A Pleasant November Start

We've been in Palmdale for a little over a month now.  The other day, one of Mark's co-workers sent him home with a grocery bag filled with pomegranates and persimmons from his own backyard trees.  The persimmons are soooo delicious.  I've eaten up 4-5 of them already.  They are my new favorite fruit.

The unpacking is coming along slowly.  I've lost some of that initial drive and, of course, life with kids kicked in and I realized that I need to be investing more energy in them.  I'm disappointed that we're not completely box/pile-free one-month in, but I can see that we're making progress and I've come to accept that it's a process.  Maybe Thanksgiving is a good goal to be completely unpacked - three more weeks sounds very doable.

Homeschooling has been going well this week (our first real week of structured learning for the school year).  Taylor is enthusiastic about writing letters to friends and doing math worksheets and listening to some new storybooks.  I've been able to find preschool-like things for Rory to work on, and we've been doing crafty stuff nearly every day.  It's amazing!  I'm in a happy place.

Oh! And, an update on our fundraising efforts for Mission India - we met and exceeded our goal!  That means with Sonlight's matching funds we have given 136 kids the opportunity to attend a Bible club in India.  Thank you for your generosity.  The girls loved the Lost in India project and I hope that it will continue to impact how we think about the world and the role we play in reaching others for Christ.

We've settled into some evening activities for Taylor - gymnastics and American Heritage Girls (which is kind of like Girl Scouts).  Taylor is doing well with gymnastics at this new place, AV Twisters, and I'm pleased to see that they're introducing her to skills that she hasn't done before.  The moms there tell me that this gym is the best in the area and they drive quite a distance to be there.  I think it'll be a great place for her to flourish.  The AHG troop is just starting up, so I'll get to be a part of the planning process for activities this year.  I may even become the leader for Taylor's group, the Pathfinders.

Rory has been getting more talkative everyday.  Lots of made up stories involving witches and mermaids (The Little Mermaid) and half-truths about things her Daddy "gave her permission" to do.  She begs for candy every morning, begs for movies every afternoon, and never particularly wants to brush her teeth before bed.  The other week a mother at the park was watching Rory play with her children and said she could tell right away that Rory was a middle child.  Quirky to the core.  I'm hoping to sign her up for a dance class at the rec center across the street so she has a fun activity all to herself.

Elliott loves to be able to roam freely, crawling where the little bits of dirt on the floor take him.  Whenever he's in the living room, he bee-lines for the stairs and enjoys standing at the first step hanging on tightly to the railing.  However, he's lost his grip more than once on the railings (as well as chair legs and shelves and tables) and so, sadly, has little bruise lines all over his face and head where he made contact with the furniture.  He's getting another tooth in, which means lots of chewing on anything he can get his hands on.  And he's eating a hefty amount of solid food, nearly three meals a day, on a regular basis in addition to nursing!

We've been attending a very large church in Lancaster (the adjacent city to Palmdale) and I like a lot of things about it - solid Biblical teaching, expository sermons, a genuine heart for the community and missions, and a real go-to attitude, but we haven't decided if it'll be our "church home away from home" yet.  A couple of women there really cared for me while Mark was in St. Louis - checking in every few days and even coming over to help me clean while all our kids played.  They have been a big blessing.  But on the other side of things, the church is huge and very formal and takes a KJV-only stance (the first time I've encountered this issue) and I'm unsure about its approach to accountability for the spiritual growth of its members (a problem related to its size).  I'm sure our decision will be come much clearer in the next few weeks.

Welcome to Synowiec Forest!

And last, but perhaps the biggest news of all, we finally closed on our new house in St. Louis - just today!  It's a beautiful home that sits on 2.5 acres of mostly forest, about 10 min northeast of our old house, and will be able to accommodate very large family gatherings.  It's an odd situation - buying a house while we're set to be away for 18 months or so - but we found a house we're really excited about and we got some great friends to house sit while we're away.  They also happen to be dog sitting for us during our CA stint.  I just uploaded the photos from the listing of the house here, so you can get an idea of what we'll be coming back to in 2015.