July 2010

O.K., this first one is actually in WV on 29 June. We packed up that day and this is our last family photo before we left. After working my last day of residency at the free clinic on 30 June, left early afternoon, and left Huntington by 3 p.m., driving half way and staying the night in IN. We arrived in RC, WI on July 1, but wouldn't close on our house till the next morning, so we had to stay in a local hotel.

We moved in, but we only had a small trailer of items with us: The moving truck was supposed to arrive sometime in the next couple of days (that's the mattress H got to sleep on . . . I got the floor). On 6 July, the latest date it was supposed to arrive, we called the company to determine why our things hadn't arrived. Come to find out, they hadn't left WV yet and weren't sure when they might, probably in about a week and a half! Thanks to some work by the hospital (which was paying for the move), we only had to sleep on the floor for another week.

Meanwhile, GG and GG visited and stayed in their RV, allowing us to use their chairs. Grandpa G helped me with our mole problem, and we bought a card table and celebrated Ama's Birthday. The moving truck pulled in just as the great grandparents pulled out.


It was a busy month. Since I didn't start my new job until 2 August, we tried to squeeze in as much as possible. Our apricot trees that had been living in containers for the winter and spring months finally got to stretch their roots. One of the stray cats adopted us; A named him Krisagoo. Later he developed an infection and didn't pull through. Our chicks arrived. Summer heat, and ensuing enjoyments, also arrived. We were able to visit the Madison zoo.

Our pasture behind the barn was way overgrown, so we thought we needed to get our goats right away. They have done a great job on it, too. Olga (L) and Inga (R) are Nubian-Alpine mixes from good dairy stock.












We also had lots of visitors. Wayne and Kathy (from Oak Park, IL)serendipitously have settled in the same city and were able to visit after bumping in to them multiple times in town. Grandma Debbie, Uncle Nate (not pictured) and Aunt Jen also spent some time with us.

Mrs. Potato Head

HI! So, months and months after my last post:

Aedyn likes to role-play Toy Story (we've only seen the first one.) Aedyn assigns roles. While we have no real costumes, Aedyn pretends we do. A few days ago Aedyn rushed into the kitchen where my back was turned to him, "Oh, you already have your Potato costume on!"

We're all well. Finally.
I hope you are.

We're Back!

Sorry for the long hiatus. We will be using this next 2 months to try to make up for it. You should be enjoying some summer pics right about now anyway! We are down to single digits already, with 7 inches of snow blanketing our fields



This first set of pics is of the property. Will get some with the kids in it soon. We left WV on 30 June and arrived in Richland Center 1 July. That night we stayed in a hotel. We closed on our house the next morning and I drove up the driveway for the first time 2 July around 11 a.m. (only Heidi had seen the place before we bought it!). I was quickly struck by how big 67 acres actually was. We have a barn, a quonset barn, a shed and a 3 BR ranch on >40 wooded acres with a spring fed creek.



To the left is what will become our goat pasture (more on that later).

West Virginia 'Lasts"

Weeks and weeks have passed since my last post, mostly because I haven't uploaded pictures often and think there should be pictures every time I write something new. I only follow a few blogs and I'm always aching for the pictures. Yes, I am transferring my expectations onto you. So. We move in less than a week! Today we have: haircuts for everyone except Eliyah, trip preparation errands, a going-away party hosted by the neighborhood, and a tiny bit of boxing-up stuff. TINY, you say? YES! Eric's new practice pays for movers. The kind who pack. and carry everything down the stars. and again down the stairs to the street. Collective Sigh of Relief, friends and family--not one of you will be carrying a dresser or bookcase or making 34 trips to a moving truck.

I'm aware of all the moments of "this is the last time that . . ." We'll miss this house and our neighbors and friends. We'll miss the milder WV winters, at least I will. But we are so excited to move to the place we plan to put down roots. (Literally, we have many potted trees that will be making the 2 day drive with us.) We're excited about Eric's new job and the people we already like there. We're eager to live life with a new community of Jesus-people.

And our new land! oooooh! This is a picture of a picture of the house (a ranch-style house to the lower-left of the flash reflection), barns, shed and most of the land. There is some more woodlands and pasture area not pictured to the left of the photo. The North edge of our property is along the ridge at the top of the big tree line. The big white road (Old Hwy 80) is the southern property line. Hwy 80 is on the southeast. That strip of cultivated land down the center was planted in corn. In a few years that whole plantable area will be restored to SW Wisconsin prairie. We're planting fruit and nut tries along the road, getting more chickens, some goats, and bees.

Six Bountiful Years

Today is our sixth anniversary. Every day I thank God for the relationship he drew us to and for the great joy we have in our marriage. We went away for the night/day (20 hours, to be exact) and had a great time. This was our first night away from the kids. Carter Caves State Park in KY is about an hour away from home; the drive was lovely. We got there at 8:00 last night and went for a short hike in the woods. We stayed in the lodge hotel in the middle of the state park. This morning we tried to sleep-in and then went for another hike along streams and up through waterfall caverns. Every view was lovely and interesting and we saw no one else on the trails. We took a tour of one of the caves, ate lunch beside a stream, and walked through another wide stream to get closer to more falls recessed in a cavern. (Yep, wet feet. It was worth the view!) What a GREAT time away! Sara stayed with the kids and they all seemed really happy with their day with her.

She's 1!

Eliyah Grace Tuleen is ONE! Saturday we celebrated with Grandpa Bruce and Grandma K (my parents), our dear friends Grammy and Poppy Wilcox, and Eliyah's birth-parents. She was surrounded by love! Eric is in Honduras on a medical mission so we'll have a second celebration when he gets home.

We had a really great day and I'm so glad that my parents were able to be here. Eliyah's birth-mom is with us a lot (Yeah! She's one of our favorite people!) and it was great that E's birth-dad could travel a long distance to be with us for the weekend. The birthday girl loved the attention, her cake, her Snow White doll and especially her new hair bows. Justice and Aedyn think the hair bows are pretty great, too.

Eliyah is saying mama, papa, 'us'is (Justice), a'en (Aedyn), and she does some great animal sounds. Her favorite activity is singing and dancing and she would be content for an hour if I would continuously sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "5 Little Monkeys." Eric and I are so, so grateful to be her parents. Eliyah brings true joy to our hearts.

Happy Resurrection Day!

Aedyn's Potty Party. He's trained! Diaper at nap and night but he's waking up dry.

Finding the easter eggs that we had just dyed moments before.
A cool and sunny day last week.
Potty training day. It took about an hour to discover the second best place for underwear.
Justice pulled Aedyn's paint project onto the floor and both babies enjoyed themselves.

It's 78 degrees, the kids are all napping, Eric is resting on the couch, Sara is asleep in the chair and I've been wandering around the yard. Next year I will have a huge 'yard' to wander. We are in a contract for a house on 65 acres, 50 of which are wooded, the rest are cropland or pasture.

I've been really overwhelmed as we try to get the house ready for viewing and feeling concerned for the price we probably won't get, but do need. Three years isn't much time to build equity in a house. We would consider renting the house and are praying that we find someone to buy or rent soon.

The kids are all doing great.