One month and counting

As of Sunday, we have officially been in Texas for a month.  The time went quickly because each day held many opportunities for us to put our adaptability into practice and work towards acclimating to life here.  Even though a lot of our time is still spent diving into new and different things, we're happy to report we have made some significant strides in being able to call Texas home.  No one has gotten any major sunburn yet, I have cooked almost every single meal here without needing to turn on our oven and we have almost adjusted to doing laundry in our garage.  More importantly, Shawn continues to love his new job, I am starting to recognize the landmarks indicating I am on my way home and Nicole has started an adorable collection of sun hats.

We love the authentic Mexican ingredients that are stocked in our grocery stores as well as the plethora of fresh fruit.  After walking the isles of the grocery store down the street from us, I decided that it's my goal to learn how to cook with nopales (cactus).  We are also thrilled to try as many new-to-us fruits as we can.  So far we've tried a Hawaiian papaya and a yellow mango, both things we had never seen in the Minnesota grocery store we used to frequent.    We don't always have the capacity to be adventurous in areas where we don't have to branch out, but when we do, we are having a lot of fun with it.

After our first family trip to the local pool, we decided that we are going to try and make it a Friday night tradition.  Because of the way the pool is set up, the opportunities to wade in the shallow water and splash around are seemingly endless.   Nicole thoroughly enjoys playing in the water and she is completely enamored watching the bigger kids swim.  She doesn't know how to swim just yet but she's working on it!  This week we started swimming lessons and after only two days Nicole is already picking up how to float on her back.    Swimming lessons have completely exceeded my expectations because we were able to sign up with our neighbor Stacey and her daughter Addy and   the four of us are having a blast!

We still have a lot to learn about living in Texas, such as the best way to keep ourselves and Nicole hydrated in the heat, or where to buy the best tacos, but we're grateful for all that we've learned so far.  Over this past month I have had many opportunities to reflect on how present God has been in this transition.   From helping me find my way home when I get turned around running errands to continuing to deepen our friendship with our neighbors, God is with us.  Some days are harder than others to be so far away from the people we love and the life that was familiar to us, but even then, we have great peace about being here.

With love,
Erica