Our First Full Month!

July 31, 2016

Our first whole month in Maine has been completed. It's not been without challenges and struggles, but moments of fun and new experiences have been enjoyed also. 

                       

                                               "Fun with Friends"

This past week was a week of new experiences, re-United friendships, and fun memories. The past week has been hot, so last Monday we took a little field trip. We went out to Pemaquid beach and light house. Pemaquid beach is one of the rare naturally sandy beaches in Maine. The water was still too cold for me to get in, but our kids certainly enjoyed it. Maybe it's those Canadian summer experiences with an early morning swim with the campers, but I'm instantly refreshed as soon as my toes hit the water! There is no need for me to do much more than wade, as it is cold water! I did enjoy the sunshine, warm sand, and the walk on the beach as well as making memories with our family. We visited the lighthouse after the beach, and that was a fun experience also. There are many, many, lighthouses in Maine...obviously...and most of them with a deep and interesting history behind them. 

On Tuesday Roger worked while I cleaned the house and got ready for our guests. The boys also went to Vacation Bible School in the morning at another of the local Baptist churches. They enjoyed it, and it helps them grow in their walk with the Lord. This one is at the same church affiliated with the school, so they were interested in going and finding out if any of the kids also go to the school there. 

We cleaned, organized, cleaned, and waiting anxiously all day for our guests to arrive. Our friends, Tim and Star, along with their five boys were coming for a visit for a few days. In preparation for a visit from their friends, the boys found all their nerf bullets and guns, and invested in extra nerf bullets. And oh how the nerf guns shot and the bullets flew! They arrived about 6:30 pm, and Roger was home from work around 7:30, so we were all able to eat supper together. We introduced them to pink hotdogs and Moxie. (Yes, the hotdogs are really pink. And moxie is a soda made in Maine.) Even though it's often a very late supper on the days Roger works, I try to make it work for us to all eat together as a family. Tim and Star's boys were more than willing to play outside and have nerf gun wars with the boys, and it was wonderful to see how they all played together. Our kids were very glad for the companionship of friends, and I have to admit, I was also very thankful. Star and I had many long conversations about life, parenting, marriage, relationships, and everything under the sun. I was happy to pick her brain on a few topics, and our friendship is stronger as the result of their visit. 

The Carpenter family was here for two whole days, and we fit a lot into two days! We visited the lighthouse in Rockland; we visited the beach near us; we took in the local farmers market, showed them were Roger worked, and Tim managed to squeeze in an afternoon with Roger in the airplane! We took all the kids to the park and everyone had a fun time in the creek. We ate delicious pie from a local farm stand, as well as enjoyed long conversations and fellowship. Between our families, we had nine boys and one girl. Their youngest boy is younger than Emma, and she certainly enjoyed trying to feed him and nurture him.

The Carpenter family left on Friday morning, and Roger had to work. It was a bit of a long day for myself and the kids, but we survived it. We took Roger lunch to get out of the house, and I made a grocery list for Sam's club and other places we go in Augusta. 

Saturday was a full day for everyone. Roger was working, so I took the kids with me to Augusta. We went to seven different stores, and they did great. It wasn't without its moments of craziness, but overall I was pleased with how they did for a long day of errands. It's almost an hour to go to Augusta, so it's not an every week trip. However, they have many stores that we don't have around here, so I try to go to as many as I need to in a trip. I will admit that we were all happy to be home again on Saturday night! 

Sunday...well, it was Sunday. I wish I was more excited about it than I was but, we did go to church. It's much harder to go to church when really no one is going to notice whether you are there or not. I'm not try to complain, for real, it's just different than back in Wisconsin where I had lots of fellowship. I think it would help if one of the churches we have visited would reach out to us. By that I mean, a follow up visit would go a long ways towards extending the hand of friendship. Okay, as I re-read that I realize that all sounds very close to whining. That is not my intent and you will just have to trust my heart on that. 

                        

                                               "Family Memories"

  

Anyways, we spent the rest of the day resting and spending some much needed time as a family. The boys miss  Roger during the week, and I look forward to not eating at eight pm. On the days that he is home! 

This week the local town near us is gearing up for the Maine Lobster Festival. You know you are in Maine when there is a festival for five days centered around lobster! I'm looking forward to it though as it's something that is mostly free and something we haven't done before. 

Hannah came down yesterday afternoon to spend time with us. We hung out talking around our kitchen table and making plans for future events with our families. I'm so thankful to have her around. Even at an hour away, she's still lives close to me! 

                    "Raspberry picking with the boys"

At the end of the day I have much to be thankful for, and I am choosing joy and contentment. Roger is thriving at his job, and he excels at it. We have a lovely home to live in, and I am praying for opportunities to be hospitable. I love my children, and I am praying that God will bless them with good, Godly friends soon. I am thankful for friends that keep up with my via long distance through emails, texts, and the occasional phone call. I'm thankful that God seems to be opening up the doors for the boys to attend the Christian school here. I love my husband and I choose to love him and follow him anywhere...obviously. 

A few prayer requests:

1) the boys have testing for the school this week, and I am a little nervous. Please pray that it will be a good reflection of where they are in school.

2) we need a church. Please pray that we will stick with this church hunting until God gives us such peace we can't miss it. Honestly, we probably have about twenty more churches within a twenty mile radius that we could visit. It's a little overwhelming, so please pray for peace and direction.

3) We need to hear back about our insurance plan. I did complete the final leg of paperwork, had a phone interview, mailed in more papers, and we are waiting to hear back. Pray that this will happen smoothly.

4) Roger has two days off this week, Wednesday and Sunday. Please pray that he will get the rest he needs, that the boys will get the daddy time that they need, and that we will make good use of our time. 

I have a few unspoken, as I'm sure do many of you. Isn't it wonderful to know that God knows our hearts?

Our love to you, 

Sarah

Maine Residents...The Good and the Not-So-Good News

   

                        This is the largest rotating globe in the world. It's three stories tall and quite impressive. 

We saw it in Yarmouth, Maine, last week. 

 

I am way behind on this blog post and because of that, I know I'm going to forget some things that I wanted to write down to remember years down the road. I need to make myself write a little bit every day, but at the end of the day I just want to climb in bed and close my eyes! 

Good news: Both Roger and I are official Maine residents!! So far I only have a piece of paper stating that fact but the DMV said that they are mailing my official one soon. With Roger working...a lot...and long hours, I ended up taking the kids to the DMV with me. I deserve a medal for that in and of itself! The paperwork wasn't too hard to navigate through, but the wait was longer than five kids and one mama wanted it to be. Thankfully, we did survive, and as a treat we all got donuts afterwards. (I got coffee!) I have mixed feelings on being a resident. I'm excited as this is where God has put us, and it's another sign of putting down roots. I'm sad because it closes a chapter in our lives that will never be the same again. I'm relieved to have it behind us as we can't get a library card, file for insurance paperwork, or register our vehicles (another story) until we were residents. All in all, it's a good thing, just sometimes the changes seem so overwhelming. However, did I mention that God is good? He certainly is! 

Other news: I have applied for Maine care for our children. We qualified for state insurance in Wisconsin due to our income, and we may or may not qualify for it here. We will see. The application was pages and pages and pages long, but it is necessary. We need to have insurance for our children, so we will see. However, please be in prayer with us over this matter. It's a big deal. 

I'm enjoying getting to see my sister, Hannah, more often. We were able to meet for coffee and supper last Sunday evening together, and she has come down to see us a few times. In the midst of feeling lonely and overwhelmed, God has allowed her to be in my life on a more regular basis. I like that. 

Church: Well, I don't enjoy church shopping. We have visited several, and while I don't think we are a picky family, none of them seemed to be a good match. I have no problem singing the hymns of the faith and older songs; however, it seems to be a common thread among conservative churches to sing them without life or enthusiasm. If we are singing, "And the Lord shall descend and the trump shall resound...", I kinda feel like we should be excited about that thought! I am under no illusions that we will find an absolutely perfect church. After all, imperfect people attend them, myself being one of them. However, God has a church that will be a good fit for our family, and one in which we can grow in our faith and hopefully be a blessing. I'm praying that we will find the church for our family soon. 

Work: Roger does a lot of this! I knew that we were moving during the busy season for flying. I just didn't realize the full ramifications of that. I'm not complaining, or I'm trying not to, but Roger is gone from sunup to sundown on the days that he works. That is not an exaggeration. When the weather is good, and the sun is up, the planes are flying. I know it will slow down in the winter giving us more time as a family, but it's hard right now. I take the boys and Emma with me EVERYWHERE. To the DMV, grocery shopping, errands, or wherever we need to go. They're good kids. I like them. But every once in a while, we like to be apart. However, it has meant that I've spent more time reading to them, taking them to the park, playing games, and finding jobs for them around the house. We have fun adventures like the farmers market and swimming in the creek. We have not fun ones like waiting in line, or traveling an hour to go to Sam's Club or hauling trash to the dump. But all in all, it's just another adjustment, and we are surviving it. I wouldn't say we are to the thriving part yet, but we are adjusting and coping. 

Play: Its been warm here the last few days. It's been warm enough that the boys think that they would like to go swimming, but not hot enough that I want to try it! Our house is about three minutes from a nice park with a creek. The water is about two feet deep in some parts near the park, but it's enough to to get wet in. That park has been a special blessing to me. It's nice to have a place to go where the kids can play and get wet, and I don't have a whole lot to worry about. 

                      

                                            I am very thankful for this little park and creek. 

  

We visited the library in Rockland last week. It was a very nice library. However, I discovered that you have to get a library card in the town you are a resident in. Since our district is Warren, we have to get a library card to the Warren library. We will have to visit there soon. It looks like a small building from the outside, but sometimes good things can come in small packages. 

School: I have filled out the boys applications for the Christian school near hear. We are prayerfully moving forward with the decision to enroll them in school. This will be a great blessing to me, but if we can't afford the financial strain than I will teach them myself. It's definitely a matter of strong prayer on our hearts. I feel like this would be good for the boys as they need some extra stability in their lives, and  I'm trusting  that God can provide them with good friends. 

And the not so good news....anyone want to buy a suburban? So the state of Maine requires a vehicle inspection once a year. They are fairly picky about it...and they do not allow rust on the vehicles. Our suburban has survived a trip to Alaska, three years in Wisconsin winters, a trip to Arizona, several trips to South Dakota, several trips to North Carolina, uncountable trips to Oshkosh, and now Maine. It looks like Maine doesn't want it. We took it to a vehicle inspection place just to see what they would say about it, and to find out how picky they are about vehicle inspections. It wasn't good. The inspector said we are looking at about $2500.00 of rust repair on the vehicle. He said that underneath looks fairly good other than the rust (as it should since we've maintained the brains of the vehicle just not the body). He told Roger that he had never seen a vehicle with that much rust on it and someone still driving it. Roger just chuckled and said "You've  never been to Wisconsin, have you?" People drive around vehicles with far more rust than ours and don't even think twice about it. We are currently praying about what to do. It looks like we can get Roger's car to pass inspection without a whole lot of extra money, but the truck is a different matter entirely. Anyone want to buy a truck that has 230,000 miles on it, doesn't look pretty, but runs good?! 

We are settling in to life here. I am enjoying the water, the walks along the coast, the beauty and simplicity of nature, and our home. However, along with the newness wearing off comes a sense of loneliness. It's deeper right now as Roger is so busy, but I know the kids are struggling with adjusting and loneliness in their own ways. It flushes out differently with every child, but their struggles are real. They have their own list of specific requests that they are asking God for, and I am going to enjoy seeing how He answers their prayers. 

"The law of the Lord is perfect,  converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure,  making wise the simple." Psalm 19:7 

Happy Birthday, America!

So many, many things have happened in two weeks that it would be impossible to describe them all! We enjoyed having Aunt Jen visit, we celebrated the Fourth of July, we hosted a dear family from our church in Wisconsin, Emma potty trained herself, we looked into a Christian school, and lots of other minor news. 

                       

   

From a readers perspective, I often wonder what information I would be interested in reading. But since it's my life journey, it is all interesting from my perspective! 

Aunt Jen arrived last Wednesday, June 29, and we had a great time. A friend from Roger's work was able to get our family tickets to a rope obstacle course, so we did that on Thursday. Emma did a great job with Roger's help and she seemed to enjoy it. The boys couldn't get enough of the climbing and zip lines, and they would've stayed for a much longer time. I'm thankful that we were able to get free passes, and it was a fun time. 

Roger stayed home with the kids on Thursday night so I could spend some time with my sisters. We enjoyed a night out together with dinner and shopping...which was not very much shopping as everything closes around nine pm. We enjoyed a lot of laughter and discussion, and I am very thankful for my family. 

Our good friends, Gretchen and Sean, along with their four children, arrived very early on Sunday morning. It was about 1 am., and I was so excited to see them! I had known that they were coming for about two weeks, but I had managed to keep it a surprise from the kids. The kids were amazed when they woke up on Sunday morning that their friends from Wisconsin were at their house! It was a fun surprise! 

The week flew by entirely too quickly with many memories many, new experiences, and fun times with friends. Monday was the Fourth of July, and the town near us was hosting a kids fun run as well as a 5k race. Gretchen offered to keep the kids that were still sleeping so that I could go do the 5k race. Roger had to work, and I wasn't even sure if I could run a 5k race...it's been a long time since I've gotten in a longer run! It ended up that only Garett and Chandler were up early enough to participate in the fun run. They both received free t-shirts for running, and they had a great time. Chandler ran a mile in about 7:18 and Garett ran it in about 8:10. The official results were published in the paper, but I have no idea what paper that is going to be! Oh well, it was a great memory for them and they are already looking forward to next year. The boys waited for me while I ran in the 5k race. I may not have trained as well as I should, but I can certainly still do my very best and push myself hard (leftover memories from my college days!) I ran it in 25:17 and I placed third in my age division. I was pretty happy with that, but I'd love to actually train for it and run next year. So, I guess we all have things to look forward to for next year! 

                  

   

We watched the parade with the Schilders, and it was an experience for all of us. We saw a huge Democratic Party, a small vehicle representing the Republican Party, the Lobster queen, the wild blueberry princess and Queen, and a re-enactment of the revolutionary war period during the parade. I was amazed at all the people that were there, and apparently it's a very popular parade. 

My sisters came up in the afternoon for a cook out, so that was fun. Roger did not get done with work until about 7:30pm, but he was able to watch the fireworks with us. Wow! What a firework display! It went on and on and on. It was about a forty-five minute firework display, and it was quite impressive. I guess we know where to go for fireworks in the upcoming years! 

Towards the end of last week, before Jen came to visit,  Emma decided to potty train herself. I knew that she was getting ready to be potty trained, but with moving to Maine, and all our transitions, I wanted to wait. A friend had given her some pink underwear, and she was excited about those. She woke up one morning last week, put on underwear, had one accident, and she's potty trained! It's really quite wonderful when a child does that, and she has been accident free for over a week. That definitely has not been the case with all of our children, but she did it. It's just another reminder that our children are growing up quickly.  Gretchen asked me how I was doing with not having any children in diapers, and it's a first in almost ten years. I'm not sure how I'm doing with it, so I'll have to think about it! 

The Schidlers had to leave on Thursday morning, which was way too soon in my opinion! We stayed up late talking, drank lots of coffee, and supervised nine children. My heart is full with blessings and gratitude at the friendships we share. 

We also toured a Christian school on Thursday. There is a Christian school about twenty minutes from our house, and Jen, my sister, decided to see if she could set up a tour. It worked out for Thursday. Roger had to work, but he was able to get off to tour the school with us. We took our kids, Jen and Hannah, so it was a family affair! We were very impressed with the school. Although they only have about 25 students, each of their teachers are Maine state certified teachers. They also have art classes, Spanish classes, music, and they get special classes in tennis and ice skating from the local YMCA. Of course, the big factor is the cost of the school. The first child is full price at $3,200, the second child receives a 25% discount, and the consecutive children are free. Yes, you read that right. I had to hear it a few times myself to believe it. Apparently, it's their policy and they believe strongly in Christian education. We aren't sure if we will be able to afford it this year, but we will see what God will do. I can certainly homeschool them, and I will if that's what God wants, but it is definitely not my cup of tea! I appreciate the fact that the school has only half day kindergarten, so Travis wouldn't have to be in school all day. Of course, that also means that I need to pick him up at 11:15. Oh, the decisions to be made are quite overwhelming, but I know that God will give us clear direction. 

Our friends have gone home, Aunt Jen has flown out, and we are back to life as normal. Since I'm not exactly sure what "normal" looks like yet, I'll just say that we are all struggling a bit with depression at missing friends and family. However, we have many things to get done in the next few days, and Roger has off for three days. We are needing to get Maine drivers licenses, vehicles registered, and a whole host of other paperwork...ugh! But, I won't be bored! 

We appreciate your prayers as we seek God's clear direction for schooling decisions, vehicles, and other choices to be made. God is so good, and I am so thankful for His timely interventions in my life.