We got one!

No....not a dog....we finally chose an apartment! We are very excited now that the big decision is over with (what an exhausting process!). We were leaning towards living in a huge catholic school that has been rehabbed into 30 apartments, but decided to go with a homier (is that a word?) apartment with a private entrance very close to Lafayette Park. We will have our own full basement and laundry room downstairs and it has 2 bedrooms and a deck. We will be moving in next Saturday (on CJ's birthday-the 26th). For any of you in St. Louis reading this: if you want to carry a few boxes, we'd love help! Even if you can't help us move, we're going to have pizza to celebrate CJ's birthday at our new apartment in the evening. Give me a call or e-mail me if you're interested! We really are excited about getting in there and making it our home. The only downside is that no pets are allowed. This is the only apartment we looked at that doesn't allow dogs, but it fit all of our other needs much better than the others. We're sad to have to wait at least a year to have that addition to our family, but we were also having a reality check of what life would be like for a young dog once Keri goes to work full-time in April or May. Eight straight hours in a cage every day of the week doesn't sound very fun. So we will try to be patient and wait until it's the right time for a dog! Thanks for all of the prayers about an apartment. We head out to a wedding in Louisville tomorrow and then work for another week before moving in! We'll post pictures as soon as we are able.

Home but Homeless

Hello from St. Louis! It has been a crazy time since we got back. We drove down Thursday and had an hour at our friends' house where we're staying before taking off to the church office to practice for being part of the worship band in both services on Sunday. Nothing like jumpin' back in with both feet! It was a blessing to be a part of that again, though. Friday, Saturday, and Monday were all filled with apartment hunting. After 15 apartment viewings, we still are not settled on one and don't really know what to do! Keri has 3 more viewings tonight, but we are a little bit discouraged. We are blessed by the generosity of the Gilberts (good friends we're living with), but are also VERY ready after 7 months of living out of a suitcase to be in our own apartment. One of the best possibilities of an apartment won't be ready to move in for 3 more weeks. Yikes! C.J. has returned to work and is finding it a little bit hard to adjust to 8 hour work days after 7 months of irregular schedules! Keri starts teaching tomorrow. So we are doing well, just exhausted from the apartment search and feeling like it's GREAT to be home and see everyone, but we're not really home yet.... Pray for us!

Back to St. Louis

Well folks, tomorrow we leave for our final leg of travel in this crazy adventure. We are driving from Keri's parents' house in Michigan to St. Louis. It was supposed to be a trip made with both of our cars, but unfortunately, our 1986 Mazda died today and is going to cost $500 to fix. This is NOT very good timing. It stinks to put that much money into a car that isn't worth that much, but we really don't have many options at the moment since we need 2 cars right away in St. Louis, and we can't afford to buy a new car after our 3 months of unemployment :) Keri's parents are letting us take their 2nd car down to St. Louis tomorrow, though. We'll trade in a few weeks when the Mazda is fixed, but we are blessed that they offered this because it won't delay our travel plans. We are very excited to be going to what we really feel is home. At times, we're a little bit overwhelmed with all of the big decisions and running around ahead of us as we look for a new apartment, dog, and start working again. We did find out that Keri will be able to teach a lab for her OT school 1 day a week and work part time for her research lab as well while she studies for her board exam for a few months. That is a blessing. Thank you all for your support through all of this! We loved this adventure, but are also very much looking forward to being SETTLED! Please pray us through the 7 hour trip tomorrow!

Cross Country Skiing

Hello Everyone! We made it safely to Michigan on Wednesday after a red eye flight from California to Chicago. Keri's sister and brother-in-law picked us up from Midway and drove us on icy roads to Keri's parents' house in Spring Lake, Michigan. We are thankful to be here safely! We had Christmas-take 2 on Wednesday, and yesterday, conditions were right for some cross-country skiing. Anyone who knows Keri may know the story of her traumatic, one-time experience with downhill skiing when she was 8 (we'll just say there was a double black diamond involved), so she was a little bit aprehensive about trying cross country skiing. It was COLD outside, but Keri's parents now own 5 sets of skis (thanks to Craig's List and Mom not having a job right now), and they have beautiful trails through the woods about 20 minutes from their house. The beginning was a little rough for Keri--her mom decided it would be a good idea for her to have the short, new, racing skis for her first time out...yeah...not so much a good idea. After several falls, they switched skiis and it went much better! C.J. did fine and had fun with Ryan (brother-in-law) going down the biggest hills they could find.