Life in the Country

I wanted to post an update explaining a little bit of what we've been doing since we got here, and I actually have several pictures I want to post but they are all on our desktop and it isn't working right now. We hope its not out for good, but it might be. Anyway, since I don't know when that will get fixed I figured I'd just post what I have for now and add pictures later.

Just a couple of days after arriving here Spencer drove his dad to Kansas for a few days to visit his brother before he died. They had a good time together and enjoyed seeing relatives that Spencer hadn't seen in years, even though the circumstance was unfortunate. They do feel like they had some quality time with Uncle Paul before he passed though. Spencer is glad he was able to go and to get to be with his dad. When he was on his way back I asked him how he was doing with driving and being in the car for so long, because this trip was literally just a couple of days after we had just driven from Utah, and he said it wasn't that bad. He said our car feels like a Ferrari compared to the moving truck! So smooth, comfortable, quiet, it goes right away when you push the gas pedal, and it actually goes fast!

The day after we got to town, Spencer's grandma got very sick and went into the hospital for a week and a half. She is home now and actually doing really well but we try to check on her a lot. The kids and I try to go see her quite a bit and we're happy and eager to help where we can. She lives next door and its nice to be able to drop in and out often and the kids quickly figured out that she usually has cookies...

We don't get the FOX channel at our house, so when I realized that we would be moving three weeks before the American Idol finale I was worried what to do! Lucky lucky for me, Aunt Tina and Uncle Mark who live right behind us get FOX and were happy to have us when we asked if we could come share their tv. Gorden, Adelaide, and I went twice a week until it was over and we really had a good time watching it with them. Its fun to have a little group! It would be an understatement to say that we were really excited to see Kris Allen win! He is so good!!! We loved watching him so much every week. I'm actually kind of sad its over because it was all so entertaining. On the night of the results show the week before the finale, when it was just the last three guys and they were announcing the first of the three to stay in the competition, when he said Kris Allen's name, Aunt Tina screamed so loud the cat jumped like four feet in the air. It was hilarious, but truthfully we were all just so excited!

The long long list of job applications that Spencer filled out and submitted finally payed off and he is working in Springdale at a company that makes high end floor cleaners and buffers. He started off really enjoying it and liked what he was doing a lot. Then quickly he started to hate it and that lasted about a week until he was able to talk to his supervisor about everything that was going on. He has been working very hard and putting in lots of long hours including very very early mornings. Its admirable to see him give it his all and continue to do excellent work even though he doesn't like it and was being treated so poorly. He's been waking up at 4am to leave at 4:30 and last week he worked 66 hours and this week he's putting in 70. Its really physical work so needless to say he is extremely exhausted when he gets home. When he talked to his supervisor about some of the things that had been going on and to see about getting a different assignment, particularly one a lot more challenging, and he said he would switch him around at the end of the month. The next morning he had a different responsibility though! Then the day after that he got switched again. He is really happy with what he's working on now, building the largest machines that they make, $14,000 ones that you can ride on, they build them from scratch. We're thankful to have a job.

Spencer is also building a shed. He's coming along quite nicely and got it all framed and the roof on before he landed a job. It looks great so far and he's put in a lot of hard work, along with his dad and occasionally his brothers when they can come. One of his brothers one day was a little frustrated and said, "Isn't there someone's computer I can fix to get this shed built?!" Gorden, on the other hand, wants to be outside with his dad all the time. He's not always right with him but he likes to be outside if Dad is outside. One night I asked him, "If you could do anything in the world tomorrow, what would you want to do?" Gorden said, "I just want to build with dad."

While we were in Utah we really missed Arkansas thunderstorms (and rain in general) but since we've been back here there have been lots! It actually freaks the kids out quite a bit but Spencer and I enjoy them! We've had a ton of rain. Apparently there was rain for weeks on end before we arrived and everything was greener than I even remembered. So beautiful!! I considered it a tender mercy from the Lord because I wasn't excited about coming here and especially about living in the country, but as I drove around, every where I went I couldn't get over how beautiful and green everything was! From day one I didn't mind being in the country because of how many gorgeous trees we're surrounded by!

Speaking of living in the country and speaking of freaking the kids out, Adelaide hates hearing the frogs croaking outside her window at night when she's trying to fall asleep. She can hardly stay in her bed. I know she thinks they're going to come in the house because they are SO LOUD. I thought, finally, the other night we made progress because as I was reassuring her that she was safe inside and they were staying outside, I told her that the frogs were just singing (she likes to sing to herself). She just smiled, as if to say Oh well that's nice and that's okay, and then we didn't have a problem with it the next two nights at all! The night after that, however, she cried quite a bit because she was scared, so we're still dealing with the frogs I guess.

Its is actually very loud out in the country at times. The nights are incredibly loud seeming if you're not used to all the insects, but in the days sometimes the birds are crazy loud! There are birds everywhere and when they are all singing its definitely more than just the sound of a sweet songbird. The crows are I think the loudest. Whenever Adelaide sees a large bird flying overhead, she gets excited and says, "A Eagle!!" A couple of days after we got here the air conditioner went out so we've been sleeping with the windows open (until that blessed day last week when the AC man finally showed up to fix it! Hooray!!!!). There are cows across the street and for a few nights they were mooing all night long. I think I was awake the whole night. Its been quite an adjustment getting used to all the sounds out here since we've been away for so long and the kids don't even know what to think. (Cows are actually one of my favorite animals though. I love seeing cows!)

We've gotten used to applying lots of bug repellent but somehow still manage to get tons of mosquito bites. Poor Gorden, they just eat him up. I've had lots of chigger bites lately, a large spider bite, and a bee sting just below my eye. Each of us except Adelaide have pulled several ticks off of us and Spencer has had so many that we quit counting. By the middle of one week he was up to 20 ticks. Its out of control.

Spencer and I both are teaching Primary now. We've done it for two weeks. He teaches 8 year olds and I have the 6 year olds. I seriously got the most well behaved group of kids! Spencer also is the cub scout leader. He's really excited about it! The kids are enjoying being around so many other kids. The nursery is full of lots of other little girls and Gorden's class has about double what our old entire primary had! When all the kids sing its kind of amazing because its all so loud!

Well this is getting incredibly long. Things are going well. We're happy we've been able to help so many people since arriving and that we have been blessed in a lot of unexpected ways. I still have a lot of catching up to do on our blog but it'll happen eventually!