At Home in Oregon?

Next month it will be a year already since my husband pulled away with our 5th wheel to try out a job here in Salem Oregon. It has been about 7 months since the boys and I and all our belongings followed. I have had a tough time adjusting to this move and such a big change in my life that I was so comfortable with. SO much has changed since January and I am being blessed with a new comfort level here. I think I was holding on to the chance of going back "home" in California but I have to realize that Bryan's job with K & E Excavating is going good, he is kept plenty busy and enjoys it.

In January, we decided to join the church we have been attending called Court Street Christian Church and placed membership. I thought I would NEVER find a church that felt as good to me as Yucaipa Christian Church, especially after attending for 11 years, but God has showed me otherwise as He has with so many things. Connor and Brody really liked this church from the beginning which kept bringing us back and the girl that thought I would never find a new place to worship, attended only 3 other churches and services before going there! Jesus met me there and my relationship with Him is only growing stronger.

I was devestated at the thought of leaving my charter school and the things went with it. I was scared to be on my own homeschooling, but really it has worked out for the best. I am much more relaxed, but at the same time and am continuing to meet all my goals that I set up for our school time. We are having fun, and I feel more flexible to do what we need to do. (i.e. take a semester off of formal language arts to work on Connor's writing and spend 2 weeks on 1 science lesson because it was so fun!) I have met some homeschooling moms that have already given me great support, encouragement and ideas.

I found someone to cut my hair that I really like! Again, here is another place I am real loyal. For example in the past 14 years, 2 people have had that job consistently. I realized that I just can't take enough trips to California to keep having Jessica cut it and on a referral I tried someone new and was pleasantly surprised!

I am hardly using "Lola", my GPS, to navigate the streets of Salem anymore! I thought I would NEVER learn my way around here and everything seemed so foreign and difficult. But, that too is getting easier, better and more familiar.

The big news however is that we are buying a home here! Our lease is up at the end of May, so we had to make some decisions. It really doesn't make sense to keep renting, so we got a realtor and started looking around. There is a funny history here though, because before we knew we were moving, we tried so hard to buy a new home in California. It was so obvious to me later, why God was not answering that prayer at the time. We had officially put offers on 3 houses and none of them worked out for various reasons. So, we were a little nervous, but didn't have much of a choice with the time frame we are working on. We struggled with "city versus country living" and decided to try and get a little property if we could find what we wanted in the price range that worked for us. We both thought it would be great for the boys to have a place to explore, ride dirt bikes, play football, and maybe even get Brody a real sheep one day! Now is the time to do it if we could. Well, we found a great place that is just a wonderful piece of property, 3 acres total and it has a house that needs some work, and a barn that needs a lot, but we all liked it immediately! The house is in foreclosure so we were not optimistic about how this would go, since you hear so many horror stories, especially when you are looking for a house! Let's just say that within 2 weeks of putting in our first offer, signed agreement papers are back in the hands of the seller and we are moving forward with the loan process! It is so exciting, and scary at the same time. We are really trusting God since He has proved to us over and over that His timing is perfect. The last year and half of our lives is living proof of that!

So, yes, I have to say that as I sit here at the computer tonight...

I am feeling a little more "at home" in Oregon.