A Sudden Loss

What do you say when one of your friends suddenly dies? One of my longtime friends whom I spent a lot of time with in high school had a massive heart attack last week and after the family getting a report that no brain activity was found, they are removing his life support today. What really strikes me is that he was my age....literally... within a few weeks of my age. He wasn't even 29 yet. He leaves behind a baby the same age as our little boy and a wife. I don't even know my place in grieving with them. Most of the people we hung out with were related (siblings, cousins, etc.) and we are not family members.

The truth is, I rarely saw him after college, but I still care very much about him and the others from that group. I can't even imagine the pain and anguish they must be feeling right now. I can't travel home for the funeral, since I am on bed rest, but wish so badly I could join them in grieving in the same place they are.

He was such a good soul and was always fun and likeable. He was very much like one of my brothers and I am having a difficult time wrapping my head around the fact that today, they are removing life support. Today he is physically dying. I have to remember that although this is happening today, his soul likely left his body last week.

I pray that all of his family is comforted during this time of imaginable loss and that his little girl always knows what a good guy her dad really was.

Bed Rest

Well it looks like I may be able to blog a fair amount because I have just been put on bed rest for possibly four months. As bad as that was initially, I remind myself that the other options was that I was put in the hospital for possibly that whole time. I am very frustrated because since we are new here, we don't know anyone to help. The good thing is that there is daycare at my husband's work and they are taking the baby full-time so I can fully rest, like I have to. My mom is sending a box of goodies, which I am looking forward to since we are still in temporary housing and most of our stuff is not here. More to come soon!

Challenging Adjustments

Moving to a new place really can be fun and exciting and interesting as well as scary and challenging and lonely. I think I could have stopped moving a few cities ago, but God has had other plans and I trust that the Lord has a plan for wherever we are called to. We are still trying to find a place to live. We've decided to move into a rental for a bit so we can get a bit more settled while the baby is born and then in the spring find a place we want to stay longer. We are still hoping to sell our house in Minneapolis, but unfortunately the housing market is terrible and it's a difficult time to sell so we just have to wait and see.

We at least have our new doctors and our son had tubes put in his ear this week. We've now been here a month and at least know a bit more about where we are staying. It's really interesting because most families here are two income families and the ones that aren't, usually the working parent makes well over $100,000 a year and more likely $200,000 or $300,000.

When looking for houses, no one can seem to wrap their head around the fact that I am going to only work part-time outside the home because I really want to be home with my boys. The average house prices where we are run about $750,000 - yeah right! Moving from the Midwest, it's just a big jump. I guarantee that has the biggest influence on the increase in cost of living. In general, the overall cost is not that much, but depending on what you use and need, I think it can be more or less.

We've looked at pretty tiny houses and more often two bedroom apartments that cost around $300,000. It's just an adjustment and we think in order to just pay our bills and pay our student loans, I'm going to have to keep working part-time.

As far as moving, it can be difficult and put such strain on a marriage. My husband is such a good man and I appreciate how he honors me, but there is just a lot of strain because 1. We only know each other and 2. There are so many life changes happening at once. We also get torn between keeping in touch with friends back home and other places we've lived and spending that time making new ones. We try to balance it out, but it can be depressing hearing everything you're missing when you don't even want to and so it is usually healthier to make yourself put time into making new friends. It makes the adjustments a lot easier when all the chaos settles down.

I just keep my hope in the Lord, knowing He will lead and guide us and help us with all we need. I just hope the only move we have after this is back home, where we can stay for a long time.

Honor Your Husband Challenge

I actually joined this challenge as I began this blog so it hadn't quite made it on here yet. Thanks to Christine at Fruit in Season for this challenge and Stacey at A Measure of Grace for passing it on:).

I LOVE this idea and it comes at a great time for me, I think. I have been having trouble finding the graces and blessings being moved so far across the country and away from everything and everyone I know, but I know the biggest reason we're here is my husband's desire to be able to provide for our family and allow me to stay home full-time should I choose with my baby and soon to be number 2.


I know he honestly doesn't want to see me unhappy and wants to be able to be a good provider and he is. I am even getting Sunday mornings "off" for a little blogging and some sleeping in.

So all of July (I think I got started a bit late:) is my month to honor my wonderful husband and all the ways he puts his family and our needs ahead of his.

My Top 10 In Princeton

Since this was my first week going part-time, I had more time to actually see some stuff. Plus with the 4th of July, we got to go to Philadelphia and visit new things there....

1. Philly Cheese Steak
2. Liberty Bell on the 4th (I even saw the mayor of Philly there, he was about 5 feet from me).
3. Full-time exchanged for part-time at same salary
4. Baby slings for babies who want lots of lovin
5. Getting to try new ice cream places
6. Sundays at the beach
7. An actual holiday, where my husband is off and I don't have to work
8. Fun location, people actually want to visit (unlike Minnesota)
9. An easy-to-clean "house" since there is so little stuff
10. Planning trips to St. Louie