These days

God is taking good care of us, providing us with all we need.  We feel like the days are FULL and we have a lot of balls in the air w/ the semester starting for Luke and for me and the kids, house repairs, yard work for Luke (3 hours/week!), car repairs and car hunting, unpacking, getting adjusted, etc.
- The painting in the school room has been halted.  We need to strip the paint on the trim and we need supplies for that.
- We've googled our way through nasty pictures of skin problems to discover that Luke's had a run-in with some poison ivy.  His poor hands are in bad shape, but the article said it should be gone within 3(!) weeks.
- Our only car has been acting up big time.  Luke had to be at work early yesterday and we also had to get the car into the shop and figure out what to do about another car and how to make it all work.  A new friend here has been so gracious and sweet to serve us these days!  She drove w/ us to the mechanic and let us keep her car for a few days.  Awesome.
- We've settled on a church and are excited to get plugged in there.
- I had a Mother's Tea with about 70 homeschooling mommas last night.  It was very sweet and encouraging!  2 weeks until our start of school!
- Luke's been in orientation meetings, meals, etc.  I get to go w/ him tonight to the faculty dinner.  Date night!  Sort of!
- We celebrated Isaiah's 7th birthday yesterday!  Pics and more to come on that, but it was VERY sweet to have a family birthday to focus on.  Fun to spoil our little guy, tape balloons along the hall for the first time, do gifts in the den for the first time, have our first family pic around the bday kid at the table.  Great day.
- Lucy's going to learn to walk here.  Very soon.  We think.  She's been standing and balancing (flat footed, without holding on to anything) more.  She's going to get there!
- She's also finally sleeping a little bit better.  She had a few nights of hourly waking and calling for me.
- I've been out a few times in the evening and been stuck when a train has parked on the track and blocked my route.
- People are pretty shocked when they hear we have come from California.  I don't think Longview gets many west coasters.  We get a lot of - "Wow!  This must be a change!"
- We had a theology faculty and family bbq.  This is an awesome division!  Such great people and families.  We're excited to be part of it all.
- Headed to the library this morning, maybe to Sam's Club to join.  Missing Costco
- We finally got our Directv service set up.  It was pretty fun to answer "owner" when they asked if we were renters or owners.  WE get to give permission for a hole in the wall or a dish on the house.
- We're cruising Craigslist a lot.  Tyler sure has a lot of great stuff - but it's an hour away.  Not so much in Longview, but we've hit a few gems.  REALLY hoping we can find a playset for the yard.  The kids would love it.
- Also realizing that I could do photo sessions in my yard.  How cool is that?!  I'm aiming to be back to photography by October at the latest.
- The kids are signed up for gymnastics again.  Hoping to get Isaiah in to the basketball league in Jan.
- We've started "High Fives" in the morning.  I got the idea from a friend in CA.  Every morning, the kids do dishwasher, make bed, brush teeth, get dressed, and potty.  When they've done all five tasks (in any order they choose), they come give  me a high five.  I'm loving not having to keep listing off the things they need to do, and they are very proud to come find me and high five me.
That's all that comes to mind at the moment!  Off to Walmart!