2012~New Beginnings

I cannot believe I have not updated our blog since 2009, but oh....so much has happened, so here we go! Well, shortly after my last post, Todd took a job in Richmond, VA. I stayed in Burlington, N.C. in our home for a while, but just couldn't stand us not being together. Todd was living in a nice hotel during the week, and coming home most weekends, until we decided where to live...so guess what folks?? I loaded up our one year old and we lived in that hotel in Colonial Heights, VA for 4 months! Yeah- it was tough, but we were together. We finally found a new house in the Churchill area of historic, downtown Richmond, VA. We loved the new house, and I especially loved that it was built in 1789! The picture below is of our house. Our house has the round circle on the front...which I am sure has a proper name. The second picture is of our street. The first two years in Richmond were great and we totally adapted to our new city life. Almost everything we needed was in walking distance, which was very different from the life we left behind. As a history teacher, I was in heaven with my new life in Richmond! History is all around us, wherever we live, but in Richmond, every moment in the city is a new (or old favorite) history lesson! This is a skyline pic of Richmond, One block from our home, taken on Christmas Eve 2010. The next morning we woke up to our first white Christmas ever! I soon began working at Central Montessori School, and although it had its ups and downs, I met wonderful friends, and will always appreciate the time spent there. The picture below shows the view from our school park. In March of this year we were given the opportunity to move home...which is a nice way of saying: The economy killed the construction industry! But, it was actually a blessing in disguise, and gave us the chance to move close to family, which is something we were happy about! The change was difficult at first, but over time it became very clear that we made the best decision and everything was going to be great! We love our farm house, which has also proved to be a cool history lesson! The home was built in 1893, and even housed a famous WWII Admiral! It has been in my family since the early 1980's. We have 10 acres, a creek, cows, donkeys, wrap around porch with rocking chairs and a train that runs through the middle of town 4 times a day/night. We hope (this spring)to be the proud owners of two new horses and some chickens! The picture below is our Christmas card for 2011! Things I/We have learned in the past few months: 2012 is going to be the best year yet, fully appreciate the people that truly love you, and we all have a purpose in this life! We should always let experiences make us better people, better parents and better friends. Everybody will fall or stumble at certain stages in life, but its how you recover and what you do with your life that counts! I hope to always live a simple life and gracious life, being grateful for everything I have been given, or worked so hard to have. I will try to update this blog a little more often, for those of you that are interested!

~Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us! Hebrews 12:1~

Here's to a Happy New Year!