hot and sticky summer

We have officially relocated. We are now Michiganders. It is so nice to be back home after years away. We certainly lived in a beautiful place, but this is home. And now begins the work of transitioning our lives. There are many logistics to changing states, esp. when you own and operate vehicles. It is exhausting to try to get our ducks in a row, and it is exhausting to not know what awaits me, professionally, in the next month or so. I continue to pray for a miracle teaching position. But I recognize the high likelihood of having to sub full-time (or at least nearly full-time). Subbing is horrible. You have no authority and no relationship with the students and students seemed to be hardwired to take advantage of subs. But before I stress about something in the future, I will just continue to hold out hope that more secure employment is out there. I love History, I love making difficult information accessible to students, and I just love working with young people. I had so much fun teaching at Hillel Academy in Pgh; and I do believe that my own classroom awaits me someday.

Stephen is preparing for law school and I am so excited for him. I am nervous about feeling like I'm going to be a single parent w/ the amount that he will have to study. But, hey, I did it this last year when he worked weekends and evenings and I know I can do it again. I will just miss him and I'll be wishing I could just sit w/ him and talk through the day. I married my best friend and I just like to talk to him! I know that he will enjoy stretching his mind in new ways as well. My dad was working, going to night school and raising two very small kids around this age. He is very empathetic to what Stephen's personal demands will be in the coming years.

We are new to a city that we both grew up in (Steve) and near (Me) and we are optimistic.



Before orientation, buying a car, and other craziness ensues...we are running away to Holland to meet up with friends from college. It will be fun to meet their new little one and catch up.

Be back in a few days...!

on moving...

My husband and I are no strangers to moving as we've done it four times in the five years that we've been married. First there was our 1st apt. in our current neighborhood. Then the unit below our friends opened up and it was in an old town house so we thought it'd be cozy to be "virtually" living in the same house. Those friends relocated months after we moved in (only across the neighborhood), and we quickly grew discontented with that place (really high cost utilities and leaking water and strange smells) and moved into a studio behind our former business. Then the studio got a bit cramped and Stephen needed space from work so we moved up the street to our current residence. We have actually been here for 2 years--a record for us! In retrospect, I would've been fine w/ our first place for all 5 years...but hindsight is always 20/20. Our current apt. has room for a nursery, a front porch, and laundry in the basement so I've been pretty content here. However, we are definitely "house hungry." I think that's expected since we've been married 5 years and been through so many changes; it's that desire to settle into something more long-term and to make it our own.

So we are embarking on our 5th move this month. It is unique for us in that we now have an (almost) 8 mo. old "crawling" around and we are moving in with family. We are trying to avoid a separate storage unit, but there's an obvious amount of sorting involved based on what things we will need immediate access to, and what can be tucked away in respective family basements.

Purging is good.
Sorting is healthy.
Trying to sort while Caitlin investigates the dangerous things in her room does not work so well.

I believe we will get there.
It helps to have deadlines.
We just really need to buckle down.

Wish us luck!