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!