We're here!

We rolled into town Sunday of last week and have been hard at work getting settled into our new house in Illinois:

Oops, wrong picture. Here's where we actually live:

We did check out the first house and half-way considered renting it (it's a great deal considering how GINORMOUS it is) but we were worried it would cost our first born child to heat in the 8 month long winter. That, and Jared was scared we were going to electrocute ourselves. The house was built in 1875, after all.

Anyway, our new (rental) home is certainly sufficient for our needs right now. Two bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, a not-quite-dining-room (more like an extension of the kitchen), 1 real bathroom, an unfinished basement with a BONUS toilet and shower out in the open (guest room, anyone??), a detached 1 car garage, and a wide open fenced in backyard. There's even an apple tree.

It may not be (read: isn't) our dream home, but it is SO.MUCH.BETTER. than all the other rental homes we looked at, so we feel really really grateful that we found this place. In general, we are just feeling so grateful right now. We are blessed.

I've got tons of sewing projects in mind to pretty up our new place, and Jared is busy with training, meetings, and still trying to finish his dissertation. And of course, there's all the other busy work that goes along with moving - registering the cars, getting new driver licenses, insurance, etc. So we've got plenty to keep us busy right now, but we are really happy to be getting settled. Life is good.