Grace, around.: So far, in Fredricksburg

We have dove in.

It took six long irritating hours to drive from Souderton to Fredrickburg, a trip that boasts four hours, if that, but plagued us with being stuck in five plus miles of stop-go traffic that followed an accident.

Our apartment is very close to everything...just a short highwayish drive away, which makes walking there harder. We are thankful that it is a reasonable distance from Ben's work.

Moving in took no time. Unpacking took a couple days (with small children, something that could take an hour would instead be a day's job, especially with no naps.)

Naisa seems to be transitioning well. It took a couple days of on and off crying for her to adjust. She has her Na-Na and her kitty and her teddy and her babies and her "odr" toys. So she's ok. But it took a lot of patience and yesterday we had a failed outing because she was too upset because I wouldn't let her climb the stairs of a Methodist church on the way to a place to throw the ball.

We successfully found a place to purchase a herd share just north west of Fredricksburg a little bit. We visited their farm on Labor day and it was a great, relaxed, fun visit. It's a (wonderful) mom, her husband, and three rambunctious boys, one of whom is Naisa's age and she, of course, had a blast. When Yonah needed to nurse while we were there, the husband said to me to "pick a couch" inside. It's wonderful to be around people who are so welcoming to nursing a baby. :)

Today was Ben's second day at Lifeway and he's getting the hang of it. I can tell he is energized by the challenge and the place, I think we are both energized by the transition. It feels like a honeymoon--that kind of excitement--the something-new joy... even though we have two little ones, one of which is a handful (now which one is that??). I think I like it because Ben has to get to bed at a a good time to get up in the morning, so we are more intentional with hanging out (whereas when we were at his parent's house on our "vacation" he would be researching Bible passages, and Greek words from Hebrews 12:17 and go to bed in the wee hours of the morning.)

We found a church we'll be attending while we are here, and are hoping to connect to a Life Group while we are here. It's called Calvary Chapel Fredricksburg. They preach line by line out of the Bible and have the nursery and nursing room right by the sanctuary (with a TV and speaker of the sermon!). We love it. And it's five minutes down the road (but everything is five minutes down the road.)

I have been able to start exercising with T-tapp while we were on our "vacation" and have continued to do it since we've been here. I'm looking forward to trying the longer workout. . . when the nap times allow. It has been helping my back pain that has ensued from nursing and and carrying around a 30lb two year old while having a baby in the carrier.

Almost all my attempts to organize have been cadoodled by my Naisa, who dumps over my recipe cards (organized by types of dish) and then gets upset about the mess, and throws all the books on the floor and rips pages (of already destroyed books) apart. Then she destroys more books, and INSISTS on having her ENTIRE basket full of toys in her Pack-n-Play for naptime (and then unloads them out of it before going to sleep. (It's another fun game for a toddler to play!) I have had success putting clothes into drawers (although I think she relocated some of Ben's socks), and managing the kitchen.

I will be chronically behind on dishes for the entire time we are here. There isn't a dishwasher.
Naisa has been eating much better while we were at Ben's parents house and now. The teething irritation must ahve subsided for awhile. Sometimes in the morning it takes her a little bit to get hungry.... and then she gets HANGRY, and I trip to pump as much nutrition into her smoothis as possible (think coconut oil and gelatin along with the milk and banana and strawberries.)

I try to prep dinner while the babies are sleeping so that I can just heat it up in the pot or in the oven once it's time to start. So far (as in, one night) this has worked. And we are getting plenty of practice nursing in the carrier out of pure necessity.)

So far, interactions with our landlady (who we see often because the business is below us and they bring their horse in and out) have been good, although she is very professional and you can tell she doesn't have children. We got internet today, which is a blessing, not having to count MB.

When the internet guy came, we had a discussion about Christianity in the American church, and I encouraged him to attend church, because he said he hadn't been in awhile, but because he had a kid (or more, don't know) that he wanted to start going again. I talked to him about the church we had gone to, and also recommended a couple pastors to listen to online (Skip Heitzig and Frances Chan).

So, without further ado, some pictures from a five minute window of my day.