Life made easier

Joni has freakishly thick hair, and regularly gets comments on it.  When other moms act jealous, I always want to say, "Do you really want to dedicate half your life to brushing out tangly hair, washing it, conditioning it, brushing it out again, blow drying it (because if you don't, it'll never dry), and then curling, styling - only to start over again the next day?"

So when we were staying in Colorado with family, I made a decision one morning that I had had enough.  Luckily, Joni's cousin, Ava, had just chopped her hair, so Joni was in agreement that it would be cool.

I did not encourage the diva look, I swear.  I did, however, find it hilarious.

We cut off her 8 inches just in time.

For this....

Tom takes the kids to the pool most nights after dinner. :)

Day 53 of moving

That last post was written Monday night even though it wasn't posted until last night because our internet is still touch-and-go.

So it's two days later and things are going a little better.  Tom has been at orientation all day yesterday and today, so I've been trying to get "manly" things done on my own.  I went to Lowe's yesterday and bought all the parts I needed for the washer and dryer, and then I spent waaaaay too much time hooking it all up.  It is finally done, and I did it all by myself (if you don't count the 300+ calls I made to my dad - thanks dad!).  I even wired on a new power cord for the dryer because the old one didn't reach.  I am successfully washing and drying clothes at this very moment.  Holla!

I must also apologize for the horribly outdated header on my blog, and let y'all know it will probably be a while before I have time to change it.  If I was rich I would pay some hot-shot blog designer to make me a new one, but we all know that isn't the case.

On another random-info-front, I think my big toes hate me.  You see, a YEAR ago I somehow managed to kill the toenail on my left foot after a rigorous day of site seeing.  It never fell off, so it has been slowly growing out.  After a YEAR of pain, I realized last week that it had finally stopped hurting.

Then yesterday in a Target parking lot as I was hurrying to put the kids and shopping sacks in the car, I kicked the little bar on the shopping cart with my right foot and it HURT.  I looked down a couple minutes later because the pain wasn't going away, and blood was oozing out from underneath the big toenail.  So now I get to start all over with the other foot.  Maybe a year from now I can slam my whole foot in a sliding glass door.

And although I like to make fun of crappy things in my life, I have to say that I am so grateful for all the good. I occasionally have moments where this place feels very unfamiliar and weird to me (Texas could NOT be more opposite from Israel), but then I remember that all of Tom's dreams are coming true.  We couldn't have mapped out his school path any better.  The Lord has worked miracles for us over and over again.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am not the shy submissive type.  I will admit I have a few feisty bones in my body.  So it must be known that I don't just submissively follow this unconventional path with Tom secretly wishing we were doing something else.  I feel just as driven to follow this path as he does - in fact, I think sometimes I feel it even more.

We are where we are supposed to be, I am sure of it.  If I lose a few toenails along the way, so be it.

New day, but same movie, same clothes, and a little bit different surroundings, including a wet towel to soak up a spilled drink.  I think he also has spilled milk all down the front of him from breakfast.  Don't be jealous of my awesomeness as a mom. ;)

Moving

I feel......

gross.

And tired.

Scratch that – let's say exhausted. Yeah, that feels right.

Since leaving Jerusalem at the end of June, we have been living the nomad life. We've laid our heads in several different places – St. Louis, Ogden, Mora, Manassa, then back to Mora again. Then we made the trek across Texas and arrived here in Austin last week with the mighty generous help of Tom's mom, Cyndy (or as the kids call her, Omi). She is officially given the title of saint-hood, says me. I think you all should agree.

After staying in a crap-hole hotel for a few days (sorry, mom, there's no other way to put it), we decided on a nice little apartment on Friday.

It felt right. I love that.

But our semi trailer couldn't get here for three more days, so we made a trip to WalMart and spent what seemed like a fortune on annoying things like an air mattress (that didn't work – boo!), towels, and paper plates.

We've been living off of Easy Mac, corn dogs, and cereal. Oh, and let's not forget the all luxurious McDonald's.

Moving our stuff into the apartment today has been slow. Did y'all know that the heat index here is a steady 110 degrees?!? Now you know why my first statement is as true as it could possibly be.

We've lost binkies, raised our voices way too much, and eaten all of our meals sitting on the kitchen floor.

We have no idea how to hook up our washer and dryer, and I have MOUNTAINS of laundry to do.

Worst of all, I can't remember for the life of me whether or not I've brushed my teeth today.