Fall in Indiana

We have officially been here for 5 months now and I have to admit, it has been a great first (almost) half a year! A pretty quick run-down of life over the last few months.

* June 11th Aaron started his Summer Greek class with about 18 other first year seminary students. That ran for 10 weeks and ended mid-August. He passed with an A!
* Towards the end of June I started working as the Office Admin at Lutheran South Unity School. At that point, all 3 boys were in daycare/summer camp at Mt. Calvary Lutheran Preschool.
* We spent most of the summer getting acclimated to our new home, playing at the Y outdoor pool, grilling and eating dinner outside and getting to know a few of the other seminary families

In September, Canon turned 6 and started his new school, Redeemer Classical. This school just opened last year and has been a great fit for him! There are just 9 kids (so far!) who range from 6-9 years old and most of them are boys. We're so glad there is a classical option for him to continue!
Aaron also started his first full quarter of classes right after Labor Day. It took a little more adjusting to a new schedule with a bigger workload, but Aaron is a rock star and has so far done a great job of balancing school work with being here with our family.

I would say the biggest factor in feeling settled and happy here (with the exception of our house which I love because we finally have more than one bathroom and enough space for all of us!) are the people we have met. We're super fortunate that there are a good amount of "second career" seminary students in Aaron's class, many who also have kids around our kids ages. From dinners to pumpkin patches and trick-or-treating to help during solo-parenting weekends and super fun girls' nights, we've established a little group of friends that I am confident will help get us through these next few years.

And then there is church. First year students are assigned a field work church to attend and participate in their first two years. Field work placement is a big deal and there were lots of conversations between Aaron and I and also among the students over the summer and early September about where we would "want" our field work, even though we have no control over the assignment. We are very pleased that we were assigned Redeemer Lutheran, where Canon attends school (and Aaron also teaches once a week.) There are some great similarities between Redeemer and our home church Immanuel, and also some big differences. Redeemer describes its worship as formal, reverent and distinctively Lutheran. Honestly, both Aaron and I feel a little intimidated to be in such a well regarded congregation - there is SO much to observe and learn, but even in the short time we've been there, our faiths have been challenged and deepened. I can only imagine what more will come out of the next 2 years!

The boys have transitioned to life here extremely well. Canon and Ben have become (mostly) great playmates. Sam has FINALLY started walking. It only took close to 17 months! He had tubes put in his ears at the end of October in hopes of relieving the many ear infections he has had since June.

 So, that is a little bit of life since we moved, leading up to our biggest change yet, our 4th baby boy!