Life Update: Moving, Adventuring, Homeschool, and New Decisions

Where to begin? Sometimes I think I have nothing to share. There doesn't seem to be much going on. We do a lot of the same things day in and day out. But in truth, there's a lot going on. Those small things we do each day lead to bigger things we are working toward. They seem like nothing at the time, but when I look back at everything, I see great progress.

So here's our great life update, goings-on in the Comte house the last bit:

Life Update 1: Getting Ready to Move

As mentioned in previous posts and podcasts, we are getting ready for a big move. The move isn't happening yet, and we don't know when it will. We felt a prompting over a year ago that we need to be closer to family, so we've been working toward that goal. This means to things:

1. Scott getting a job that will move us closer to our family

2. Getting our house ready to sell

The Job

The job hunt is on. I don't have a ton of updates at the moment other than that he has had a few interviews and has applied to a lot of jobs. This week he is shifting gears a bit on his job search due to some recent decisions, and we hope that this new direction will lead to some great opportunities.

Selling the House

We've had a list of to-dos that has been joyful to cross off. As of a couple weeks ago I finished all the painting we plan to do for the sale. The last room I finished is the spare room that I am turning into a classroom (see below). This room needed a fresh paint job because the walpaper was peling off. It was a little more tricky to paint than the master bedroom, Berkley's room, the living room, and the kitchen because of all the prep and the two paint colors.

First I had to peel wallpaper off the walls 2/3 up to where it meets a molding. Then I had to peel wallpaper off the ceiling and top part of the wall. That was the absolute worst. Becuase of the current design of the room, I opted to paint a cind of border along the wall and ceiling in the same brown as the base/bottom 1/3 of the room. Thank goodness I could get a paint match.

We've worked on other parts of the house too, mostly small things that need fixing or a little extra care. We installed a closet system in our walk-in closet/captive room, re-caulked the tub in the main bathroom, fixed some electrical, and more. What do we have left? Very little in the house. It's the outside I really need to focus on now, to make it more presentable for pictures. Wish me luck!

A Few Adventures

We are an adventure family and have been itching for some fun. So in early spring we took a short trip to Niagara Falls. Becasue it was so early, the tour ships going under the waterfall were not open, but we still had a lot of fun exploring the park and seeing the land sights. Berkley absolutely loved this trip and talks about it often. She asks to go back about 20 times a week. I'm pretty sure she just wants to use the hotel pool again.

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We also rode the Duquesne Incline and walked atop Mount Washington, visited a local farm, and celebrated Chic-fil-a Day by dressing up as cows and getting free food.

And, of course, we went back to Missouri for Independence Day to visit my parents and sister. We love that place so much and miss it. It was a short trip with fireworks, family, and friends, and we loved every minute of it.

Homeschool Preschool

Yep. Homeschool preschool.

We've discussed our disires for Berkley's education for years and have decided we want to try homeschool. First up, preschool.

We've been doing a sort of preschool over the last year. Every Tuesday we meet with a group from church and do a little preschool lesson and then let the kids play. (We'll continue with that this year.) And I was also doing a preschool with Berkley at home. No real curriculum. Just some workbooks and a goal to introduce the alphabet and numbers and other concepts to Berkley. She hadn't been super interested in language and math learning, so her greatest interests were in the careers we explored or other places we discovered. But I'm seeing a change in her the last few weeks that shows she's ready to really jump in.

This year I bought a real language arts curriculum as well as a science curriculum great for her age. We'll focus on language arts every day and then do one of the following the other days: science, arts and crafts, music, social (which is focusing on things I feel she needs to know better or I want to introduce to her: hygiene, how to treat neighbors, emotions, gardening, baking, etc.), and a free day for library or field trip. We start in a couple weeks.

Big Decisions and Changes Coming

I can't go into a lot of detail on this because it's fairly new and we want to have all our ducks in a row before we share. But we've made some new decisions that we are very happy and excited about. We still have a lot of work to do to make some things happen, but we feel we have been led to this decision by the Lord, and that will keep us moving forward.

Live is good. There's a lot going on. Some days I'm overwhelmed and I'm grateful for breaks. Most of all, I'm grateful for my family who are a constant support, joy, and love in my life.