Long time.....no....type?

Well, the move from South Carolina has come and gone. We arrived in New York 11:15 pm 10/30. It has been interesting to say the least! We kept homeschooling for a while and even met some other homeschoolers who did some writing and math classes together and a nerf gun war every week. But then my oldest started showing signs of depression. Listlessness, when asked what's wrong, replying "nothing", saying he wasn't hungry (the kid's a bottomless pit!), and he didn't want to go anywhere or do anything. So my husband and I sat down, had a long talk and decided to send them to school. So now it's January. The kids are very happy in school. We are seeing them backslide in a lot of stuff, though. Their beautiful handwriting improvements are all gone. My 5th grader isn't required to write in cursive!!!!! How weird is that? The math seems to have taken a hit as well, so we are going to do some home assigned homework in addition to their regular homework as well.

We made it through Christmas!!!!! It was the most expensive one on record. Not due to the gifts, either! We spent Christmas in Manhattan. We went ice skating in Central Park. Saw the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center. Didn't make it to FAO Schwartz, but we will. Saw some amazing window displays. Ate at a lot of expensive restaurants. Enjoyed Christmas with the in-laws. Our budget was $2,000 for the 3 day time period. Of course, as a family of 5, we blew through that and waaaaaaay beyond. We knew we would, so we have been living like paupers this month because of that. Good thing we gave ourselves some cushion! But it was beautiful weather, and the blizzard that came, showed up on the day we were leaving Manhattan, so we just made it out!!!!!! I was really sick through the holiday and that stunk, with the laryngitis and all but survived that too!

On the church front, we started at a Methodist church. It was small and the people very nice. But very few kids attended and mostly girls. Only one bible study offered at a time. Not what we were looking for so we tried the Lutheran Church almost across the street from the Methodist church. WAAAAAAYYY more traditional than we are looking for. No kids church at all. It was very interesting in that they chanted or sang almost the whole service. It made me think that this was what services in the middle ages must have resembled. The church itself was amazing! Beautiful! Dark wood trim and ceiling beams. Detailed stained glass arched windows. If you wanted a storybook small wedding, this is the place! But to go to services? Not for us. We needed something a little bigger. Maybe with women's groups so I can finally meet other women and make some friends here. So I started to think...... it always starts with the music. It may sound weird, but the music is what first pulls us (my hubby and I) in. We like contemporary Christian music. Hmmmmmm.......contemporary music not traditional Christian music. Traditional......... we have been going to traditional services! That's it! Or old beloved church in FL used to have a traditional service AND contemporary services! So I googled Contemporary church, Queens NY and found the Journey Church. It is held in a high school (which to me said it was a sizeable congregation unlike the two churches we have already tried) and even boasted of rockin', contemporary music! So this weekend we tried it.......LOVED IT! The boys came out from church and begged to come back. So did I! LOL! I hope we can connect with some of the people there, I am hoping to join one of the bible studies that starts in Feb.

So things are looking up! Potential for FINALLY making some friends and not being so lonely, walking and working out to lose weight, and found a church that speaks to us!

Now we are doing some planning for this year. The Army is sending Z to a school for 12 weeks at the end of February. So all the honey-do stuff needs to be honey-DONE! Like car repairs, etc. Also, we need to make a decision about the rv. We would really like to travel around the northeast, seeing all of the things we have read about until now. To do that, we'd like the rv. The only problem is Z would have to fly to San Antonio and drive it back. Also, we'd need to find a new company up here that would rent it out for us when we aren't using it. Plus, we need to decide if we are going to just rent the entire time we are here or if we could find a foreclosure-fixerupper and fix it up and move into it. It should be an interesting year for us. Also the 20 year reunion for high school and 10 years since September 11th. The memorial is supposed to be finished by then and I plan on going. My parents say they will be going too..... A big year ahead. Hope it is a blessed one for all of my family and friends.