Inhale, Exhale

I must say that it feels nice to finally breathe again. I feel like I'd been holding my breath just trying to get through the last couple months of the summer. Maybe even longer than that. Ever since Mathew was born, the thought of moving had been in the back of my mind constantly. Between packing up our home in Florida, worrying about finding a new home, worrying about finding a job, living out of suitcases for a few weeks and being on the go with a baby--life had been quite stressful! I can handle spontaneity for the most part, but the fear of the unknown was really getting to me. We've moved several times before, but for some reason this one felt by far the hardest to me. But, finally here we are a couple weeks into our new jobs, the majority of the boxes unpacked, getting Mathew pretty well settled again and I must say life feels good!

I've been pleasantly surprised with Dubuque. I really had NO idea what to expect since I had never been to the state, much less the city. I am liking it way more than I'd expected though. Of course my opinion might change come January and it's negative ten degrees with three feet of snow on the ground (I'm still trying to deny winter exists), but as for now I have been quite impressed. It seems to be a great family town. There is constantly something going on downtown or at the river, whether it's a festival, parade, live music, etc. The downtown area is so charming with many great shops, restaurants, and bars. I really enjoy our location because we are close enough to walk to work daily or even an occasional trip downtown. Getting by with one car hasn't been an issue at all (again, the opinion could change come winter time) and the overall pace of life has really slowed down for us both.

As hard as it was, and continues to be sometimes, to leave behind my brother, friends, and great job in Florida I am beginning to see the bigger picture. God's hand was definitely involved in this move I believe. Mat went from working very full days and constantly receiving phone calls from work when he was at home, to being able to spend MUCH more time with MJ and I and truly enjoy his time when he is at home. He's much less stressed, contributes much more at home, and is overall just happier and more content. Although I was extremely happy at my job, I know it would have been really tough going back to work full time and putting Mathew in daycare. We were fully planning on doing it, but it wouldn't have been easy. Now I have the flexibility of working part time and it's been a great adjustment. I'm happy to be back in the working world again, but love having so much time at home still. I have much less take home work and don't feel so emotionally drained after a day of work. This semester I am able to be at home with Mathew two full days a week. Then, Mat is home with him two days a week, except for one afternoon class he teaches. While he teaches that class, I just walk home from work and spend two hours with the baby. How great is that? Only one day a week do we have to rely on a sitter right now, and even then we're both home with him by 2pm. I know we couldn't have worked out this schedule without working and living where we do, so despite the pain and sadness of moving, things really seem to be falling into place now. It's wonderful to begin seeing the big picture and finding happiness again.

My next goal is to start meeting people and making friends. We tried out one church last weekend, but it wasn't a very good fit, so we'll try some more in the coming weeks. We work with some nice people, but we are definitely quite a big younger than most of the other faculty/staff so meeting young families is going to take some work. Luckily we have our St. Louis friends close by and hope we are able to see them much more often than we did while living in Florida.

Most importantly Mathew is doing so well and seems to be adjusting wonderfully and settling right in. He's such a happy baby and it gives me goosebumps just to know all he's overcome and see him loving life! We are so blessed.