Brown County

 

Last weekend Joel and I went with my parents and brother to Brown County State Park in Nashville, Indiana. My parents have been going there for 27 years and we have been joining them for the past 9 years. It is such a fun weekend filled with great food, beautiful fall colors, lots of shopping (golfing for the guys) and wonderful memories!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Yikes...I'm slacking!

Wow! I can't believe that it has been so long since I have written on here. Here's a quick run down what what has been going on for us the past 6 weeks:

1. We closed on the house and got all moved in. We LOVE having a house!! It has been so fun to do little projects around the house and it is starting to really feel like our HOME now. I have been really impressed by how handy my husband is. So far he has installed new smoke detectors, hung a new rod in closet for my clothes (we got the heavy duty one...especially now that I work in retail), and he ran cable from the attic to one of the upstairs bedrooms! And he is still working like crazy at the hospital too. We have also painted the bathroom, repainted the shutters on the front of the house, and changed lighting fixtures inside the house. Joel and his dad also built a workbench in the basement. So you can see, we've been busy around the house...but we wouldn't trade it for anything! :)
2. I've been working more hours at the Loft so that has been keeping me busy. I am really enjoying the "easiness" of the retail world but I am starting to think about what I am going to do next year. I am constantly toying with the idea of going to grad school for counseling or going back to teaching. My thoughts about this change daily and I really have no idea what I'm going to do.
3. We have found a church that we absolutely love and have started to get involved there. We have both joined small groups and I am also doing a bible study. This is totally new for me, but it is a good change and something that we have both felt like we were missing in our lives. We have also made a lot of friends through church and everyone has been so welcoming.
4. We have been keeping busy with friends and have enjoyed several nights of dinner and football with one of Joel's fellow resident and his family. They have a 2 year old and needless to say we only have Winston. Good thing our dog is spoiled and has tons of toys that can also keep a toddler busy.
Hopefully within the next few weeks we will get the office, basement, and attic organized. We also have a few trips planned that we are really excited for. Later this month we are going to Brown County (in southern Indiana) with my family for a few days. This has been a tradition that my parents have done for 27ish years. I really love this weekend because it reminds me so much of my Uncle Jerry (I can't believe that it has been 3 years since he passed away...I miss him daily) and we always have so much fun. We are also heading to Orlando in November with my parents (and maybe brother). Joel has his first week of vacation in November and we are really looking forward to some warm weather. I'm sure he is looking forward to not being at the hospital. So far life is good in Peoria. It's not Kansas city, but it is slowly but surely becoming home.

House Update:

So far everything is coming along with the house and we are still scheduled to close on August 17th! All of our inspections have come back and everything seems to be on track. I will post more pictures once we finally move in but for now here are a few!

The front of the house.

The back of the house. Not much yard to mow. :)

We're pending...almost there!

Reality is setting in.

Well we have been in Peoria for a little over a month now and it is starting to finally set in that this is our new "home". Up until now it has kind of felt like I was on vacation and that we would head back to Kansas City any day now so that I could start getting my classroom ready for the fall. It really hit me today when I talked with some of my "teacher friends" from KC and they were all at a summer retreat meeting. It's funny because I always hated going to this meeting because it meant that summer was almost over and school was about to start. I never imagined that I would one day miss this meeting! I really miss the people that I taught with and know that this fall will feel a little different because I won't be at school with them. I am so blessed for the friendships and bonds that we built over the past 3 years and I know that they will continue in the future. Sometime the present reality is a hard thing to swallow, but I am a strong believer that everything happens for a reason.

Finally...a "good" weekend!

This weekend is finally Joel's "good" weekend. For those of you that aren't familiar with a resident's schedule let me explain. Residents get a total of 4 days off a month. Here is what Joel's first month looked like: The first weekend in July he had Sunday off. The next weekend he worked Saturday and Sunday (this is know as the "bad" weekend). The next weekend he had Saturday off and then finally the last weekend (this weekend) he has both Saturday AND Sunday off. Hence the name of the "good" weekend. I am really excited to get to spend some quality time with him, but I am sure that he will want to catch up on some much needed sleep. Right now our weekend plan is to take it easy! Sunday we are possibly going to go to a Chiefs game. For all of my Kansas City friends sadly we won't be in KC watching a real Chiefs game. Peoria has minor league baseball team named the Chiefs. The weather is supposed to be beautiful so it should be the perfect day to head to the ballpark! Yeah for good weekends!!!

What did I just get myself into?

Right now this question can be applied to may different things in my life. Here are a few:

• Blogging: I love reading blogs but I have never been courageous enough to start one of my own. However, now that we have moved I thought that it would be a great way for old friends to keep up with us and for new friends to get to know us better! Bear with me during these first few posts. I can only get better with time...right?!
• Moving: Ah the joys of moving to a new city. You would think that I am a pro at moving by now since we have moved to 3 new cities (Indianapolis, Kansas City, and now Peoria) in the past 5 year, but I'm still not a fan of the whole "moving process". I have been blessed with amazing friends in each of the places that we have lived and it never gets easier to say good-bye to those people that have been such an important part of your life. I hope and pray that even through the day-to-day chaos that life brings I am able to maintain the friendships with those that we have moved away from.
• Residency: We are now 16 days into residency and I think that I have seen Joel for about a total of 20 hours during those past few weeks. I'm sure that it is more than that, but sometimes it feels like I never see him. We are starting to adjust to his schedule but it will change next month and that will mean more adjusting. Overall it has been a smooth transition for us and I think that he is truly enjoying being a doctor. I am constantly blown away by how much he knows. I am also amazed by his passion for learning and his constant quest be become a better/smarter doctor not only for himself but for the patients that he is working for. I am sure that there are bound to be more posts about this 5 year long journey so stay tuned!
• Buying a House: I am so excited about the purchase of our first home, but I am also extremely scared and nervous. With Joel spending so much time at the hospital a lot of responsibility will be falling on me. I am starting to realize that I am stronger than I ever knew and I am capable of so much more that I sometimes give myself credit for. Home ownership is something that we have wanted for so long and we are so thankful and excited that our dream is finally coming true!

So here it is...my first post!