Adjusting

  I cried the day we left the Haft, & I was pretty close to tears the other night when I looked at pictures from Dan & Connie Lapp who moved to the Haft the weekend after we left. Just seeing their pictures brought back so many memories!! Yes, it has been hard to let go of the life we had there, BUT I found that I have been taking advantage of some oppurtunities here in Lancaster that I took for granted before. When you have things at your fingertips, sometimes you don't even take advantage of them. For starters, I've enjoyed having a Starbucks ;) two minutes from my house as apposed to an hr. away. Now instead of having one once a month like I did over the past yr., I can now have one once a week. (my kids won't allow me to have more than one in a wk., they know how much they cost- not to mention tho that I was blessed w/ several Starbucks gift cards for C-mas!!!) Now, I'm not a HUGE Starbucks buff, but I do enjoy a good venti White Choc. Mocha Non-fat w/ Whip (all 580 calories!!!) once in a while. So that's one benefit of living here!! Another thing we've done since we're back is I've taken the kids to the local motel where you can a get a swimming pass for their indoor pool. We've been doing special things throughout the month of Feb. for "Feb. Fun" days in school, so the pool was one of the fun days. And yes that counts as school!!!:) That's one of the benefits of homeschooling!!! You say, "How's that a school day"??? Well it's like this, you do some text books in the morning like math, handwriting, etc. then you go to the pool for Phys. Ed.!!! Add to the fun some cousins (who are also homeschooled) & you have a great time at the pool!! Thanks Sharon, Tim & Michelle for joining us!!
  So like I said, I have been doing some things here in Lanc. that I couldn't do (w/o driving an hr.) in Bradford. And I have been enjoying my larger house here (tho I would not have said I missed it). It's amazing how you adjust to what you have. In Bradford we adapted to the small house because we were excited about our new venture, but now that we've returned I have truly come to appreciate having a bigger house. Gabby is more content in this house (go figure), it seems like she enjoys having more room to roam!! Makayla, on the other hand, who was very excited about returning here, has said several times that she doesn't like it here & she wants to return to the "Gatehouse", "but we can't because Bruce & Joan live in it now"!! She says we could move back & live in the barn again!!! So much drama from a little person!!!
  So all in all we are adjusting & looking forward to what God has for us on the next leg of the journey!! Oh & by the way- the verdict is in, I will keep blogging, at least for now anyway. Because life in general is a journey & if sharing our story helps someone else on their journey then its worth writing it. So if you want to continue on this journey with us you're welcome to come along. I will try to share motivational & inspirational, & of course funny stuff about our family & what we're learning etc. I will probably change the title of the blog but the web address will stay the same- thedutchclan.blogspot.com!!!