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...
