Hiya!!

Well we are finally getting into our new groove with a new sitter, job, and lots on the Spring docket. We sat down a few evenings ago to really look at the calendar and it seems we are booked most weekends and a couple evenings a week until school gets out in mid June! We have a trip planned early July to have a Kolb family reunion and to spend time with my family welcoming our niece Grace into the world!  It’s all good stuff but we definitely need to pace ourselves! It’s nice to be busy this year with life and not a move. It’s nice to literally put down some roots and look forward to seeing the fruit.

The biggest gig around here right now is the garden project. When we were house shopping last year one of our biggest things on the list was a yard that could both fit and provide enough sunlight for a garden.  While the house and yard have some quirkiness we are excited that it does fit the bill to have space and sun for a garden. We are hoping our light green thumbs darken as we dive into this learning experience of growing lots at one time.

My mom is my garden consultant from afar. She is the one who planted the love for gardening in me. So much of her life as a young mom was spent being involved in serving others through our church as a pastors wife. Her garden was her own project that she enjoyed cultivating and sharing with others.  She always had some kind of garden no matter what parsonage she was in. The one that sticks out to me the most was the one that she did down the road from our house on the church property. Our yard had a steep slope and a zillion trees so a garden was impossible. She asked the leaders of the church if they would let her use a plot of land on the back of the property to plant. They agreed….not withholding their chuckles about planting a garden in a back field with no hose or water line. I can remember my mom saving milk jugs and filling the minivan with enough jugs to water the garden. Not sure how on earth she did it with three young children but it must have been a project that brought her sanity and joy because she pressed on! She recalled the shock of the small town Ohio folk when they saw things like eggplant growing in her garden.  They had never seen it and the thought of growing it and eating it was unheard of. That might have been the year she wowed us all with Eggplant Parmesan.   Even my not so adventurous husband is now known to request it. That and ratatouille…which by the way isn’t just a kids movie. We are looking forward to lots of deliciousness to come…or at least we hope!  Currently we have strawberries and herbs in the ground as well as flower pots. Next round will be tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, squash, eggplant,  watermelon, cantaloupe, zinnias and sunflowers.  The only thing missing is my mom being close by or able to just pop up!

Hi folks,

it’s been a while. I have sat down to blog 10 times in the last week and somehow I get distracted or pulled away. It might be that Spring is finally here and we are spending more time outside, meeting friends at the park and enjoying the backyard. Or it might be that I am in denial of all of these big changes in this house and I haven’t been ready to tap it out on the keyboard.

I mentioned a while back that I was taking the state exam and have been pushing through the process of applying for jobs, interviews and such.  It was an effort to prepare ourselves to offset this whole sequester business if furloughing were to go into effect. This could still occur between now and September (the end of the fiscal year) but for now Seth is still in the clear up until this point. Anyhow, a couple of weeks ago I had 3 interviews at three different speech therapy practices in the area. They all had different offerings and setups. In the end I picked the one that operates much like my job in Texas working for an Early Childhood Intervention program. I will be going to homes in my area providing support for families and therapy for children age birth to 3 years old. These kids will have a variety of diagnosis and things they are working on from feeding and swallowing to articulation and language. I will do some training on Tuesday and then I will begin picking up kids to my caseload. I will likely have a caseload of 8 patients which will have me working 1 1/2 to 2 days a week. I am in the process of getting Owen squared away for my work days. It’s been a treat to be home with the boys up until now…I am feeling quite sad about the transition but also excited to get out of the house part-time to get my brain and clinical skills going again.

In other new things we just kicked off our first soccer season with Jackson. Seth is his coach and one week in we are having a great time! The first game was Saturday and Jackson did great. He seems to have a great bunch of kids on his team. Owen loves cheering him on and watching every move. I am having a hard time getting pics off my phone but I promise I will take the big camera this weekend!  After the first practice we rushed the boys to bed after a long day. Owen called out from his bed. When Seth went to see what he needed he said “Dad, when you coach my soccer team will you say “I’m coach Seth and this is my son Owen”….he had overheard introductions and wanted to be sure he would get to be part of it all someday. So sweet. Before we know it he will be big enough to play too!

And lastly we are stepping out and looking for a new church. We love our church home and for the past months have justified the drive but we are guilty of really not being plugged in during the week. The church is a healthy church that is well-established and we often find ourselves not really using our gifts and abilities. So we are looking for something closer to home for our family to serve in and worship!

That’s about it on new things here. That’s enough to keep us running for a little while!

Have a wonderful week! I hope Spring finds you where you are! I know our friends in Switzerland are still facing the cold! We will have an 88 degree day coming our way tomorrow!   The boys are finally in shorts,  t-shirts and bare feet!