Our Adventures in Connecticut Have Begun!

I had a hard time for months whenever I would ponder moving to Connecticut.  All I could think about was what I would be leaving behind.  That includes my parents, most of my nine siblings and several aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, brothers and sisters-in-law, cousins, friends, etc.  At the same time, I couldn't deny that it felt right to come.  It took faith, but I am so glad that we made the move. 

There are still many, many challenges facing me right now, however.  I am now a mother of six children and I am feeling it!  On one end of the spectrum I have a 14 year-old teenager who's in high school and at the other end, a 6 1/2 month-old, crawling, baby girl.  All of the kids seem to have bigger appetites these days and the cost of living is definitely higher here in Connecticut.  I am looking to save money however I can.  We also have a home that has a beautiful, classic look to it, but still needs a lot of updating.  It also is in need of repair--right now there is a huge watermark on the ceiling in the living room and the paint has started to peel off in a certain spot.  The damage occurred after an extra long and steamy shower one of the kids took one evening.  We are thinking that this is what homeowner's insurance is for?

Anyway, even with all of the challenges, I have discovered that I can still be happy.  I am loving being a wife and mother, a homemaker and living in Connecticut.  I wouldn't have it any other way.  I especially love taking outings to discover new places here on the East Coast.  Recently, my children got a day off from school for Yom Kippur and so we went to pick apples and visit a dairy farm nearby.  We also bought some pumpkins at a farm called Meadow View just over the border in Massachusetts.  I sure do love spending time with my kids!  See some of the pictures we took below:

I hope to consistently make entries on here for myself and for any of my friends or family that may be interested to see what we are doing back here.  I feel like now is the time to finally start a blog since I don't get to see many of the people I love (besides my own family) in person very often these days.  I also have a bit more free time on my hands since all five of my older children are in school all day.  There is a time and season for everything and now seems to be my time for this.  I hope to record the challenges, but also the blessings and miracles, big and small, that will come our way while we are living here.  I think that this will have to do for today--the kids are about to come home from school!

Update:

I realized later on yesterday that I did have a sweet blessing/miracle occur the day we went to pick apples that I should have recorded.  When we arrived at the orchard, we were told to only pick apples from trees designated with a yellow ribbon and that we could pick up as many apples as we wanted to from the ground.  The apples were $1.00/lb for the ones picked off the trees and $.50/lb for the "drops".  Since it was a holiday, there were several moms and kids at the same orchard.  Two moms were ahead of us in the apple-weighing line.  Apparently, their children picked apples from the wrong trees because the woman helping them was not too happy with the way their baskets looked.  When we got up to the counter, she remarked at how nice the apples in our baskets were and said that she could tell that we followed the rules.  Our first basket was nearly 15 lbs.  The woman said she would only charge us $10.00 for those apples!  Then she looked at the drops and said they would be free!  We got two large grocery bags of apples for a total of $10.00!  The best part was that my children knew it was their obedience that got us that blessing.  It truly was a delightful day and a good lesson for my kids.