Observations

Living in New Orleans again reminds me how different it is from any other city. When you grow up here, many of the idiosyncrasies of the city are just normal. But when you’re older and visit and live in other places, you realized that they aren’t “normal.” These aren’t necessarily bad things. So living here again has reminded Damien and me of many of the quirks in this interesting city. I wanted to write some down before I forgot them:

1. Thunder Storms – No place I’ve lived has thunder storms like we have here. Lots of thunder and lightening and poring rain. Orin is now very scared of thunder!
2. Smell of grass – I love the smell of newly cut grass. There is always a plethora of that since you have to cut the grass at least once a week since it grows so fast here.
3. People riding in the back of trucks – I NEVER see that in VA
4. Children in cars without being strapped into a car seat or seat belt – never see that either!
5. Parents bringing their young children (I mean like 5-10yrs. old) in PG-13 and R rated movies at 10 o’clock at night. Oh, and people talking in movies.
6. Water, water, everywhere. Not as much of a surprise for me, but Orin is always pointing out the canals when we’re driving. I remember as a kid when I realized that it’s actually unusual to have canals everywhere. I just thought it was a normal part of a city.
7. Dogs barking in the backyard. Damien noticed this as jogs around town. He said he rarely hears this as he jogs in other places.
8. Guys coming up to me in random places (gas stations, stores, etc…) and starting a conversation – sometimes asking for my phone number. That hasn’t happened in a LONG time but it’s happened multiple times since we’ve been back here.
9. Bumpy Roads (and sidewalks) – actually, bumpy roads is an understatement. New Orleans is notorious for that!

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What We've Been Up To...

I can't believe how much less I've been blogging in the past two months. I think there are two reasons for it. First, a lot of the reason I blog is so that my family can keep up with what has been going on with us. Instead of having to communicate with a bunch of different people, I can just post in one spot and everyone can keep up. I think the other reason is that I've been scrapbooking like crazy. Well, "like crazy" is sort of relative. Seeing that I haven't scrapbooked in about 18 months (I just couldn't stand to pick anything up in our small dwellings in VA), doing it three or more times a weeks is a lot. It's been really nice. My main goal is to tackle Orin's and Micaiah's baby books (of their first year). I obviously was really behind. When Orin was a baby I was working on getting caught up on my family album. I did right about the time we moved. I have a feeling I'm not going to get both books done before we move. I'm REALLY slow! I think because it's their baby books, I want it to be really nice. So it takes me an hour (or more) to do a page. So my goal now is to get Orin's done. Once I finish their baby books, I'm going to do the rest online (probably using the Creative Memories software). I think it will just be so much fast for me...plus no cutting, sticking, etc... sounds great too. So, all of this to say, I've been spending a lot less time on the blog. Oh well, I guess I'll get back to it once we're in Dallas.

So what else has been going on? Well, I try to remember everything...

1. Orin is definitely completely potty trained. I'm so glad we had such a great experience. We've taken two long car trips lately and he's done great. No accidents and we didn't have to stop every hour. :-) He even got his first experience of stopping on the side of the interstate and peeing out of the van.

2. Our financial support is at 95%. If feels like we've been "so close" for a while now. It's exciting that we're almost there, but then again, it could take a few more months to get to 100%. I just think sometimes how happy I am that it's not a year ago when we were only at about 35%.

3. We took two trips to Pensacola in the past month. The first just to visit Aaron (my brother) who has lived there for the past six months. He was training to be a Naval Flight Surgeon. We went to the beach which wasn't the best experience. The waves and undertow were VERY strong and both kids were scared right when we stepped out. It was also pretty jammed packed with people. The second trip was last weekend when we went for his graduation from the training. The ceremony was held at this great aviation museum on the base. The best part of the museum was that there were a bunch of old jets and helicopter cockpits that the kids to get in. Orin especially loved playing with all of the buttons and pretending he was really flying. We went to the beach again but this time we went to the beach on the base which is on the bay. It was wonderful - very few people; no undertow; clear water. Aaron had his catamaran so we all got a chance to go sailing.

4. Last week we drove to Dallas. It's about an 8 hour drive. The kids did really well. Of course, it helps that we have a portable DVD player that we set up for long drives. We stayed at the guest house on the center. Orin loves staying in "hotels". Our main goal was to decide where we'll stay as well as to meet some people who work there. We decided that for the first few months we'll stay on the center. We have a three bedroom apartment that is just steps from the building Damien will work in. During the first few months we'll try to decide where we'll live permanently - well, at least for a couple of years before we go overseas. I'm so excited to be living on the center. Since I won't have an assignment myself, I think I'll be able to meet more people and feel a little more involved by being right there. There is a children's activity center right there as well. The best part is that if I need to leave the kids for a few hours I can just d drop them off! They also have a preschool that we may let Orin attend two days a week next fall. I'm sure he'd love it. While we were there we were able to have dinner with three other families. It was great to connect with some people as well as hear experiences from these seasoned missionaries. Damien was able to attend a meeting in his future office and get a little better idea of what he'll be working on. We're just really excited to being! Our lease begins August 15 so hopefully we'll be there!

5. Next January will be Damien and my 10th anniversary. Since we'll have just taken our assignment a few months before, we figured a "second honeymoon" was probably out of the question. So we decided that we'll take a trip this summer - alone! The first one since we had kids. Being that we're already in New Orleans with family who are happy to take care of our kids (or so they say) for a few days is a great incentive to go now as well. We decided to go to Jamaica. We started looking around to decide where to go and that seemed to be one of the most affordable. We're really looking forward to it in July.

6. Aunt Christina and Uncle Rob are coming back from the Philippines next Saturday. Orin can't wait. He keeps talking about it. He says, "We're going to pick Aunt Christina and Uncle Rob up at the airport - and I'm going to be HAPPY!"

5. For Memorial Day weekend we decided at the last minute to go camping. Damien remembered a place he went as a child called, "Land 'O Pines." We drove up on Sunday evening. It was a blast. We had a fire and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. It was Orin and Micaiah's first time sleeping in tents. They did a pretty good job - although Orin got the gold star for waking up the earliest - 6:15am! :-( There was this great creek/river with a sandy beach and clear water. It was shallow so the kids to walk along without problem. At one point Damien and Orin went "on an adventure" for over an hour! The went downstream quite a ways. In the afternoon we went to the pool - more fun! It was a great Memorial Day.

7. Well, I'm sure there is much more that is going on...I just can't think of it right now. I'll have to make another list later. I'll also try to post some pictures of the last few weeks' activities soon.

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