I’m sure that many of you have noticed that I haven’t been posting much in the past few months, that I’ve basically fallen off the blogging wagon.

My apologies for that, we’ve had quite a crazy few months dealing with our move and getting settled. There were some major issues with the house we moved into, and a lot of communication issues with the landlord. That was on top of unpacking, homeschool, work and starting in our local Co-Op Group. So, we are just now getting our head above water. In fact, right now I am writing this post in the car, while we returning from a road trip (Hubby is driving). Nothing like 17 hours in a car to get random things done!

Starting to homeschool in PA was a bit stressful, compared to our experience in VA. Our HSLDA membership has more than paid for itself, in my opinion! We have already used their forms for our affidavit paperwork, and for “school id’s.” School IDs are useful not only for discounts, but also because PA seems to love calling truancy officers and CPS on homeschoolers. I consider this all insurance to help us through this process. (And yes, I had my first run-in with our local superintendents office within our first week here!)

Another thing we have been trying to do is starting building roots and “creating community.” Moving as much as we do, we have learned that we really can’t waste time when making friends and reaching out to others, and this is especially important for our kids. We’re starting to get to know our neighbors, participate in a church, joined a Homeschool Co-Op group, and joined a gym close by where our girls are now taking ballet. I participate in several local groups on Facebook that have also been a great resource.

As for myself, I’ve been a whirling dervish. The house is pretty well organized and settled. We found someone who is helping us clean – and I cannot tell you how much of a burden that has lifted off of me! On business trips back to the DC area we stocked up on frozen pre-prepped meals, so we have a freezer of those. We attended a little party where I got to meet some other homeschool moms.

I’ve been purging as well as organizing and have been able to cull out two huge bins of homeschooling materials to get rid of! I was proud of myself for that, ha!

So, why do I not feel completely settled yet?

Because it’s not “home” yet. And that is nothing but time can fix.

I still have several things on my list that need to be done, in order to get us to where we want to be. First, I still fell a bit of mess in our Homeschooling. Because of dealing with the house, planning for this year got greatly delayed, which means I’m trying to homeschool and plan for homeschool at the same time. I’ve never done this before and it’s making me feel all discombobulated. Bit by bit, I’m working through this, but it’s not making me feel comfortable in my own personal homeschool experience and that’s really taking my enjoyment and peace away.

Also, one thing we still really want for our girls is to continue in American Heritage Girls. There is no troop in our area, so yes, we “are” stuck starting it ourselves. Thankfully we are finally making some progress and have local interest with this. We hope to have it all started up by the end of the year.

This trip has been a great time of renewing for me, and man, have I needed it! Catching up on sleep alone was great. I’ve been running myself into the ground, and I am looking to build more health and balance moving forward. I need to go to the gym more, and get our meals and food to be more healthy. I’m using more essential oils in our family as well. And I’ve got to bite the bullet and get involved in a women’s Bible Study soon. That’s one of those things I’ve been putting off, and I feel my stress levels rise because of it.

So, that’s what has been happening here, and to catch you guys up on me! I’ve been able to let some ideas and brainstorming percolate in the brain, reevaluating previous plans, and look forward to sharing them with you.