Back to School and Still Home Searching

We moved into a townhouse on a month-to-month rental while we continue to house hunt.  We’re desperately trying not to unpack boxes other than the essentials.  And yet still trying to unpack enough to feel like we’re not just in a hotel.  The kids are enjoying the townhouse and having their own space.  We’ve got a nice dry basement here that we’ve put a few rugs down in and moved all their toys, including their bikes into.  They’ve been having a blast playing down there.

In the meantime, it’s back to school for me.  I just finished teaching my first week of the new school year.  I have a five-day-per-week course load this semester.  Most other semesters, I’ve only taught on MWF.  But this semester I’ve got three classes on TR and two on MWF.  Four is our full load, but I picked up an extra course for the semester… we’ll take the overload (i.e., overtime) pay.

Startup is always busy, so I don’t feel very settled.  Our to-do list seems always longer than our available time or energy.  Energy is the key thing right now.  We put the kids to bed at 8pm and we’re ready to sleep ourselves. I can’t believe I’m up writing this update after midnight, but I wanted to post something of an update since it’s been a while.

Melodia’s brother has been deployed and is serving overseas now in a hotzone.  His name is Israel, so please add him to your prayer list.  Wil and McKinley have been beautiful praying for their Tio while he’s away.  The other night Wil prayed, “Help Tio not to be scared, and help him to come home safe.”  It’s hard not break down a little listening to this 4-year-old pray sometimes.  We miss Tio dearly, and think of him every day during this time.  Lord, keep him safe.

Melodia is back at it, homeschooling Wil and McKinley.  They love being in “school” every day.  She’s been adding to her curriculum purchases, and has one of the townhouse rooms set up as the school room. In addition, we’ve bought some Spanish curriculum to try to help them maintain some of their heritage.

Speaking of heritage, today we had our friends, The Ottos, over.  Keith and Cheryl have 5 kids.  We enjoy getting together with them.  We had a tea set that we bought for their oldest daughter at a recent garage sale.  It was a fun find, and I’d been searching for a tea set for her for over a month.  Found a Noritake set, dated between 1914 and 1940, a cup, saucer, and dessert plate. It has a beautiful green band around the rim, and some extensive gold work on it.  Some internet research probably puts it at a value of $50 to $175.  Not that we were in it for value – we bought it to give away.  And we got it for a steal, $5.  But for their daughter, Kara, it was priceless.  Feels so good to give something to someone.  But I departed from my earlier segway… speaking of heritage… Melodia prepared Ensalada de Bacalao for the Ottos. Yummy stuff.  She needs to make that more.  In fact, we’re hoping to have more Puerto Rican dishes cooked around here in the future.  It’s been hard at times, and we’re both often tired, but we’re recognizing that need in ourselves a little more these days.

And finally, Izzabelle is walking. She’d made her first couple of steps a few weeks ago, just after her first birthday. She does pretty good now, splitting her time about 50-50 maybe 60-40 between walking and crawling.  She seems to love walking. It’s great to see.

I teach tomorrow. I need to cut it short.  Hope this update finds everyone well.