What is it like…

What is it like…

to leave everything you know?

to know no one?

to move to the cold?

(A picture of our house today – we do love our new house!)

Well, we’re working on our positive attitudes – all 5 of us! But to say it’s easy wouldn’t be true. I feel a little like we’ve moved to a foreign country (and I can’t even imagine how my missionary friends and others who actually did move to a foreign country feel!) The midwestern accent is very different to my ears. (Ours is different to them too – they immediately ask where in the south we’re from!) The ground is completely white all the time. We have found the necessities: Target, McDonald’s, a church (we think), the library. We are getting the boxes unpacked. We are (I am) learning to drive in the snow.

(Zero degrees. We’ve seen negative numbers too!)

There are great things about this area. We have awesome neighbors who have shoveled and snowblown our driveway/sidewalks, given us snow clothes for the kids, helped us install a garbage disposal. The parks department is very active here, and I’ve signed up Russell and Meredith for a sports class and me for a Zumba class – can’t wait to start! Our house is the perfect size: 4 bedrooms, a split level with a basement.

We are enjoying each other at home:

Setting up a small-scale Metra (like Jason rides to and from work):

Learning how to use a sippy cup:

Still doing school – on this day, Meredith was practicing number recognition/one-to-one correspondence, and Russell was practicing copying and finishing a pattern:

Setting up new roots takes time. We are jumping in with both feet.