Life in Virginia

We're here! We officially moved to our new home about a month ago, which almost feels like a lifetime ago. Although we miss so many people and things about San Diego, we are loving our life in Virginia and are thankful that God opened the door for us to come here.  

All I can say about our cross country move is "we made it." I will just summarize the trip:

12-hour days in the car = 4

Vehicles that lost air conditioning when the temperature was 95 degrees outside = 2

Travelers who visited urgent care = 4

Antibiotics prescribed = 6

Sleepless nights comforting a toddler who wanted to go home = 1

There you have it.  But God blessed us with safety each day and good attitudes through it all, and for that I am very grateful.  I honestly don't know how we would've ever made it without the help of my parents and Dan's parents.  They put their love into action and helped us drive all our earthly belongings across the country, never complaining about the long, tiring days and uncomfortable nights in hotels. We love and appreciate you guys more than we can say!

Since everything was still packed in the moving truck, we made quick work of finding a house to rent. We love the neighborhood we chose in the Greenbrier area of Chesapeake.  We are in the middle of one of the most crowded suburban areas, which is the only place we felt at home since Hampton Roads, VA is much more rural than San Diego, CA. When we asked about areas to rent, people said we'd want to avoid Greenbrier because it's so busy with all the shops and restaurants and malls. Those people love the country. They probably grow vegetables and have a dairy cow in their backyard. I, however, want to buy everything I need at a store that is less than 5 minutes away. Maybe I will grow to love the country more with time, but for now, home is where the Target is.   

Work has been going well for both Dan and I.  Dan likes his new coworkers a lot, and with eight years of experience under his belt, he feels well prepared to handle the Upper School Principal responsibilities at his new school.  I'm working for the same company doing the same proposal/marketing job I've had for 10 years, and the transition to my new office has gone smoothly.

Emma loves our new home and all the experiences we've enjoyed in Virginia, but she is struggling with preschool three days a week.  She's used to being the only child at home or with a babysitter, and we are not exactly regimented about our daily schedule. Apparently, a drill sergeant forces her go to the bathroom with the other children, sit at a table while she is eating, and lay down on a mat at the same time every single day! I'm sure it feels exactly like toddler boot camp to her. She cries every day when we drop her off, but they say she has a good day after the first five or ten minutes. We chose a small church preschool, and we really like the Christian environment and the kindness of the employees.  So we are praying that she will grow to love it with time.

The thing we've enjoyed the most about being here is the time we've spent with family! We've driven an hour (or so) to Williamsburg every weekend to hang out with Dan's family and that alone has been worth the cross-country move!

Here are some pictures of our move and new home.

Emma finally finished loading the truck in San Diego. We thought she'd never get it all in. :)

We sold about half our furniture before we left so we could cram everything into a smaller 17 foot moving truck.  It saved a bundle of money! 

The friends and family who came to help us on moving day were such a blessing! 

Emma got one last hug from her babysitter, Linda. She loved going to Linda's house and really thrived under her care.

Emma and I flew to Fort Worth, TX (where my parents live), while Dan and his parents drove to Fort Worth from San Diego. Emma and I clearly got the better end of the deal!

Once Dan and his folks arrived in Fort Worth, we rested for a day at my parents' house. Then my parents joined us the rest of the way to Virginia. Having everyone with us made the drive a much more fun experience!

A photo of the drivers. My responsibility was to keep Emma entertained for 12 hours in the car. 

We've had such fun times since we arrived in Virginia!

We stayed in Williamsburg with Dan's parents while Dan and I searched for rental houses.  We got to visit nearby Jamestown Beach, which is beautiful!

My parents (left) stayed until we were settled into our house, and then headed back home to Texas. We are working on convincing them to stay forever. :)

We've also been blessed to spend time with several friends we haven't seen in years! 

Our good friends from Colorado, Mike, Kate, and their kids were in town to visit Mike's family for 4th of July.

Our friend from San Diego, Jenn, stopped by our house while she was visiting her parents in Virginia Beach.

Emma had a great time playing with Jenn's kids, Sarah and James!

We caught up with another sweet friend from Colorado, Courtney, when we visited her church one Sunday!  

We had rain every single day the first couple of weeks. Emma was fascinated by the umbrella which she saw in action for the first time in her life.

When we were asking questions about our rental house, I asked the property manager if we were responsible for running the sprinklers for the grass.  She looked at me like I had two heads - heh!  No sprinklers necessary here. :)

We have a garage!! My CR-V and I are spoiled.

We visited Chincoteague with Dan's parents. It's a lovely island off the coast of Virginia where Dan's dad's side of the family is from. They even have a street named for us!

Chincoteague was made famous by the children's novel, Misty of Chincoteague, by Marguerite Henry. It's a story about one of the wild Chincoteague ponies that roam the area.  Emma loved meeting some of the ponies while we were there!

We've gotten to celebrate two family birthdays since we've been here. It's wonderful to be close enough to be a part of the festivities! 

Emma loves going to Grandpa and Grandma's house. We go swimming in the pool, play with all  their cool toys, and help feed Grandpa's fish.

She also loves hanging out with her cousin/BFF, Naomi.

We bought season passes to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, which is a very fun way to spend the day.

Busch Gardens has some of Emma's favorite characters, too!

We are so grateful to God for answering our prayers about moving to Virginia. It was a big decision and a major life change, but we love it here already and feel like it's the perfect place to call home.

Cross Country Move!

In case you haven't heard the news yet, we are moving to Chesapeake, Virginia! On Saturday! 

In one sense it was a very fast decision, since Dan was offered a job in Chesapeake only one month ago. In another sense, this move has been coming for a decade, since we have hoped and prayed to live close to family for a long time. Dan's parents, brother, sister, and their families live in Williamsburg, VA which is 45 minutes away from Chesapeake. We are so very excited that we'll be close enough to be a consistent part of each others' lives!  

Dan will serve as Stonebridge School's Upper School Principal and will begin work in July to prepare for the upcoming school year.  One of the attractions of the position (besides the job itself and his family being nearby) was that it was only 10 miles away from my company's east coast office in Portsmouth, VA.  My boss was kind enough to allow me to transfer to our Portsmouth office, so I'll continue my part-time job as Marketing and Proposal Coordinator for Epsilon Systems Solutions - just from a distance.  God has been gracious to provide wonderful employment for us in our new city!

We are planning to rent when we first move there so we can get to know the area before purchasing a house.  We've gotten suggestions of family-friendly neighborhoods to look into, so we're searching for rental houses online and will spend our first few days looking for the right place to live.  We'll also need to find part-time childcare for Emma while I'm working.  But God is obviously opening the door for us to move, and we trust Him to provide everything we need when we get there.

In the meantime, we're making the most of our time left in San Diego! Here are some pictures of what we've been up to for the past month.

Lots and lots of packing! I was a little nervous about Emma being traumatized by all the changes around our house, but she's been super adaptable and happy through the transition.

We sold our bedroom set weeks ago on Craigslist and Emma helped Dan take apart the bed frame. :)

We had our very first yard sale, and sold a bunch of furniture, appliances, clothing, kitchenware, and other miscellaneous items to make our move across the country easier and cheaper.

We've also spent a lot of time with our San Diego friends, who we'll miss immensely.

We got to have lunch with Dan's coworker, Paul (left), their former coworker, Chris (middle), and their families. The guys are holding their three sweet princesses.

And a photo of me with Chris' wife, Adessa (left), and Paul's wife, Ann (middle). Their sons were too busy playing to stop for a photo. :)

We spent a beautiful morning at the beach with my friend from church, Jackie, and her daughter, Jemma.

Summer comes slowly in San Diego, but we had a few hot days in April 

Emma loved keeping cool with her water table and the hose

We spent an evening with our friends, Dave, Cynthia, and their daughters Olivia and Kailey.  They have chickens and Emma wore herself out terrorizing chasing them! 

They had a mini bounce house, too. Emma had a blast jumping in it with Olivia and Kailey!

And at the end of the evening, we roasted marshmallows. Emma was a little bit too excited about the fire for my comfort.

We met my former coworker, Kat, and her twins, Mateo and Alyssa for a library-sponsored kids' concert.

We visited Sea World on a hot day and saw the polar bears frolicking in the water.

 And Emma got hugs from some of her favorite guys. :)

Last Saturday, we spent a fun day at Disneyland with Dave, Cynthia, Olivia, and Kailey.

I'm not going to lie, we're going to miss this guy, too.

Holding the girls up high during the parade

This was the first time on the Dumbo ride for all three of us.

We had dinner last Sunday with our good friends, Judy, Chris, Ian, and Jon. I forgot to take a picture of them at their house, so this photo is from a couple of months ago when Emma and I ran into them at Sea World. 

And today, Emma and I joined a group of mommy and kid friends at the zoo

Left to right: Ann with her son Eli and daughter Eva, Emma and I, Stacy with her daughter Ellie and son Daniel (asleep in the stroller on the right), Jessica with her son Lucas, Sue (Emma's former babysitter) holding Jessica's daughter London, and Sue's daughter Brandy (standing)

It was my first time visiting the zoo with Emma, and we had a great time!  We'll definitely have to look into zoo passes in Virginia.

It's bittersweet to leave such amazing friends and the incredible city that we've loved for 10 years.  We moved here thinking we wouldn't be able to afford it for very long, but God provided great jobs and blessed us with a support system of friends who we love like family. Yet we feel strongly that this is the right time to move close to our own family and can't wait for Emma to get to know her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins better.  We're looking forward to our new adventure in Virginia!

Racing, Reflecting, and Celebrating

We had a great Mother's Day weekend.  We spent Saturday at Disneyland, and on Sunday morning, I ran the Tinker Bell Half Marathon on behalf of Alex's Lemonade Stand.

Emma had been to Disneyland twice before, but was too young to know what was going on.  This visit was completely different, and we had the best time watching her light up with excitement!  Thanks to her grandparents, she has Mickey, Minnie, and Disney princess dolls at home, so she recognized them all on sight.  She seemed a little afraid of the rides and gave a vehement "No!" when we asked if she wanted to ride any of them. So we spent the majority of the day meeting the characters and watching shows and the parade. All three of us had a great time!

My wake up call on Sunday morning was at 4:30 since the race began at 5:30 and I had to get ready and then walk about a mile from our hotel to the starting point.  There were plenty of other racers walking the same direction, so I chatted with them along the way.  I was slotted for the very last runner's corral because I signed up with Alex's Lemonade Stand after the race had sold out.  I knew that last corral would be full of walkers, and I wasn't looking forward to running through an obstacle course of people trying to get past them.  So I snuck into an earlier corral (I did have to sneak, since there were race personnel weeding out people who were trying to do the same thing!) and it was absolutely worth it!  Only the fastest racers got to start at 5:30, while the rest of us were packed like cattle waiting for our turn.  I passed the time chatting with my neighbors and admiring everyone's Disney-themed costumes (about 10,000 people dressed up like Tinker Bell, but there were a few other costumes, too), and my group finally got to cross the starting line at 6:05.  The corral I chose was full of slow runners, so it was the perfect pace for me.

The first 5.5 miles of the course ran through the California Adventure and Disneyland theme parks, which was so much fun!  We passed all the iconic rides and scenes while they played music and had characters out to cheer you on.  There were some bottlenecks and tight corners to turn, so at some points everyone had to slow to a walk.  Plus, you could stop and wait in line to have your photo taken with the Disney characters throughout the park, so it definitely wasn't structured to be a fast-paced race. Once we left the parks, the fun was over. (ha!) The rest of the course ran through the streets of Anaheim, and although they had high school bands and cheerleaders at the major street corners, they couldn't compare to the entertainment inside the parks.  But we did get the opportunity to pick up our pace since the roads were straight and flat.  The longest distance I ran while training was 10 miles, and my knees typically begin to hurt around mile 8, so I fully expected to walk the last few miles.  But God answers prayers, and He kept all my joints feeling good the entire 13.1 miles! I was so thankful!

I want to thank everyone who donated and helped me raise funds for Alex's Lemonade Stand!  Together, we raised almost $1,500 to benefit childhood cancer research!  I am amazed by everyone's generosity, and it meant so much to have your support.  I was running in memory of my brother, Paul, who passed away last October, and I know it would've meant the world to him, too.  I have missed him so much, and thought of him every time I was struggling through a long training run and during the race.  He was the best example of having a graceful attitude during hard times.

Here are some pictures from our weekend.

Emma has no fear of the characters. She ran straight into their arms every time!

She was overcome by shyness when she met the princesses, though. Snow White was the first princess she met up close, and we couldn't get her to lift her head for a picture.

Don't let the solemn face fool you - she was having the time of her life!

Belle held her like this for the longest time and got Emma to tell her all about the other princesses she had met that day. It was the sweetest thing in the world!

After we left, Emma kept talking about how beautiful Belle was.

She was enthralled by the Disneyland Parade, where she saw all her favorite characters.

The photographer told us to make crazy faces. Emma is apparently too cool for that. :)

Dan took a shot of me right after I finished the race.

Emma was not thrilled about getting close to her sweaty, smelly mom! Heh!

Running through California Adventure

Running through Disneyland

We took advantage of a Mother's Day photo shoot at our neighborhood pier, and the photographer captured Emma's sweet smile.  We don't see it often in pictures, so this was an awesome Mother's Day gift!