Two sides of a coin...

This move has been like two sides of a coin. Right before we moved, we got so many questions..one of which was, "Are you excited?". It was a hard question to answer. I think people assume because we were moving willingly that we must be excited to get out of dodge.


I look at our life in Raleigh like I would a tree. There we found an environment that was rich in love and friendship. And so in that "soil" we were able to put down strong deep roots. Hey, we even had a little sapling..lol! He too was being loved on, taught, molded. So were we excited to leave friends who became family, neighbors who became like aunts/uncles and grandparents to Seth (yes, you know who we are talking about)...heck no! Were we excited to leave one of my best childhood friends (I can't even count the years but at least  2 decades)....heck no!! The list truly goes on! There are so many of you that we truly love and adore...and it was anything but exciting to leave (I cry even as I type this...which will be weird if anyone comes in my office).  So we left Raleigh with a heavy heart.


So that was the sad side of the coin.


Now for the excitement! Seth and I flew into Des Moines. In spite of the two hour delay in Charlotte, the flight went over without a hitch. After Seth and I left, Sean and his Dad spent the day cleaning. I was hoping they would be on the road by 12 noon but they did not get on the road until 6pm...wowzers! As soon as I got here I noted how nice folks were. Even getting off the plane a guy offered to carry my backpack/diaper bag. Then when I had to stand in line to wait for the stroller (and he had to go pick up his luggage) someone else offered to take the bag for me. And this went on and on.


Then Sean finally got here on Thursday and we went to dinner with his parents. Getting a first glimpse of Des Moines was exhilarating. The following day we went to look at apartments and went to the city of West Des Moines. Sean and I agreed that the area looked like a cross between Southpoint and Crossroads with the combined size of both (I mean the city has two very nice malls).

My new office 

The view from my office 

The pic on the left and bottom are from the sculpture garden. The pic of Seth is at The Legion Park

 I started work on Monday. I admit I was not sure how I would feel about my boss. His emails have always been short and direct (no greetings). He never reached out to me between when I got hired and when I moved. But man he is an awesome guy. My first day as I was talking immediately he asked what my son's name (small detail but tells me a lot about a person). He did the same about Sean's name. He sat listening about our trip and my family. Reminded me that I could take off as much as I needed to get settled. One day I was cold and he brought me a lab coat to help keep me warm. I know that I am going to enjoy working with him! And the same goes for the office folks.

My guys sleeping (I sneak pics before I leave for work)

I don't want to paint a rosy picture though. I mean things are going great and that's what I like to focus on. But there are so eh moments. Like not having an apartment and trying to extend our hotel stay only to find out that all the hotels were booked solid. Talking about a bit of stress. Today I am sporting a rash over most of my body and I am pretty sure the stress of not having somewhere to stay is contributing to that. I am so ready to settle somewhere and plant my roots again.


This post has become super long...so I'll stop here. But I'll make sure to blog more frequently than I have been. In the meantime keep us in your prayers.