Thoughts

Here I am, sitting in a beautiful home looking at beautiful trees with Christmas warmth all around me, and I feel like it's time to get back to recording our lives. I have been doing some personal journaling to work out some of the challenges of the past months, but I think it's time to start documenting my observations about life and the details of our current situation. However, I am sad that I haven't been able to figure out how to get access to my pictures yet.  Something has happened to my external hard drive during the move and all my pictures are stored on the external hard drive - older pictures are also on a new server but I haven't figured out how to access them there either. This is obviously a pretty big problem which I'm choosing to not panic about right now. I'm pretty good about problem solving minor computer issues, so I figure that when I find time to address my picture retrieval, I will be successful. In the meantime, pictures are sitting on my phone since June.  They haven't been uploaded, sorted, edited, organized, etc. I was already so behind on documenting past years while still staying current with family history, and now I will probably never catch up. But I have to be OK with that.

Where we are

We are in a lovely rental home at the end of a cul-de-sac which looks out on beautiful trees and a mountain, but unfortunately also is really close to neighbors on two sides. But, luckily we really like our neighbors, and they have been very friendly. We are even part of a neighborhood couples book group starting in January. And, we actually really love the layout of the home and would gladly buy/build one like this. We love having an extra shower on the main level (along with a guest bedroom), which makes it much easier to entertain guests. It has been good to live in a newer home so we can see which features we like and are worth it to us. We are watching the Seattle real estate market closely, hoping for further dips in the prices of homes. Prices were already high after the market rebound in the past 5 years, but have increased 20 percent each of the past two years. There seems to be some softening, and we want in on that. We are looking at possibly building a home but haven't found the right confluence of neighborhood, floor plan, and price point. We would probably prefer an existing home which is only a few years old, but those are very hard to find in North Bend.

The reality

Our lives were pretty disrupted this last summer, in every conceivable way. We are still trying to figure things out, but we are making progress. The most important thing is that we are all a family and we love each other. I think today I'm going to document some of the good things I am noticing.

The good things about now

• Dan's commute isn't bad at all, and that's amazing given the normally crazy Seattle traffic. It takes him about 25-30 minutes to get to work along beautiful I-90. For that fact alone, we definitely feel like we have landed in the right place. 
• Dan's job is going so amazingly well. He literally gets glowing praise almost every day, and he feels like he is able to make a big difference in improving the company, and he loves that. 
• After a slow start in our new ward, we are finding our place. There aren't many boys Joseph's age, and that is a concern, but he is liking it more every week and a new boy his age just moved in. Dan and I have met many nice new people but haven't found good friends yet. That takes time. I found a book club and I'm trying to make it work. I miss the energy and friendship of my last book club.
• It's really beautiful here. Our little small town is mostly charming and it doesn't take too long to get to a decent store (in Issaquah).
• It feels very good to be settled, after a summer of physically moving around. After finding out we were moving and two crazy weeks of preparing our house for sale, we bounced between two different friend's houses and hotels until the end of September. After a painful few weeks of unpacking and figuring out the rental home, our home now eels organized and serene. Because we aren't supposed to hang pictures on the walls of the rental house (and the house has so many windows that there aren't all that many places which look empty anyway), our home setup is very simple. We left lots of things in boxes, which we have organized in the garage and the storage rooms in the house. I like living with less. I like simplicity. 
• It is really strange to only have one child at home, and we really miss having the older kids around, but our lives are definitely simpler since we only have Joseph to focus on. We have been able to help him find some talents to explore, and he recently started guitar lessons and soon will start snowboard lessons (we are only 20 minutes from the ski resort!).
• Joseph and I have settled into our homeschooling routine. He is a smart cookie, and he picks up on things quickly. I am enjoying learning with him, especially the World History class he is taking. We usually snuggle on the couch under blankets and read the new material together. I am learning lots of  new things, and I love to learn (especially history!). I am also having to re-learn Algebra, which hasn't been as easy or fun for me, but it does feel good to conquer it and see him learn. Recently Joseph's science class was learning fundamental Chemistry, and I was great at helping him with that, because I like Chemistry. Now he is in Physics, and I am handicapped by the fact that I never took Physics. But, we are learning together (with the help of online classes he attends 3-4 days a week), and that has been a good experience. I am grateful that we have this respite year to create a peaceful environment in which Joseph can learn and get acclimated.
• After a summer of not having time to read my own books, I have started reading again, and I have the local library app system totally figured out. 
• In a few weeks two of the older kids come home for Christmas, and I can't wait to watch Hallmark movies with Bailey and Aubrey and do all the family Christmas things together. I have the Christmas books spread out in front of the tree, and I look forward to my favorite tradition, reading a book together every night. After Christmas, Bailey's very nice boyfriend comes for 5 days. We can't wait to get to know him better.

That's all for now. I'll be back with more thoughts, and maybe eventually I'll find some pictures.