We’re settling in nicely. I wish I could provide pictures, but Sydney still has our camera battery with him in Oxford. So, pictures to come. But for now we’re glad that:
1) Sydney has his permanent-residency visa in hand and is scheduled to fly into Lexington on Sunday afternoon
2) The kids are settling in nicely at their school, and Katherine has even mentioned that one or two of her classmates have become her friends
3) The kids have already started bonding with David’s and Lisa’s kids, particularly the youngest two. Lisa took care of K and N this morning while I was teaching, and she said they had a great time. It probably helps that we’ve each been talking about the great friends who are coming/waiting and how much fun they’re going to have with their new playmates. Nathaniel also loves their train set.
4) I have been teaching an orientation class for freshmen this week, and it’s great to dip my toe in before the fall semester starts on Monday. My colleagues have been wonderful, and I go home with my head full of students I’m just getting to know and nice people I had lunch with and all of those other things I’ve been looking forward to since I first hoped to teach college literature.
5) Our house is nice. It’s close to campus, it has new carpet and paint, and it’s roomy enough for the kids to really play inside when the weather doesn’t cooperate. Mom just flew back home yesterday, and she spent a good chunk of her time here either running after her grandchildren or helping me settle in, and it really does feel like home now.
6) Everything is close together. I love to walk far more than I like to drive, and it is really wonderful to walk with the kids from our house to my office, have lunch together, and then walk them over to their school. They like knowing that I’m just across the street, and I love that they are now big enough to navigate their world on their own two feet.
Erin
Alan Schmierer