gemstone exhibit at the Smithsonian Natural History museum



pretty happy funny real (Instagram edition)

Do you Instagram?  I'm new to the whole Instagram experience (and I'm not really sure how to use it yet) but I'm having fun and I thought a p,h,f,r post of Instagram photos from my phone would be fun.

Pretty - Daughter #1 got some new curlers for her hair.  

Happy - Daughter #2 has amazing hair - super-thick and wavy, but no so great for brushing.  It was becoming a chore to keep it looking neat, so we decided to chop it off.  She was so excited and happy after the cut.  It's been almost a week now and she is still thrilled about brushing it herself without tears.

Funny - I LOVE how this Instagram filter gave me - and the girls - a halo!

Real - veggies from the garden - complete with dirt so you know they're authentic.

Visit LMLD for more p,h,f,r!

pretty, happy, funny, real

I haven't joined the Like Mother Like Daughter p,h,f,r link-up since May!  Surely I can find something for each category on the trusty camera...

Pretty

I love mountains.  From the day we moved here, I've made it a point to remind the girls to look at the natural beauty around us - to keep noticing and not take it for granted.  And now that we are moving, I'm especially trying to soak up all the beauty.  Isn't this just awesome?  It may be a bit much for the heading "pretty", but that's where I'm putting it :)

These babies have been hanging out in our yard a lot lately.  As long as the fence keeps them out of the garden, that's fine with me.

Happy

My parents came to visit a few weeks ago.  That made me happy.  And I could fill this post with photos from their visit, but this one - perhaps - makes me happiest.  All the faces in the photo are happy.  I love my girls.  I love my Dad.  I love that they love him.  I'm so happy to get to see him being Grandpa.  It's just a lot of happiness all around.  Thank you, God, for the gift of family.  Plus, the girls are wearing their crazy yard boots, which makes it even better!

It is a family tradition to attend the Rodeo on July 3rd as the official "kick-off" of our Independence Day celebrations.  Several other families we know go on the same night, so the kids have a section in the bleachers and the adults have a section.  It's a fun-filled evening that makes everyone happy.  I forgot to take a camera that night, but our 12 year old had a camera with her, so I'm using one of her photos.

Rodeo!

Funny

These goats love to climb on things.  What is funny to me is that "Lucy" looks like she got caught doing something she's not supposed to be doing :)

Our middle "cowgirl" riding the mythical creature, the Jackalope.  This thing is housed in a gas station not far from us - it's supposed to be a silly tourist attraction - and the younger girls think it's hysterical.  They may also think it's a real animal :)

Real

Like much of the rest of the country, it is very dry here this summer.  The fact is that summers here are always dry, but we count on the snow-pack in the mountains to melt and run down to the valley, keeping us irrigated.  But the normal amount of snow didn't fall this winter, so things are especially dry.  We haven't been threatened by any large fires, but this grass fire across the road got our attention and reminded us to pray for those suffering from the larger fires in Colorado and Wyoming.

grass fire across the road from our property

A LONG overdue update

It seems that we lost our blogging voice there for a while, huh?  It's been 2 months since our last post - and though we've been silent bloggers - that doesn't mean things have been quiet.  How about an update?

Mark has a new job, we sold our house, and we're moving to the complete other side of the country.

"What!", you say.  But what about the garden, the chickens, the goats?  Good questions.  The bottom line is that we're being called to something new.  It's not anything we expected.  Or looked for.  We strive daily to remain open to God's will for our lives - all aspects of our lives.  This includes Mark's career.  We have been very blessed in this area, for sure.  Though the choices we've made haven't always made sense from the viewpoint of "the world", they've been choices that we made after much prayer and discernment.  And we consistently find that God's plans for us are way better than anything we would have thought up on our own.  This change in position is no different.  We have loved our life, the community,  and Mark's work here in the wild west - and it is terribly difficult to leave - but we are at peace with our decision.  Mark will continue working in the same field: advancing the mission of a Catholic educational institution.

So, where are we headed?  Our nation's capital.  Yep, all the way East.  We have promised the girls that we'll be close to mountains (though not quite the size as the mountains here) and the ocean.  None of us have ever lived close to an ocean, so that is something we look forward to.  We know that moving to a major metropolitan area - after having lived in a remote Western town of less than 10,000 people - will be an adjustment, but we are excited about the opportunities.

Our wonderful home here - lovingly referred to as "Aspen Springs" - was snatched up by a new family the first day it hit the real estate market.  What a relief!  It's a great property, so we had hoped selling it wouldn't be an issue, but we never dreamed it would be the easiest part of this whole process.  So, now we're getting ready to actually make the move: cleaning out closets, organizing, making lists of what stays and what goes, etc.  The animals are on the list of what stays.  The family who is buying the house wants the goats and the chickens.  We are thrilled.  The girls, especially, are pleased to know that the animals get to stay put and will be well cared for after we leave (and we get fresh eggs up until our last morning here!)

So, selling the house was easy.  What's been difficult?  Finding a moving company that will come here.  We started calling the national van lines figuring we'd get quotes and choose the best option.  After the first 3-4 companies told us they couldn't help us, we got a little nervous.  We're still nervous, though a local company has assured us that one way or another they'll take care of it.  Yikes.  Please don't take this opportunity to leave comments about moving nightmares :)

So, there you have it... the reason for our silence lately.  Though this is a big change, normal life goes on, and we'll try to keep the posts coming (somewhat) regularly again.