A lot has happened in the past few months...
-My mom and grandma came to visit from Wisconsin; we had a great time and I didn't feel lonely for 5 whole days. :)
-I made cookies and took them to neighbors, introduced myself, and invited them to visit us; we met some new former-California people who live just down the street.
-We visited a part-time public school option for homeschoolers that seemed to be a good fit for the boys (a Lego robotics course for Mark--so cool); next school year they will go one day a week to this small school extension-type program called APEX in Niwot.
-We got pre-approved for a mortgage, met a realtor through a neighbor, and started looking at houses online; we learned we did not want to live in Erie even though it is probably the only place we can afford real mountain views due to the natural gas hydrofracturing (fracking) wells located there.
-We jumped into researching fracking (after all, we are both analysts who revel in data) and found we are passionately opposed to it and shocked by our government's casual stance toward documented dangers; we looked into joining the Sierra Club (gasp!) to put our money where our mouth is and do something about our concerns.
-We experienced major disappointment about not living in Erie after learning about fracking; we remembered we don't have to decide where to live anytime soon so will just keep praying for the right house(s) to come on the market.
-We visited the Colwills (friends originally from college, then in Cali) in Highlands Ranch and started the process of getting to know old friends anew; it was a wonderful afternoon getting caught up.
-We started a new homeschool curriculum called Five in a Row that is literature-based and proving a good fit for our relaxed homeschool; we also visited the Louisville Public Library and excitedly checked out 30 new books!
-Mark turned 7 just a few days ago and we invited all the neighbor boys in his age range along with their families for an informal party with cake and ice cream; everyone had a great time celebrating with blue-green mouths from the frosting Mark chose!
-Matt hung more pictures up in the house; I wrestled with decorating more but feel torn about putting down roots.
-We met some more homeschoolers at Friday swim lessons in Broomfield; starting to feel more connected to a homeschool community.
-We have visited over 8 churches and still have not found a community that seems to be a great fit except the one in Littleton we visited as a favor for friends (but it's over an hour away); we will keep visiting churches (or maybe become professional church shopping consultants!).
There were many other mundane events and tasks completed since I last wrote, but that's a decent summary. We are continuing to settle in, continuing to miss our friends and family, continuing to search for community, continuing to pray about where to live... and hoping for some of these things to resolve a bit more. :) Time to finish supper...
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Something old, something new...
There's nothing quite like re-starting a blog after, let's see, almost 7 years?!? How much has changed! How much we've changed!
We are now in Louisville, Colorado, after 7 years in Mountain View, California. We felt God give us the ok to move after a tumultuous 2012 pushed us to re-evaluate our vision, priorities, and future lifestyle. So we followed the desire of our hearts & moved 1,400 miles to live near the Rocky Mountains in a smaller town with more space, slower lifestyle, and more affordable housing.
Leaving behind our friends and family was very hard. In fact, many days it is painful to be without community. We are being intentional about meeting new friends and getting plugged into a new church and homeschool group, but it takes time for new relationships to grow close. We are also trying to be intentional to stay in touch with our friends in Cali; hence this blog.
So these past few weeks we finally got back on a good schedule for life and school. I am able to cover everything, lesson plan ahead of time, and work in lots of outdoor "P.E.". We've gone for bike rides, met neighbors in the open space, gone to parks, met up with a homeschool group at a park, slid on ice on a lake, honked at geese, shoveled sidewalks, made a snowman, had snowball fights, climbed trees, swung on a homemade tire swing, found forts, examined melting snow water running down the street and built a dam... Lots of adventures for former city kids!
This has been my favorite part of living here: getting to re-create a lot of my childhood memories with the boys. I grew up on 18 acres of trees and fields outside a small town in Wisconsin, and my parents were firm believers in limiting our time inside watching TV and playing video games (in fact, Nintendo was banned from our house!). We were constantly outside exploring, making up pretend games, building "fires" (really just piles of sticks we pretended to light as we knew better than to create a real fire!), making forts, hunting with BB guns, ice skating, watching the valley flood in the springtime, etc. I loved it. So now it is much easier to share those things with the boys.
The hardest part of living here is being without friends. I miss friends stopping by during the day, meeting us at the park, inviting us to supper. We made friends with 1 new family--fellow visitors at a local church, we connected quickly even though we are in different seasons of life. We went to their house for supper, and have had them here too, which was great. And we have randomly met neighbor kids outside, as well as invited a neighbor boy to play here or walk to the park with us. But so much is still missing of the rich, vibrant, and varied friendships we previously had. And as much as I am an introvert, there is something about regularly meeting up with friends that recharges me (maybe a big part is the grown-up conversation?!). I miss that. I need that. Being outside in fresh air with the quiet sounds of forests and fields does much to refresh my spirit, but I need people outside my immediate family to love and journey alongside of.
I have been reading Luke 6:27-54 in the Message the past few nights--I can't leave that chapter because I keep seeing new things in it. It convicted me to be the friend I want others to be to me... So the plan is to bake cookies this weekend and take them to neighbors on Saturday afternoon. I have had this idea for a long time but have not executed on it (I am much better at thinking of things than doing them, ha ha). It's time to put my money where my mouth is, so to speak, and to stop making excuses for why I don't do the things I want to do! Thanks for the self-pep talk. :)
I asked Matt what he wanted to write about work, and he said to say it is crazy and there's too much of it. :) He also misses his friends desperately. I think he really needs guys to tech out with too. On the flip side, it is nice to have him here for lunch everyday, and he is hoping to take on math and Bible teaching in the morning for the boys. That would be awesome for everyone.
The boys all like it here for different reasons, but miss their friends too. We have friends' and family Christmas photos up on our pantry door, and daily they stop by to point at them (and almost accidentally pull the photos off the wall...). We all miss you all!
I think that's it for today. Next time maybe I will write more about the boys individually. But for now, laundry is calling my name...
We are now in Louisville, Colorado, after 7 years in Mountain View, California. We felt God give us the ok to move after a tumultuous 2012 pushed us to re-evaluate our vision, priorities, and future lifestyle. So we followed the desire of our hearts & moved 1,400 miles to live near the Rocky Mountains in a smaller town with more space, slower lifestyle, and more affordable housing.
Leaving behind our friends and family was very hard. In fact, many days it is painful to be without community. We are being intentional about meeting new friends and getting plugged into a new church and homeschool group, but it takes time for new relationships to grow close. We are also trying to be intentional to stay in touch with our friends in Cali; hence this blog.
So these past few weeks we finally got back on a good schedule for life and school. I am able to cover everything, lesson plan ahead of time, and work in lots of outdoor "P.E.". We've gone for bike rides, met neighbors in the open space, gone to parks, met up with a homeschool group at a park, slid on ice on a lake, honked at geese, shoveled sidewalks, made a snowman, had snowball fights, climbed trees, swung on a homemade tire swing, found forts, examined melting snow water running down the street and built a dam... Lots of adventures for former city kids!
This has been my favorite part of living here: getting to re-create a lot of my childhood memories with the boys. I grew up on 18 acres of trees and fields outside a small town in Wisconsin, and my parents were firm believers in limiting our time inside watching TV and playing video games (in fact, Nintendo was banned from our house!). We were constantly outside exploring, making up pretend games, building "fires" (really just piles of sticks we pretended to light as we knew better than to create a real fire!), making forts, hunting with BB guns, ice skating, watching the valley flood in the springtime, etc. I loved it. So now it is much easier to share those things with the boys.
The hardest part of living here is being without friends. I miss friends stopping by during the day, meeting us at the park, inviting us to supper. We made friends with 1 new family--fellow visitors at a local church, we connected quickly even though we are in different seasons of life. We went to their house for supper, and have had them here too, which was great. And we have randomly met neighbor kids outside, as well as invited a neighbor boy to play here or walk to the park with us. But so much is still missing of the rich, vibrant, and varied friendships we previously had. And as much as I am an introvert, there is something about regularly meeting up with friends that recharges me (maybe a big part is the grown-up conversation?!). I miss that. I need that. Being outside in fresh air with the quiet sounds of forests and fields does much to refresh my spirit, but I need people outside my immediate family to love and journey alongside of.
I have been reading Luke 6:27-54 in the Message the past few nights--I can't leave that chapter because I keep seeing new things in it. It convicted me to be the friend I want others to be to me... So the plan is to bake cookies this weekend and take them to neighbors on Saturday afternoon. I have had this idea for a long time but have not executed on it (I am much better at thinking of things than doing them, ha ha). It's time to put my money where my mouth is, so to speak, and to stop making excuses for why I don't do the things I want to do! Thanks for the self-pep talk. :)
I asked Matt what he wanted to write about work, and he said to say it is crazy and there's too much of it. :) He also misses his friends desperately. I think he really needs guys to tech out with too. On the flip side, it is nice to have him here for lunch everyday, and he is hoping to take on math and Bible teaching in the morning for the boys. That would be awesome for everyone.
The boys all like it here for different reasons, but miss their friends too. We have friends' and family Christmas photos up on our pantry door, and daily they stop by to point at them (and almost accidentally pull the photos off the wall...). We all miss you all!
I think that's it for today. Next time maybe I will write more about the boys individually. But for now, laundry is calling my name...
Thursday, May 11, 2006
An update from Erin
Mark celebrates his 9-week birthday today--yay! Sorry we haven't written much at all. I've barely found time to upload photos to FlickR these past few weeks. I guess I owe a brief overview of the past 9 weeks.
We had some nursing struggles the first few weeks but with the help of excellent lactation consultants and the support of good friends from church, at around 4 weeks Mark started nursing correctly with some assistance. Now at 9 weeks we're doing much better. He is on a 3-3.5 hour schedule more or less--eat, wake time, diaper change, and naptime. Mommy often naps with him. He is sleeping 7-8 hours straight at night which is a MARVELOUS blessing. He has his 2-month checkup tomorrow and will start getting his vaccines (ouch).
Mark is now starting to smile back at you when you smile at him (and are about 6-8 inches from his face!). This is HUGE to us first-time parents. He also coos and makes "talking" sounds. I swear he even laughs/gurgles a bit when he's excited that you're excited that he's smiling. His most fun time is right after feeding--he moves into a "quiet alert" state where he smiles, coos, and is in a great mood. He also fills his diaper during that time!
Daddy went back to work after 4 weeks of paid paternity leave (yay for Microsoft!). Although that is an amazingly long leave in the corporate world, the time went too fast. And unfortunately some fires sprang up at work that caused a lack of progress on the next deadline, so when he came back no one had been able to do his work for him. Needless to say work has been a little hectic with trying to cram too much work into too little time. But Mark is always glad to see Daddy come home so he has someone new to smile at!
Well Mark just woke up from his nap and he sounds unhappy. I will try to write more again sometime soon!
We had some nursing struggles the first few weeks but with the help of excellent lactation consultants and the support of good friends from church, at around 4 weeks Mark started nursing correctly with some assistance. Now at 9 weeks we're doing much better. He is on a 3-3.5 hour schedule more or less--eat, wake time, diaper change, and naptime. Mommy often naps with him. He is sleeping 7-8 hours straight at night which is a MARVELOUS blessing. He has his 2-month checkup tomorrow and will start getting his vaccines (ouch).
Mark is now starting to smile back at you when you smile at him (and are about 6-8 inches from his face!). This is HUGE to us first-time parents. He also coos and makes "talking" sounds. I swear he even laughs/gurgles a bit when he's excited that you're excited that he's smiling. His most fun time is right after feeding--he moves into a "quiet alert" state where he smiles, coos, and is in a great mood. He also fills his diaper during that time!
Daddy went back to work after 4 weeks of paid paternity leave (yay for Microsoft!). Although that is an amazingly long leave in the corporate world, the time went too fast. And unfortunately some fires sprang up at work that caused a lack of progress on the next deadline, so when he came back no one had been able to do his work for him. Needless to say work has been a little hectic with trying to cram too much work into too little time. But Mark is always glad to see Daddy come home so he has someone new to smile at!
Well Mark just woke up from his nap and he sounds unhappy. I will try to write more again sometime soon!
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