July came and went with a bang befitting a fireworks display. In the course of that one short month I said 'See you on the flip side' to my brother-in-law, his wife, and their 3 children as they headed off to South Korea courtesy of Uncle Sam. I still miss them even with 
Facebook and Skype keeping us closer than we ever could have hoped for 10 years ago. Then 2 weeks later we packed up as much as we could fit into the Uhaul and moved to Indiana. Russ has a wonderful job now. He's so happy, so peaceful, knowing he's doing God's work where God willed him to be. It's an amazing thing to be living in the perfect will of God. We may still make mistakes, but there is a peace we have never felt before.
Our home is situated at the back of the church grounds. From our carport we can look out to see the beautiful church building. Russ has his own office where he can go and work on his schoolwork without interruption from the children (or at least a LOT less
interruption from the children). There is a large gymnasium where they can run around and be children, as long as there is no food being served! The members are so warm and friendly. It's like we've known them our whole lives. It's everything we could dream of and so much more. I just wish family wasn't an 11 hour drive away.Summer melted into Fall as Russ, the children and I tried to make a new schedule and get used to the new normal. It took me all fall to get used to having a church service at 8am. That's a little early in the day for me to be completely church presentable. I've learned to let go of a few vanities like makeup and jewelry in favor of 10 more minutes in my warm bed. School has gone well for Zach and Josh. Josh was placed into the High Ability Language Arts within a month or so and seems to love it. Zachary came home this Christmas break with a permission form to administer the SAGES Test for Giftedness on him in early January to place him into a similar High Ability group. Alex began preschool at the church, and he LOVES IT. It's just sometimes a challenge to get him off the computer and out the door. LOL!
Winter has been an adjustment for me so far. Snow here has been dustings. I'm used to Pennsylvania winters where they got a 12" snowfall already. We traveled back to PA for Christmas and we all enjoyed getting in the snow and having a snowball fight. My kids are pretty smart, they used the van as a bunker and Dad and I had a hard time getting to them without risking damage to the van. Christmas with family was a great time. I saw many of our family members, and several more friends. I even managed to surprise Russ with a brand new baton for Christmas among other little things.
All in all, I have to say that while it was a lot of change to take place all at once, it's all for the better, and I am very much looking forward to 2010. I'll have one son hit double digits, all my sons enter full time school, and hopefully pay off a few major headaches in the bill department. It's going to be a good year, because I know who holds me up.