Our First Week

After one week in our new home, things are looking pretty good. Brian is enjoying his new position, and loves the commute (across the parking lot). He has a flexible schedule and gets to come home for lunch. His co-workers are cool, and they are involving me in the ministry as well. I am excited to have the opportunity to help. It gets a little confusing, though, because one of his co-workers is also named Chrissy. In fact, her full name is even nearly the same as mine. She is Christina Marie Valentine, and I am Christina Mary Vare. We're having a tough time coming up with a nickname for one of us, especially since even our initials are the same!

The house is coming along. We still have boxes to unpack, but we're getting there. The rooms were not painted as badly as I imagined, and we have even left most of the rooms alone. I have painted part of the living room brick red and the robin's egg blue foyer is now back to beige. The bedroom will be next, and we plan to paint the office eventually. I'm enjoying getting the house together, and it's keeping me busy while Brian is at work. I've also done more laundry in the past week than I have done in the past four years. Brian always brought the laundry to work, since we didn't have facilities in the apartment. It seems I am due to repay that favor now!

New Wilmington had their annual Arts and Heritage Festival this weekend. We walked up the street and checked it out with Cory (our friend from college) and Mikka (his dog) on Saturday. There were lots of Amish/Mennonite (I can't tell them apart yet) men and women selling furniture, rugs, veggies, quilts and jams. The area right around New Wilmington has lots of Amish and Mennonite farms, so we see them in their buggies almost everyday. It's pretty neat. There was also a Mennonite woman making the best donuts I have ever had. Apparently, they are a local favorite. Cory and I took in most of the festival while Brian watched a man making wood carvings with a chainsaw. He was pretty absorbed by that, but we made sure to tap him on the shoulder once in a while and make sure he was still alive, his eyes being glazed over and all. :-)

We made it out to the cabin on Friday night with Erin, Josh and Aurora (more friends from college), and Cory and Mikka. It is a huge difference to be able to get there in 40 minutes instead of 6 hours. We had a nice dinner, a hike, and a good night's sleep. For some reason, I always sleep well at the cabin.

So, that's the short version of our first week. I am tagging along with Brian on his first trip this Saturday. We are headed back to some of our old Outdoor Odyssey haunts. (O.O. was the camp we worked at in college). We will be playing on the natural waterslides in Ohiopyle, caving at Bear Cave and climbing at Beam's Rocks. Well, that's the plan at this point, anyway. It should be a good time getting to know students and trying to keep up with them! It's been a long time since we've done this stuff. We will probably be very sore when we return. To quote my dad, it's tough getting old! :-) Until then...