Happy Saturday friends! I hope the start to your weekend is going great! It's been a little bit since I updated (a couple of months to be exact *smiles*) and I thought today would be the perfect day to update on our move up to New York as I receive so many questions each day about how things are going, how teaching is going, how we are settling in, etc. In many ways it is completely surreal that this week marks five months since the process really began and a couple of months since we moved in and I started teaching in New York. In some ways it seems like years because so many things have taken place... time is funny like that- isn't it?
Overall
Overall the move has been relatively smooth. I would say that there are many times that I feel like we are taking one day at a time and just taking things each moment as they come.
Blogging
Last year was a whirl-wind of getting adjusted to teaching full time and blogging and one that I didn't get to do as much with due to a variety of different commitments. I am so grateful to my blog sponsors for encouraging me to take time to get adjusted and this year be back to blogging. You may have seen in my instagram bio that Caravan Sonnet is going to start to go into a new direction and I am so excited to share more in the coming weeks! Thank you for all of your support! I am confident that y'all are going to love what's coming!
Teaching
This is probably the question that I get asked the most about *smiles*. Simply- it's going well and I appreciate all of your sweet support and prayers. Some people have asked if the school is like other schools that I have taught at and the answer would be "no" (no matter what school you are in). If you are a teacher than you understand- every single school has a different culture and it takes time to get to know it and the students. My co-workers are very friendly and I have an amazing department head who is incredible sweet. I am enjoying getting to know my students in deeper ways, my colleagues, and the community and am grateful during these times for a job with students.
Writing
Teachers Pay Teachers Shoppe
This has been such an exciting adventure to be on with the new opening of the shoppe last month! Thank you for all of your support of this shoppe and for spreading the word about it! You can find the shoppe
HERE!
Etsy Shops/Ebay Store
December Lane has continued to remain open throughout this whole transition time. With the holidays coming up this could be an excellent unique opportunity to purchase a curated watercolor travel print for you or for your loved one! You can find the shop
HERE!
December Caravan is still on a brief hold until January 2022. There are some BIG changes coming with the shop and I am excited to share and show y'all what is coming! Stay tuned for some big announcements!
I have currently placed the Ebay stores on hold. To be honest I am not sure at this point if they will be opening back up. I have found that while it was nice to do, it didn't spark joy or a passion within in me as it was less creative so I am prayerfully considering what to do next about this!
Condo Living
There is a lot of mixed emotions with this one. We are extremely grateful for the spacious condo that we have, but both of us have struggled with apartment/condo living for a variety of different reasons. One thing that has been a blessing is that my commute to work is less than 10 minutes and that has been the biggest blessing. At this point we are grateful for our space, but definitely appreciate prayers for future decisions.
Church
One of the things that I was most excited about was getting back involved in a church community and finding other people my age (single and married). Honestly... it has been hard to do this with COVID. It definitely has made this moving process feel a lot lonelier and I know that I am not the only one feeling this way right now. At this point we are continuing to listen to church online but I hope that in the future this can change and change quickly.
Social/Friendships
COVID has made this a more complicated process and with my fragile immune system it is not as easy as I would like it to be to just get together with and develop new friendships. If I am honest (and anyone who has moved understands this completely) it takes a lot of effort and time to develop friendships and at this point with all of the change that I am experiencing I am needing to guard my energy levels really carefully. I think anyone who moves understands all of the emotions that come with finding your "place" in a new space. I am grateful for grace in just giving myself time to adjust. I definitely don't have the social life that I would like to have, but again I think some of it is a mixture between moving, adjusting, work schedule, and COVID.
Dating
I am giggling as I write this... besides almost falling off of a mountain (some of you know what I am talking about *smiles*)... I would say there is nothing happening in this department right now. Haha. I am giggling because I would say this is one of my most asked questions. For personal reasons I have always kept my dating life private on this blog (out of respect to the men and out of respect for just the need for a personal boundary line) but right now... no, I am not secretly hiding any story. Yes, I have been asked this numerous times. *haha*
COVID does complicate dating (this could be an entire post in itself) but it is difficult and it is just hard right now for this season of life. As y'all know (because I have discussed this on the blog) I do long to be married and would love to dating right now.... so I appreciate your continued prayers for this area of my life. Y'all are the best.
Thank you so much for reading today... I am so grateful for your prayers, for your love, and for your support in this time of transition and change. I plan to start doing this as a monthly update and I look forward to sharing next month the adventures of Month 6 that God has in store.
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