It goes on

Not sure how writing on my blog has escaped my memory over the last while, but for some reason I rarely think about it. I go through phases, when any little thing that happens, starts me thinking about how I can blog about it. Maybe it's because we're back in a routine, and nothing terribly exciting is happening.

Winter is really enjoying gymnastics, and getting better each time she goes. I usually sit in the viewing room, and read a book, watch, and talk with the other moms. Last week another mom was reading a book that recently came out (the Mockingjay), so we started talking about books. Diana is always reading something new, and enjoys reading. I told her about our ward's bookclub, and asked her if she might want to come with. Tuesday she came with me, and I think she had a good time. Since she's not a member, and all the other ladies were, I would tense up every time someone would mention anything about the church. I don't know why I get so anxious about religion. It seems like a fear of rejection. That they will reject me, once they find out I'm Mormon. These feelings are probably mostly unrealistic, but still, they're there.

As we're living with Joe's parents now, I've taken up an extra day with grandma. It's easier in a way, but also harder. Easier, since all my belongings are right upstairs. Harder, because after the kids get home from school, I'm expected to work full-time, and help the kids with homework, and keep the house clean. Luckily Earl has taken over the cooking for these days, because before he did, I was one big stress ball.

I've been working on getting things set up in Holland. The housing seems to be a lot harder than I ever could have imagined. In the first place, Dutch landlords only like to rent out to people with full-time jobs. And you have to earn 4X the rent amount. There are only a few companies who will even consider working with people like us, who will be paying our rent from savings. Why? Well, apparently Dutch non-paying renters are hard to kick out. So say we pay the first year ahead of time, and then by the end of the year we still dont' have a job, and no saving, and all of a sudden they have non-paying renters in there. Of course we wouldn't do that, but that's what they are afraid of. They're also afraid we'll just fly back to America, leaving a bunch of unpaid bills. We found one company who seems willing to work with us, so hopefully that all works out. I sure would have been easier to go with the University housing, but it just wasn't a good fit for our family.

Next on the schedule is a kitchen renovation. Just when we thought we were done renovating, Joe's mom asked for our help redoing her kitchen. We are more than happy to help, but it reminds me of 3 years ago when we tore our house apart. At least this time we'll have more laborers, and more expertise.