The holidays are upon us

The holiday season is in full swing! And so is all of the busyness and loveliness that it brings. We decorated our apartment yesterday (with 69 degree weather outside, if you can believe it!). We decided to forgo a Christmas tree this year, but you hardly notice with all the lights and glitter and stockings and such we put up. It makes it feel so cheerful and peaceful. I wish it was acceptable to keep these decorations up all year long...

Andy and I were so blessed to be able to visit Wisconsin for 10 days over Thanksgiving, and what a blessing it was, especially in this season of thankfulness. I have such wonderful family and friends. We were able to spend time with both Andy's and my families, friends from high school, college, former coworkers, and many of our Neenah friends. Lots of good conversations and laughing so hard my stomach hurt! I love this quote:

 I’ve just been feeling so grateful for where God has brought us in life. We’ve had so many transitions in our lives in the last 5-10 years and have made lifelong friendships at each stage. I’m thankful that I can live in another state 400 miles away from “home” and still feel so loved and cared for.  It’s not always easy, that’s for sure. I do miss everyone dearly. Visiting home was so good but also a reminder that we had a wonderful life built in Wisconsin that we were uprooted from. 

But I’m learning that being forced out of my comfort zone is just about the only way I will ever leave it! And change can be good. It’s so true that we have a hard time realizing our dependency on God until circumstances occur that force us to rely on His provision. And God has been so faithful in providing us exactly what we need. We have really started to feel comfortable with our church and new friends here. And we know from experience that sometimes that can take a long time to happen, so praise God that He has allowed us to fit in so quickly. And it's been so fun to have time for just me and Andy too. We've been enjoying regular sushi or coffee dates, as well frequenting the farmers market for local foods and trying out new produce (including every variety of squash we can get our hands on, golden beets, and watermelon radishes--which I highly recommend!).

Oscar is doing well too, he’s come a long way from when we got him, he appears to like us and like living with us. He got to come with us to Wisconsin and got spoiled by being petted and snuggled by all sorts of people. We took him to the groomer yesterday for the first time, and he seems slightly traumatized by the experience (he'll bounce back, I'm sure! :) Also the Badgers are in the Rose Bowl and the Packers are doing well, so at this current time, all is well in the football world! (now my fantasy football team is another story…)

So we’re back in Des Moines for about 3 weeks before heading back to Wisconsin for Christmas!

My two cents on politics and the election

I typically refrain from any sort of political posts, but I’ll throw this in. I am so blessed to live in a two party democracy. I strongly support a particular political party. I believe in the direction this party wants the country to go. I believe this party’s values align most closely with mine. That being said, I think that members of my party sometimes say and do stupid things. And my political party holds views on certain issues that I strongly disagree with. But overall, this is the party that I support.

Even still, I do not think everyone should feel the same way as me. I think a two party system is healthy. It keeps any particular viewpoint from being too extreme. It keeps power in check, as the founding fathers hoped. Theoretically it should lead to compromise (although lately it seems politicians have lost this ability and instead settle for deadlock, but I digress). The very nature of a two party system is that there will be two opposing views. And that is good. That is the point of a democracy. I have my political views, but I’m so glad that that many people have different views. I’m so glad we were all created uniquely, with different views and experiences. Diversity in person and diversity in opinion is how God created us, and it’s beautiful.

We should welcome the opportunity to hear other people’s views, and be accepting, not judgmental. I’ll be the first to admit, when I hear comments or read Facebook statuses that I strongly disagree with, I can be the first to judge.  I admit I often need to keep an open mind and welcome other people’s opinions. I hope we all strive to be welcoming of people with different ideas, and not look down on those of the ”other” political party. Healthy discussion of opposing opinions, different ideas on issues, and friendly, open minded debate is healthy.  Being judgmental, close minded, or offensive is not. I’m so blessed to live in a country where we have a right to a vote. The right to vote represents so much more than just checking a box, and those all over the world would love to have the freedoms we do. This morning I am grateful that we all have the right to vote, both republicans and democrats.

I don’t think God is a democrat, I don’t think God is a republican. Before the election, I prayed for God to guide each American in voting as He wanted them too, believing that this would look different for every person. I have to remember that government is only our human way of dealing with an imperfect society.  I have to remember that American politics and government and laws are temporary. Our God is eternal. I need to remember what is important, and what is really worth my passion and energy. No matter who is president, Jesus is Lord.

My favorite image of the election:

 

Alright, thanks for hearing me out, friends, and that's all the public political discussion you'll hear from me! I think we can all unite on the fact that the election is over with, as are the political ads and phone calls :)  Have a good week!

Two months in!

We are continuing to feel more and more comfortable in Des Moines. Nothing too new or exciting going on here, but we’re definitely adjusting and finding our routine. We’ve starting having fun with some of the new people we've met and getting involved in our church. I’m already feeling pretty familiar and comfortable with my job. Not only is it, of course, fantastic working part time, but I’ve been getting to know the kids I’m working with, which makes things a lot easier and more fun. I get to do all kinds of little games and projects with them, which I think is a blast. And these sweet kids struggle with so many things that come easy to most other kids their age, so I find myself determined to help them learn and grow and accomplish their goals. Andy’s been doing a little traveling for work lately, right now he’s in Chicago for a few days, and last week he was fortunate to be able to travel back to Wisconsin. I’m a little jealous he got to spend time with family and friends, and even meet our friends’ new little baby, but we will be back soon enough. We’ve got a week off after Thanksgiving, and I cannot wait to see everyone again!

Yesterday was a big day for us, we woke up early and ran the Susan G. Komen Race for a Cure, and then voted. We were happy to get voting done with since we weren’t sure how smooth things would go with needing re-register and all. But we’re so blessed in this country to have a right to a voice and opinion through our vote, so we would happily and eagerly do what it takes to make our vote count. And then probably most exciting for us, we finally got out couch delivered yesterday! I hope it will be a long time before I have to sit on a camping chair again! I know it’s just a couch, not THAT exciting, but when you haven’t sat on a couch in almost 2 months, trust me, it is that exciting. It’s amazing the things you take for granted, huh? We had a fun movie night and got sushi takeout spent the evening relaxing.

Oscar’s been doing great with adjusting to his new home! We have so much fun with him and he is just so funny and sweet and snuggly. He is such an easy dog to have, really does not cause any trouble other than a few minor accidents. He does much better with being left alone, still a little whining, but this has gotten much better and I think he’s realizing that we always do come back.

I’ve been feeling very blessed with this change. It has not been easy, but Andy and I have had much needed downtime together, just the two of us. Life gets crazy, and this has given us a chance to just relax and have fun together and enjoy each others company.

Welcome Oscar!

Seems like a lot happens in a short amount of time lately. We’re still working on settling into our new home and city. I started working at my new job last week. I work for Child Serve, an organization that has programs for children with serious health conditions. The specific program that I work for is a day health program, which is similar to a day-care/after school program except it’s for kids who’s health keep them from participating in regular school or day care. I work in a classroom for middle/high school kids, help them work on their individual goals as well as activities, playing, feeding, just generally taking care of them. They’re such neat kids. I’m still very new and have a lot to learn, but they’re a lot of fun.

We’ve also decided on a church that we plan to attend and get involved in. What we like most is that it was very welcoming and has lots of opportunities to get involved and meet people. They have groups based on "life stages" like the church we attended in Neenah, so we’re thankful for an answer to prayers.

And, we adopted a dog! His name is Oscar, he’s around 2 years old, and he is a rescue dog. The shelter workers thought he was a cocker spaniel/poodle mix, but after looking at pictures and learning about different breeds, we think he seems more like a schnauzer/poodle (or a schnoodle!). However neither breed explains his adorable curly pig tail, so he really is a mix!

He is literally the cuddliest, friendliest dog I have ever met. The minute we sit down, there he is making himself right at home on our laps.  That’s his favorite place to nap as well (he’s napping in my lap as I type this).

(typical....)

(drying off after his bath)

(helping me make the bed)

His second favorite thing besides human contact is anything soft to lie on. I swear he can sense there is a blanket on the ground from a different room and makes a beeline for it. All together he’s just so sweet and has perfected the puppy dog eyes that melt us.

His adoration for human contact and attention definitely has its downside. He was found by animal control as a stray with another friend-dog. They brought them to a pound, then the shelter, then a foster home, then his friend was adopted and moved out, and then he moved in with us. Needless to say he’s had a lot of transitions in just a matter of weeks. He does not let us out of his sight. When we first brought him home he didn’t even want to eat or drink because that would involve not being able to see us for a few seconds. Now he doesn’t have a problem eating, and is slowly doing better when we take a shower or go to the bathroom, although he still follows me around the apartment everywhere I go. He still hates being left alone, and will cry and whine loudly when we leave him to go to work or the store. He also does not really play yet, and does not like treats (though he does like hot dogs). We’re told this should all continue to improve as he gets used to his new home and family, but it will take him awhile to really feel secure and believe that we won’t leave him. He's not one for mischief, no chewing or destroying or really barking at all. He does need work on his house training, but this hasn’t been much of a problem yet, we’ve been able to keep on top of it. He doesn't shed much at all, which is great. When they found him, his hair was so long and matted down that they had to cut him very short. Here's a picture the shelter took before they shaved him, he looks like a totally different dog!

So he’s got some challenges but he is so sweet and just loves to be near us, and it’s so fun to watch him get more and more comfortable and improve each day. We also happen to think he’s just the cutest and gives us hilarious looks and makes us laugh constantly. He’s great company, and we’re so happy to have this new family member of ours!

Settling In

Well, we are finally in our new home with all our stuff! It feels really good to actually be at a permanent residence after being a bit of a nomad for a few weeks. We stayed at a hotel in Des Moines last week for a couple of days until the movers arrived Friday afternoon and got all of our stuff PILED in the apartment (they did not seem to appreciate that our apartment is on the third floor with no elevator…). We got right to work unpacking and it’s starting to feel like home. Still a long way to go with unpacking/organizing/wandering around our small apartment hoping a new place to put things magically appears…

 

  In between the moving/unpacking we’ve been getting more familiar with our new city. We already feel like we have a pretty good handle on getting around and knowing where everything is that we need to find. I am continually amazed by how incredibly easy it is to get around Des Moines and how well the traffic moves. It’s as if the highways and streets are actually designed to hold the flow of traffic! 

We’ve gone out to a couple of restaurants, including watching the Packers beat the Bears at a really neat sports bar downtown, which, of course, was a blast. It was quite odd to watch the Packer game in a public place where not EVERYONE was cheering passionately for the Packers. We woke up early on Saturday and got out to the farmers market here, which is incredible! It’s so big and has really great farmers and food. We came home with a ton a vegetables, as well as our first whole roasting chicken, which was an adventure to figure out how to, um, clean, and roast. But it turned out delicious! We visited a church nearby on Sunday, which seems pretty great. We have one or two more we want to check out, and are just praying that God has a home church prepared for us to be a part of while in Des Moines. 

 

 Another small challenge is that we decided before moving here to buy a couch, so we did not bring much for furniture along with us. It was very exciting to order our first couch this weekend! However it takes 6 weeks to come in…which leaves us lounging on camping chairs in our living room for the next month and a half. :)

So all and all, we’re starting to feel pretty comfortable here. We are missing our friends and family and home dearly, but God has really given us a sense of contentment. We truly do feel blessed by His provision and care and concern for us. We’re constantly reminded that this is all a part of His great plan for our lives, and take joy in that realization. Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes!