Things are different, things are the same

The location. The weather. The school, church, doctor's office, grocery store, home. Let me point out some details. The town- Mesquite is more middle class than LC was. The homes are older, and they have a thing for alleys instead of driveways. I don't like alleys much, but I'm sure it will grow on me and I will come to think of driveways as ugly. The school- we left a school with 5-6 classes per grade, and find ourselves in a school with 2 classes per grade. But that doesn't include the additional class per grade that is entirely ESL. Hall Elementary had been the deaf ed school for the district, and now we are in the ESL school for the district. I personally think it's cool that the kids have been exposed to 2 foreign languages already, ASL and Spanish! The school is also different because no kids ride their bikes. At Hall, C and J had to fight for a parking spot for their bikes. They don't even have a bike rack here! School also starts and lets out earlier. The move showed us that Jonas was way ahead of other kids in his grade. I attribute this to his great teachers at Hall (okay- a little bit to his brilliance and his awesome parents, but mostly to Ms. Dee and Ms. Hopf). But it also showed us that Carleigh is behind other kids. Not tragically, but she has some work to do. Especially in spelling and handwriting. 3rd graders learn to play the recorder in Mesquite! I think this is great, as Jonas is learning to read music and basic instrument skills. And he likes it a lot. The weather- Ah. My favorite part. Humidity? What's that? On the other hand- we've already heard tornado sirens in the 5 weeks we've been here. No where is perfect, it seems. Church- We are farily sure we have found our new church home at Lake Ridge Bible Church, but it is very different than Church at the Springs. Can you believe that last week, Craig was the only male above 15 wearing shorts? But it's a good church, great Biblical teaching, lots of emphasis on missions and kids. My only complaint is the worship- no one claps AT ALL after a worship song. Guess I'll have to be alone on that one! Grocery stores- Aldi is my new best friend. The end. But I do miss HEB. My wallet doesn't. Home- We now live in a two-story, 2 bedroom apartment. We went from 1800 sq ft with a cul de sac and backyard to 1000 sq ft and a parking lot. It works just fine, though! Pro- our full size washer and dryer have a place INSIDE the apartment, where in LC, they were in the garage with the humidity (see weather above). Con- the kids can most definitely NOT go ride their bikes or roller blades in the parking lot. Pro- the electric bill- it was less than half of what we paid in LC. Pro- two AC units! One for upstairs and one for downstairs! Con- I traded in my cushy extra large executive desk with room for two computers at a time for a 3x2 Elfa shelving system in our bedroom. Con- no microwave. Pro- my kids have now learned that microwaves have not always existed and it is possible to reheat food in an oven or on a stove, and popcorn does not have to be made in a bag. Con- our rabbit ears pick up one channel, CBS, while we had over 20 with just the rabbit ears in LC. Pro- no yeard work. Con- I have no control over when the maintenance crew will do yard work. Like when I am on a conference call. Pro- we are paying $575 less per month, and we are perfectly happy and safe. Family- My brother lives 40 minutes away, but he is a police officer in our town. His wife is a dispatcher on the opposite shift as him, so I feel like we have 24 hours monitoring. Plus, he has 3 wonderful boys that we get to experience things like t-ball and tennis and band concerts with. There is a whole lot more, but those are the highlights of my observations from the first 5 weeks. Stay tuned for the fun and excitement!!! And keep praying that God will be glorified through our lives, and that we will grow closer to Him, no matter what.