Phew!! It's been quite a week. I feel like I've been on an enormous roller coaster. Thankfully, with each passing day the ups and downs of the roller coaster have leveled out a bit. It took a while, but we've all adjusted to the time change (Ethan went to bed between midnight and 1am, the first 4 days we were here!). The weather has been an easy adjustment, we had a few hot days, but the last few days have been cool, cloudy and rainy just like Eugene. After we got here, we had 3 days until Eric started his new job. We spent most of it looking for a place to live, and just adjusting to life in our hotel. Let me just say, trying to live in a hotel is WAY different than vacationing in a hotel. First of all, since we flew out here on Southwest, we were allowed to each check 2 bags. So, we had two large suitcases, two large boxes, two small suitcases, the pack and play, air mattress, and two back packs. This made our already small room quite cramped. But, it didn't seem to bother Ethan, he loved toddling around the room. He loves opening and closing cabinets and drawers, and enjoyed checking out all the new drawers in the dressers and bed stands. He wasn't sleeping very well in his pack and play, so since the second night, he's just been in bed with us, which he's quite happy about.
We took a break from the apartment hunting on Sunday and checked out a local church. It's a medium sized non-denominational church. Ethan LOVED the nursery, and Eric and I both thoroughly enjoyed the service. It was pretty funny to walk in and literally see about half the church wearing Baltimore Ravens gear. Apparently they're quite passionate about their team. It reminded me of being in Eugene on Saturdays, where suddenly the whole town turns green and yellow. There was so much about the church that reminded us of our church in Eugene, it helped us feel a little more at home. We're very much looking forward to going back this Sunday.
FINALLY! We signed a lease and got keys to our new apartment. The apartment hunting turned out to be quite difficult, but I feel God has led us to a great little place. We thought we had found an apartment, and I spent almost four hours there on Tuesday looking at several different units on two different trips. At this particular complex, the set up reminded me more of a hotel than an apartment. You walk into a main door, and then there's an enclosed hallway that's shared by six units. I walked through four different buildings, and the main hallways all smelled heavily of smoke. This wasn't a total deal breaker, but it was very disappointing. Eric and I both are really sensitive to the smell of smoke, and with all of Ethan's health issues, I really didn't want him to be around smoke on a regular basis. Plus, the leasing agent was quite a drama queen. Apparently she was new to the complex, and was less than thrilled with her job. She kept complaining to me how rough her day was, because she had two potential tenants lie to her about their credit, and it was already 1:30 and she hadn't had lunch yet ..... I just smiled and nodded knowing that if that was a "tough" day for her, she would never survive an hour in my shoes. Her stories of credit issues had me worried about if Eric and I would qualify. Obviously with our house up for a short sale, our credit isn't exactly stellar at the moment. As I was telling Eric that this place just wasn't coming together, he suggested that I check out a place that was recommended to him by a new co-worker. He had called the apartment, and the leasing agent ended up staying an hour after they closed so that we could come and check it out. It was great! It's considered a 1 bedroom deluxe unit. It only has one official bedroom, but it also has an enclosed den, it's the size of a small bedroom, but doesn't have a closet. It has a washer and dryer in the unit, and a decent amount of closet space. It's on the top floor, which means we have three, half flights of stairs, but no it'll be nice to have no one above us. The neighbors are SUPER friendly. Within 20 minutes of getting keys, we had one set of neighbors bringing us bottled water and gatorade, and another neighbor bringing us a 3x5 card with all her contact information. They were all very excited to have a young family in the building, and immediately fell in love with Ethan. It just really feels like this is where we are supposed to be, for now anyway.
It still have a lot of anxious feelings, and a whole lot of work ahead of us, but things are starting to look better. Eric has finished his first week of work, and so far is really enjoying it. The company is very different in every aspect. The new company has a much stricter structure, but the employees are much more laid back. Eric has been in training mode this whole week, and is getting his first real assignment on Monday. Now that our main goals for this trip have been accomplished, we're all very much looking forward to a relaxing weekend.
Pictures to come soon!
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