Our new home

We've been living in Florida in our new home for just over 3 weeks now.  In so many ways, it feels like we've been here a lot longer than that. For one, our house is all situated, stuff is unpacked and put away, pictures and decor are hung and it just feels like home. For two, unlike when I moved to Nashville and didn't know anyone - we do know some folks here which has helped a lot. We've been getting great use of our pool - we swim pretty much every night after M gets home from camp and sometimes on the weekends, we go in several times in a day. Saturday mornings we've been getting up and taking the dog to the dog park that's only a mile away and then heading to the beach for a few hours. This past Saturday, we discovered a dog beach and took Elsa with us. She wouldn't go near the water but she loved playing with the other dogs and roaming free on the beach. She did great - didn't try to run off or anything. She'd wander down a bit but then come back. She didn't go far. I think we will have to go there more often. We love our house and have already started having some friends over. My best friend since high school just moved an hour away a few weeks ago so we get to see her and the kiddos tonight and I am so thrilled about that and the fact that we are only 1 hour away from each other now. What a surprise awesome bonus! Didn't even know that God had that in the works when we decided to move here.

Mihretu has started saying that he misses our other house just this week. I miss our church and our friends the most. We've tried out 3 churches so far and haven't found the right fit yet. He's been a total trooper about it. This week he came out and said "I didn't like that one. Let's try another one next week." I've been so amazed at how well he's adjusted to our new home and new everything. He was so scared and nervous that first day at camp - I cried as I drove away cause I felt so bad about throwing him into a new place after just moving a week prior. But when I picked him up he was all smiles and told me all about his day and the friends he made. So proud of my brave boy. And oh my, so proud of how well he is swimming. He's like a little fish. Everyday he swims farther and gets more adventurous. This weekend, he saw me do a handstand in the water and then told me he was going to do it and sure enough, he did. He can swim the entire length of the pool with only one breath in the middle now. And he can now swim down to the bottom to grab something and bring it back up. I stand amazed.

We are loving our house and the warm, sunny weather. And I'm so thankful that we have some friends here - my friend Deb lives about 40 minutes away so we've gotten to meet in the middle several times and that's been awesome. And I've been connecting with some past VO team members who live nearby and have gotten together with a few and have plans to do so with a few others and that's so neat. Also a friend who stayed with me when I first bought my house in TN facebooked me like a week ago that she lives here now too so they came over last weekend. How fun!!!! So thankful for having some friends here already and making more. A sweet lady at the dog park told me about a great lawn guy and I called him and he's been cutting our lawn and is also a handyman so he installed our two chandeliers for us. So thankful for that connection. Got to meet his wife and son last week too and they live nearby so hopefully we'll get together with them soon. I love getting connected. I know we will get even moreso connected once we find our church home. Praying we find the right one soon.

Here's a few pictures of our new home and some of our adventures here so far!

The car ride down - we were packed in like sardines. I could barely move my right arm. Elsa did great considering it was her first car ride over 30 minutes and Mihretu did amazing as always. He's my little road trip buddy. 

Hanging out at the dog park:)

Saturday morning beach fun!

I love how his room came out and the fact that his tree with all the names of folks
who donated to help bring him home was able to come to our new home with us!

There's a beach nearby that has a praise band on the beach every Friday night
so we went to hear that at sunset a few weeks ago. Gorgeous!

Best view around right there. Love my babies. 

Got a chandelier installed - we got the same exact one that we had in our TN home which was Mihretu's idea.
Loving our little dining room/living room combo open room. 

My little fish swimming in our pool. 

more beach adventures

My room was the last to finish - but got it done last week.
Loving my home office with a view of the pool out the window. 

The guest room is all ready for our dear friends and family to come visit. My friend Samantha already has a flight booked to come in October. So excited about that!

Living area

Another little spot in the living area

I love this spot with those awesome pictures that I had printed on canvas above the chair

We've been having lots of fun using our diving masks

I love the joy I see in him when we are at the beach!