A New Life

I chose this post title because on my last day of work someone said to me "enjoy your new life" I kind of chuckled at the thought, but when I stopped to think about it, realized that this really is a new life. New state, new "career", new house, new friends, new baby to come. It is kind of a lot and my time so far in Pennsylvania has been me dealing with all of this change... I knew I was about to step into everything, but it didn't hit me until I was here.

And so apart from the overwhelming feelings that come with massive changes, sometimes so overwhelming I feel a bit under water, I have had moments that have been very special. I have seen God in those times of feeling isolated, as if He is saying... "you are not alone!"

So begins my journey into a new life...

The morning the moving truck was delivering our furniture I took Willoughby for a walk. It was a gorgeous morning and it was silent. All of the sudden I heard the clip clop of horses and saw an Amish family drive by... there is something so peaceful about seeing this and I realized I was definitely NOT in Fairfield County anymore! My experience with the Amish so far has been passing multiple buggies daily, driving past their gorgeous farms to get anywhere (say Target), buying furniture from them and seeing horse poop all over the streets.

One other unique experience I had was last weekend when I went to a furniture shop in the middle of no where with my sister's mother in law. When purchasing our items we got to talking to the Amish lady who ran the shop with her husband... she had three beautiful children running around and looked younger than me. She shared with us the heart wrenching story about just losing her newborn the week before. She said seeing me pregnant was making her think about it... she was so gracious and lovely in the way she spoke of the whole experience, but I can not imagine. Having friends who have lost babies of their own I tried to convey my heartfelt sympathy for her... I can't get the image of her striking blue eyes filled with sadness as she told us the story.

man plowing his fields

Buggies all over!

Our plunge into homeownership has been a learning experience already. From trying to figure out how the garbage/recycling works here (seriously), to mowing the lawn and yard work, to finding a large crack in one of our windows, to the insane frustration of studs when trying to hang things... the list goes on. I know it is only the beginning, but I believe we have done a pretty good job so far. I just love those moments when Dhrumil looks at me with some house question and I look back at him with the same question and we just shrug our shoulders and say... guess we should google that. :) Here are a few pictures of one of the first rooms almost done. (side note... we had the whole house painted and picking colors WAS so nerve wracking for me since I couldn't look at it in the house, but everything turned out beautifully!)

This room used to be the dinning room, but I turned it into the living room 

Thanks to my parents for the "on loan" armoire for the tv

Stay at home mommy-hood thus far in PA has been challenging. Mikayla is also facing many changes and those changes have left her a bit irritable at times, though maybe it is called being a two year old. It hasn't helped that being pregnant has seemingly made me more impatient and many deep breaths have helped me get through an afternoon. Mikayla asks everyday when can we go back to our old house and everyday I have to explain that we live here now. It has also been difficult not knowing anyone, but hopefully that will change soon.

We have had some fun times together so far... taking drives to discover Target and Walmart, checking out the town library (it was ONE room) checking out another library (slightly bigger), baking together, decorating Mikayla's room together, going to the park, taking walks to see the cows (it's a 3 minute walk from our house) and also snuggling during thunderstorms (my favorite!)

She now asks me to take her picture so she can pose

Ready for breakfast

Enjoying lunch outside while watching the buggies drive by

A WONDERFUL part about living in PA now is that we are close to my sister and her husband! They lived in Ecuador the past two years and just moved back to the States this summer. They just moved into their own place a week ago and are only 30 minutes from us. It is fun seeing Mikayla re-develop her relationship with them. We are all looking forward to many special times to come with them. 

Enjoying a shoulder ride with Uncle Clinton

She loves her aunt and uncle!

And finally I will end this post with this picture... my parents have been visiting this week and we all decided to drive a few miles to Intercourse PA...