It's hard to believe that we've been in Oregon now for almost 2 months. It has been such a whirlwind! Aside from the whole moving to a new state transition, we are also living in what we're calling "The Great Experiment," or for those of you who grew up watching the show Full House like I did, I lovingly call it, "Full House on Crack." :-) We are living with Nathan's parents.... AND grandparents. Yep! That's right, 4 generations in one house!!! Are we nuts? Yep. Definitely. Certifiably. But.... as hard and crazy as it is...... it's so worth it. We are determined to get completely out of debt (or at least 95% out of debt so we can save up a nest egg too before moving out, we'll have to see where we are in a few months) in 1 year! And barring any "life" surprises (appendicitis, major car repairs, etc), everything looks good to go on paper! So that's our biggest excitement about living here.. BY FAR! But also, as hard as it is at times, it's awesome to get to see Annabella getting the chance to spend time with two of her great-grandparents, both of which are almost 90 years old!!! How many 15 month old's get that privelage in our culture? And it's fun to hear their stories about when they had kids. (Though, I wish she weren't so far away from her other set of great-grandparents :-( ). Despite all of the challenges (differences in parenting styles, generational differences, our dog who doesn't like Nathan's grandparents, etc), I really think this will be a time we will look back on and be so thankful that we had the chance to experience. We're excited, and hopeful, to see where everyone is at the end of this year. Where we are in our debt pay-off/savings plan, how Annabella has grown, how ALL of us have grown, and what we've all learned.... it's definitely one wild ride.... that's for sure!
And God has blessed us SO much by Nathan's job! Not only was he approved to take his electrician's license test (Colorado and Oregon aren't reciprocal states so we had to get approval for the state of Oregon to see if they felt he had enough experience to even just take the test to get his OR license), he PASSED his test, got his license on a Wednesday, and was working at a job that will have full benefits (that we'll be able to afford), pays SIGNIFICANTLY more than his job in Colorado did, and has more work than they know what to do with, on FRIDAY that week! Yep. Just two days later, the company that had been talking with him for over 2 months about wanting to hire him, saved the position for him until he got his license even though they were swamped with work, and he is absolutley LOVING it!!! They're also going to give him a company truck after his 90 day probationary period, which he's never had, and is super excited about. He actually looks forward to going to work everyday, and is eager to "go the extra mile" for them as he feels so great about how the company functions and how they run things. All in all, we couldn't be more blessed! God is gracious.
We're still trying to get everything set for Nathan to start his classes for this fall, but we're close. He's working toward getting a degree in Renewable Energy Engineering at the Oregon Institute of Technology, but will do two years of foundational classes at a community college out here. He has to establish his residency out here so that his tuition at OIT is about $10,000 a year cheaper so he can't take more than 8 hours of classes in this first year, but that's probably a very good thing as he gets back into the swing of things in his new job and as we work hard at getting out of debt in this first year. But he's anxious to start his class soon. :-)
And Annabella is talking, talking, talking!!!! Wow. It's amazing how much this girl has to say. She has more words than I can remember to write down, but some are Mommy, Daddy, Asher, Bye-Bye, Hi, Hello, be right back, off, on, baby, bonk, stuck, snack, lunch, breakfast, rice, ice, bumble-bee, moon, milk, walk, splash, water, fork, stop it, I did it, yay, kisses, good-night, and many many more. Now, not all of these words sound EXACTLY like the actual word, but when used in context it can be very clear, and she's very consistent with them too. Some though sound so much alike that it can be very hard to decipher what she's saying some times and she gets very frustrated. :-( Poor girl. But she's practicing!! Man, oh man, is she practicing! She likes to go off on these long soliloquy's complete with vocal inflections, eye contact to the entire audience, and hand gestures, all in her own little language. She will some times wake up singing and dancing to her own made up song. I have most definitely been once and for all, upstaged. ;-) And I love it! I'm so thankful that we chose to make the sacrifices necessary for me to stay home with her. I wouldn't want to miss a second of all these great moments with her. She's the best! Oh, and she can also tell you that a dog says "arf, arf"," a lion and a tiger say "roar", a cow says "moo", and a duck says "quack, quack." Oh she, can say duck too.
She's running now, and likes to dance. Loves going to the zoo, and has recently started holding our hands and going for walks. She likes taking Asher for a walk around the neighborhood and does fabulously well just holding my hand waiting for me to carry her across streets. Yes, I'm bragging.... but aren't all moms supposed to brag about their kiddos? ;-) She's the best, so cute, and quite the ham.
So while there's a lot of good, it's also hard because I miss Colorado and my family and friends a lot, a lot. :-( I'm actually pretty lonely out here, but I know friends will come with time. We've found a church we really like, which is great! It's a family integrated church (no nursery or sunday school, the kiddos are in the service with us, and they have lunch every week for extended fellowship). Yes, we're continuing our counter-cultural weirdness! :-P So, I know in time we'll make some friends there, and I'm hoping to be able to start going to some La Leche League groups soon.... if I can find one that works with my girlie's naps, so I know friends and community will come soon...but in the meantime, it's a wee bit lonely. ::sigh:: Yay for facebook and good cell phone plans in the meantime. :-)
Anyway, that's all the big news from us. Enjoy the picture of Annabella. She laughed RIGHT when I took the picture. I love this one!!
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