Time for an update...and there are a few!

Well, after seeing that it has been over 6 months since my last post, I figured it was about time for a new post!

A lot of things have changed since my last post. For one, in mid-August I received a phone call from my sister-in-law. Her school was looking for a 5th grade teacher due to increased enrollment. This was the opportunity we had been praying for! For the past couple of years I had been working as a high school Spanish teacher, looking for the perfect time to transition into the field of my degree (Elementary Education). So, to make a long story short(er) I interviewed on Monday, and on Wednesday was on my way down to South-Central Iowa to start my new job as 5th grade teacher.

This, of course brought about many changes all at once. For one, we live in NW Iowa, and now a move was on the horizon. This has been an answer to prayer for hubby, Eric, as he was hoping to be located closer to his family. So while he was working to arrange a transfer from his company in southern Minnesota to the plant in Creston, IA, I was living with his sister in West Des Moines, trying to track down temporary housing. (And trying to get my classroom set up and ready for students in a matter of 5 days).

As for the adoption, we had been trying to arrange our first homestudy visit for over 2 months. Now we had to put all of that on hold until we had a home!

A month and a half after starting my new job outside of Des Moines, we managed to paint our house in Spencer, (MUCH thanks to the Stauffer fam on that!), finish the projects on the inside of the house (kudos to Eric for his MANY weekends of work!), pack up and move the contents of this entire house into storage, find and move into an apartment for the year, secure a transfer of employment for Eric, start my teaching job, and arrange the dates for our homestudy.

My basic description, to those crazy enough to ask how things are going, ;) is that we have been sprinting a marathon since August 17th! We are just now beginning to feel like we can slow that down to a good run. We are happy to say that we have completed our homestudy visits. We are awaiting the finalization of our homestudy report, and a few items needed to complete our dossier (the legal paperwork that is sent overseas as our international adoption application package of sorts). Then we begin the waiting game!

In the meantime, we are awaiting the sale of our house back in Spencer, and trying to unpack our new place in the Des Moines area! (Oh, and our elementary school moved to its new building over the Christmas break as well!) These are just a few of the updates! :) We hope to bring you many more updates regarding our transition and our adoption journey in the near future.

I pray you felt the joy of the Spirit this Christmas season, and that the New Year brings you many blessings!