Time Flies

Time seems to be passing so quickly right now. I don't realize how long it has been since I've posted until I look at the date. Most of our time has been getting settled into our new apartment, unpacking, and shopping. I am happy to say I only have 3 boxes left to unpack and it is mostly just filled with pictures. Hopefully, this weekend Dwayne and I will buckle down and take the time to get all our pictures up. I still have a counter full of misc stuff and papers I need to go through and either get rid of it or find a home for it. Because this place is so much smaller, I'm going to have to work really hard to keep the clutter down. I can't just set it aside to deal with later because I'm going to need that space for something.

I'm very grateful to say that we have already found a church that we are comfortable with and are attending regularly. We visited one just down the road from us the first weekend we were here. As I was glancing through the bulliten I noticed that they were having a newcomers dinner that very night. After talking to Dwayne we decided to go ahead and attend because what better way to find out about the church? After meeting some of the pastors and listening to the reasons why they do some of the things they do we decided we were comfortable enough to just sign our names as members. I really feel like it was God's hand at work because I really wanted to make connections quickly since I'm so far away from my friends and family. It is a HUGE church. Every weekend regularly has 3000-4000 attendees between 4 services. Dwayne has a huge heart and loves working with children so he is planning on volunteering for the children's ministry. I just don't feel the calling to do that. I never have. Luckily, they have a fairly large bookstore and coffee shop and I will be attending some training this weekend to start volunteering my time there. It will be so great to continue utilizing the skills and knowledge I picked up while working at the Christian bookstore in Washington.

We've already toured the town pretty good and checked out the local library. We received our tax refund last Friday so this past weekend Dwayne took Friday off and we finished getting things done with the cars like registration and new license plates. We also took the time to upgrade and transfer our cell phone service. So it's official now we have Colorado driver's licenses, registrations, phone numbers and Colorado license plates. Does that mean we are Coloradans (sp?) now? Friday evening we went shopping for a new TV. We finally have a tv that doesn't have lots of lines running down it. The picture quality is so much better. Saturday we went and got the brakes done on the van and went to look at mattresses. Dwayne has been complaining about our mattress for quite a while. We went to only "look" but I knew we would be financing and buying a new bed. That was my Valentine's gift to him. With his new raise, I was able to justify doing that for him. The mattress was delivered on Monday and we are so enjoying having a good night's sleep with actual back support. In just the few night's we've slept on it his snoring has reduced tremendously as well.

Sunday morning, Dwayne gave me the morning alone. I took the time to go do some serious shopping. I decided to get some new bedding to go with our new bed. Our quilt was looking pretty raggedy and literally just falling apart. Because I was alone I was able to take over an hour just going through all the different bedding options and really take my time. It was wonderful! I also was supposed to go shoe shopping. I didn't find any I really liked but was very excited to find a really nice pair of waterproof winter boots for only $12. They are nice enough that I can get away with wearing them with my every day clothes too if the weather requires it.

I also went ahead and purchased Sam's preschool program this past weekend. I'm pretty excited to start working with him a little and I'm sure Evie will be tagging right along. In fact, the FedEx guy just delivered it so I'm going to dive into all our new books as soon as I'm done with this post. As you can see, we are keeping ourselves busy and trying really hard to lay down roots quickly. So far, we are really loving it here. I didn't think I would feel so comfortable so quickly. People have been so nice and welcoming. It is weird having so much sunshine. I see the sun and think it is going to be warm but one step outside and its a little chilly. I also miss the trees. I feel very exposed here but I'm sure I'll get used to that. I miss my family, of course, but it isn't as bad as I imagined it would be. The hardest part is having Sam and Evie ask to go to Grandma's house and having to explain that we can't because it is too far away. I don't think they really understand. Overall, we are good though and I'm glad the move is done. I hope Dwayne's job stays stable for a while now. I really don't want to do this again anytime soon. Besides, I'm liking it here. :)