Above follow a couple pictures of the home where we're staying, which is nearly 100 years old. It is on a piece of land another Ward member owns and is waiting to zone and develop for a warehouse for his growing baby-products company.
Nothing about the last few months has been ideal. A list of our "1st World Woes" include sleeping on air mattresses, sharing one bathroom, no TV, eating mostly prepared foods (breaded chicken patty burgers top the chart as most repeated meal), no dishwasher, no microwave, one chair to share in the living room (2 if you count our camping chair), eating meals from our IKEA kid size table, wearing the same packed 5 outfits over and over, experimenting with home schooling Felix and Rex, painfully slow and limited internet access and lots of free time spent at the library tapping into their internet, etc. 95% of our belongings are packed away until we figure out where we'll live. But there have been some highlights in the short time we've been here.
1.) Last leaves: When we first arrived, most leaves in our area had already fallen, but the yard at the house here had the most beautiful fall foliage still gracing its trees. There are three Japanese maples. You can see one of their beautiful red leaves in the photos below. Another one of the Japanese maples' leaves had turned more a deep, burnt orange, and there was a third tree with a pretty yellow-green. In our time here, most of the leaves have now fallen.
2.) First Snow: As you can see on the lawn in the picture below, we got our first snow of the season while we've been here, though it was just a dusting and had all melted within a few hours.
3.) Baby steps: Margie bought Max a very simple walker for his first birthday, and he is getting more and more confident with standing, though it seems unlikely he'll quite make his first official steps before we find another place.
4.) Two lost teeth: Felix and Rex have each lost a tooth here. Rex lost a top front tooth and Felix lost his first top molar. Both boys could conceivably lose another one, too, as the teeth opposite the ones they lost are loose. Margie is trying to convince Rex to go to Santa if he loses the other front tooth and tell him all he wants for Christmas is his two front teeth.
5.) More Clarity: I officially accepted a new job in Shelton, CT a little more than a week ago. I have to admit to disappointment that a chance to move west fell through. But we've found a new town to live in where we can be as little as ~1 mile from the shore, and only ~20 minutes from work. Today we visited the Ward for the first time, and were glad to learn there were 2-3 kids the same age and gender as each of our primary-aged kids.
Also, I came across a scripture yesterday in my study that was very comforting to us: Jeremiah 42. Verse 10 especially resonated: "If ye will still abide in this land, then will I build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up"
We'll share more when we have new news, hopefully this week as we expect to sign a lease on a place and start moving in this week.
