The good stuff...

I was at a reunion over the weekend - for my college swim team. I had a chance to see friends that were some of the best I've made in my life, that I haven't seen in a long time.

I was already feeling incredibly lucky that I lived two miles from the event venue, and not an ocean away as I used to be. In talking with some of my friends, it was brought to my attention that some of my most recent Facebook posts and blog entries have, ahem...shall we say, reflected some of my challenges and difficulties readapting to my new/old life.

Now I'm not one for a lot of excuses, I try to own my actions, but seriously. The winter in Minnesota was brutal. And this change, was a big one. But spring has finally sprung - our snowstorm of last Friday was almost completely wiped away by the warm temperatures of this last week and it's time to focus on the good.

Actually, we've been focused on the positive throughout this whole move. (Even if my posts haven't always reflected it.) It has really helped to get us through. We've all had our moments where we are homesick for Belgium. But when we find ourselves feeling sad, we stop, and find something good, and look forward.

Here is just a sampling of some of the good stuff:

The kids really love their new school. The teachers and staff have done an amazing job helping our kids adapt and making sure everyone was settling in to the best of their ability. Their transition into their new school has been beyond our expectations, and this is because of everyone at the school.

An obvious big one is being back near old friends and our family. For the first time in six years, we got to hold and see a brand new baby! Right after she was born! And not have to wait until a trip back across the ocean to meet the newest family member.

There are small things here and there that sneak up on me throughout the day too. For example, when I open a carton of eggs, I don't have to worry about chicken poop, straw and feathers. They are all clean! Every single one of them!

I LOVE my refrigerator. It is three times the size of the one we had in Belgium, and my freezer is probably about ten times the size of my old shoe-box freezer. That means: ice, frozen pizza, more than one choice of meat to make for dinner, ice cream and most important, frozen toaster waffles.

In the grocery store, there are lots of choices for everything, but especially cereal. Cereal that isn't chocolate cereal. (Of course, we still miss A LOT of other stuff from the Belgian grocery stores, but this is a post for the good stuff…)

The organization of Americans. Although at times I'm completely overwhelmed by the email communications from school, it's still nice to get them. And I am going more than a little crazy trying to stay on top of  the emails from the soccer teams. BUT,  did you know there is an app called Team Snap? This is an app for my phone that lets me check-in for soccer practices and matches! On my phone! I just click "yes" if my kid is going to be there or not. And if not, I can say give a brief explanation as to why. That is absolutely amazing!  Not to mention I have a list of all of the tournaments for the next three months, AND the address and directions are RIGHT THERE ON MY PHONE! Simply amazing. For anyone else that's had to wait until Friday night's practice to get the tiny scrap of muddy paper with the match time and location for the Saturday match, and then drive through cow pastures in a random corner of Belgium to get to said match…they would be right there with me to shout the word AMAZING.

And last but not least, today I am at the car dealership. In fact, the car dealership deserves an entire entry of its own. Stay tuned….