Finally Settling In

We finally have our own internet, it was just installed today (we've been "borrowing" from a neighbor who had an unsecured network, thanks unknown neighbor! but we had to sit in a certain place in the apartment to get it to work & it was just too hard to try to blog, thus my absence from blogging). So I thought I'd take some time to update yall on what's been going on with us.

We're getting settled in here in Houston, actually Stafford if you want to be picky about it.

Damaris started 5th grade yesterday. Pray for her as she adjusts. She's struggling with making friends in this new, larger school. There are 27 kids in her class. She does like her teachers & came home excited today to audition for the 5th grade choir in a few weeks. Russ takes her to school in the mornings & she rides the bus home in the afternoons even though her school is directly across the street from our apartment. They do not have a crossing guard like we thought they would, but the bus picks her up & drops her off within just a few minutes of school being out, so it's not bad at all.

Russ interviewed for a job at Sear's today. They said they would have offered him a job on the spot if he had more open availability to work. The problem is that I have to be on call several times a month & someone needs to be at home with Damaris. Russ did tell them he would have some availability that he could let them know about once I get my monthly schedule. They said they would look at the schedule & get back to him. He's put out several other applications but has gotten no other call backs so far, most likely because of his limited availability. Please pray that god would provide a good job for him that works with the hours he is available.

And me, I start work a week from today. I'll be riding the bus to work. Thought it was going to be pretty expensive (but less expensive than gas & parking), but found out yesterday that it will only cost about $50 a month. Much better! I'll have to spend about 10 minutes more a day on the bus but the monetary savings is so worth it. I'm really excited, yet nervous, to get started at the hospital. It's going to be a very intense year, but I know it will be a great learning experience for me.

As for our apartment, it's finally unpacked. If you follow me on Twitter, you know some about the fiasco. Our apartment was supposed to be ready for us to move in on Friday morning. We got here & signed the lease only to be told the apartment wouldn't be ready until 2pm because they weren't done cleaning the carpet. We came back at 2pm & were told they decided to replace the carpet & would be done in 15 minutes. We got the keys & came up to the apartment to be told that it would be another 3 hours before the carpet was done. We had a limited window of availability for most of the people who were helping us unload. So we ended up unloading onto the 3rd floor landing, did I forget to mention our apartment is on the 3rd floor? what were we thinking????, & then moved everything in once the carpet guys were done. We headed back to get the 2nd load of stuff & it started raining. Not just raining, but a downpour, sheets of rain coming down. Most of our help had to leave. We finally finished around 11pm. It was crazy! Then Uhaul had the audacity to call at 7:30 the next morning asking us to bring the truck back early. Ugh! The apartment complex is cutting about 25% off of our September rent because of the inconvenience they caused. We got most of the unpacking done on Saturday & Sunday (after we slept in super late Sunday morning). Russ & I finished up yesterday morning. It was such a relief to be done.

I'm adjusting my sleep & wake-up schedule to get ready for the super early hours I'll have starting next week. It's been nice though to have free time during the day the last couple of days. I've been doing lots of knitting while listening to an audio book as well as working on scanning some more pictures so I can save them as digital files. It's been fun to look through lots of old pictures.

Well, I've been working on this post for over an hour now because I keep getting distracted watching Ace of Cakes. It's almost time to put Damaris to bed, so I'd better close for now. Please keep us in your prayers, especially the requests mentioned above & for me as I adjust to this new schedule.