A "real" sled......

My wonderful husband went to the Ace Hardware on the way home yesterday and purchased a "real" sled for the girls. The snow and ice are starting to melt this morning but the girls got in a few really exciting rides before it disappears. This is their first true sled rides. Yesterday, after Michelle posted the photos of them sledding on their stomachs on a piece of cardboard, their northern friends laughed at them because they said it is not enough snow to sled in. Michelle said "For a southerner - if you get up from the slope and your front is not covered in mud, then there is enough snow!"

Another Snow Day!

Our van in the snow - Dec 16, 2008

The girls had a great time today watching and playing in the snow. We had about one inch today and might have a little more tonight.

The girls didn't have a real sled so Becca made one with a piece of cardboard and a Kohl's bag!

Wheeeeeeeeee!

Taking a spill off the "sled"

Michelle's turn!

Becca's whole reason for wanting to move here...snow!

Skyline Chili, Bengals, and Cold…

This move is all about the adventure I guess. It certainly hasn’t been easy. We had to move at the worst possible time to sell a house. That means we are “livin’ on the edge” by hoping we can keep our house rented until it sells - an adventure. Riding a roller coaster on the emotions on that one! Luckily, the two children we brought with us to Cincy view every day here as an adventure. Each morning the girls awaken to snow on the ground, and there has been 5 days since we moved here, there is excitement in the air! A lifetime Southerner moving north right as the winter starts is definitely just begging for adventure.

In our desperate search to find a house here, we have driven our car over all of Northern Kentucky. We’ve turned down many a wrong street or just turned down a street to see where it would lead. With the help of our trusty “Cincinnati Area Mapbook” we’ve just seen each turn as an adventure. Getting lost is a good way to learn about an unfamiliar area! We also are trying to adapt to different ways of saying words (It’s Bengals with a “short” e, not Beeengals with a “long” e!), different news reporters (Where’s Monica Kaufman!), and different names of roads and cities being talked about on the car radio (That’s surprisingly jarring).

We purposely wasted our money on an adventure the other day….we went to a Cincinnati icon – Skyline Chili. One of these little chili dives are around every corner, the way Starbucks is in DC. The locals are sitting in the little booths munching on oyster crackers, waiting on their “three-way” or “four-way” chili in a bowl, over spaghetti noodles, or over a cheap hot dog. While my husband was reluctantly placing our order, I read the history of Skyline off the menu. Apparently Nicholas Lambrinides immigrated from Greece with this family recipe and opened his first restaurant overlooking the skyline of Cincinnati, OH. The chili is so different…a very thin soup-like chili with a strong flavor of cloves and nutmeg added to the “normal” chili seasonings. Accchhhh. I congratulated my husband and girls on being brave enough to try something very new and different, told them that my curiosity was satisfied, and we won’t ever have to go to Skyline Chili again. Another adventure….this one a once in a lifetime.

Toto, I don't think we are in Kansas anymore....

This is the fifth snow since we have arrived in the Cincinnati area. This one the deepest…though only about one or two inch accumulated on the ground. We headed out in Rodney’s car with the goal of looking at our future house before signing the papers to purchase. We got only about a block away down the snowy streets, however, when a red SUV coming from the other direction did a 360 right in front of us. I turned to Rodney and asked if we should just go back….this was not a good omen. He assured me that the more traveled streets would not be so icy. He was correct but there were some scary areas of snow drift on the way. I drove my husband crazy with “Watch out!”, “Slow down.”, “That looks icy!, punctuated by the quick sucking in of air whenever anyone got close to us. We did get our grocery shopping done, saw our future home, and made our way over to the model homes to sign the papers. Mission accomplished. Our house hunting is over…not a moment too soon. We were getting very discouraged. With house prices higher in this area than in our previous area, Jackson, GA, we were concerned that we would be getting much less house for much more money. As it ends, we ARE paying a lot more, but we are getting a lot more. One good outcome of the diving real estate market – we got a great deal on a brand new house. The builders are having to dump newly built houses for the same price as some 15 year old houses of the same square footage! The bad news – we are most likely going to have to sell our house for less than what we owe. *sigh* For a little while we will be the owners of two houses. Rodney said take a photo of him right now…this will be the only time he will be able to say he owns two houses… his new home and his “southern” home. So while we acclimate to our new surroundings, make plans for getting into our new home before the end of the year, and start meeting the locals, we will admire the new white powdery scenery adding new meaning to many of the Christmas songs on the radio…..”Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful, and since we’ve no place to go….let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!”

So sad....

Finding a church here in our new community might be quite a challenge. The girls and I think that The Church’s methods need to reach out to the non-church-raised community. The methods need to change….but not the message. That means we don’t mind if the pastor takes a cup of coffee up on the stage with him, doesn’t use a pulpit, sits on a stool, wears casual clothes, and makes full use of the power point board (As far as I’m concerned “The Word” is still “The Word” whether it is on a screen, said orally, or in a book form. Doesn’t matter.) My husband, however, is a little more of a traditionalist. He feels more comfortable with church goers a little more “dressed up”, a real pulpit, and your typical service.
We have all just come out of a church in Georgia that struggled with “The Battle of the Worship Music”. Many in the “contemporary” crowd thought singing any hymns was a giant step backwards and an immediate turnoff to the “non-churched”. Many in the “traditionalist” crowd thought the new praise songs were not as adequate for worshipping God and the younger generation would never learn the old hymns – that we were losing our history. Both had good points….both were wrong. From attending both kinds of churches, I have learned that it is more in the spirit of the people singing. I’ve seen small churches singing only the traditional hymns (even straight out of …*gasp*…hymnals) with powerful Spirit-led enthusiasm and obvious love of God. I’ve seen large churches that did not even own hymnals led by Christian rock bands or praise teams that definitely were worshiping God with all their hearts.
But what we experienced today was just so sad. It was a large First Baptist Church in one of the nearby communities. Its building was beautiful – gorgeous stained glass windows, shiny gold chandeliers, clean modern bathrooms, plenty of parking space, a spacious lobby filled with well-dressed ushers greeting us. The bulletin portrayed the usual amount of activities of a Baptist church complete with reaching out to the hungry for the holidays. The people inside were all well-dressed, polite…..and totally uninterested. Hardly anyone would even sing! There was not a joyful noise in the entire congregation. With quiet straight faces they watched their choir and quartet’s performance. After the special singing there was a polite smattering of applause. Even worse is what I observed on the faces of one and all during the singing and sermon…utter dullness. You could almost hear their thoughts saying “When will this be over with and I can get on with real life.”! With the exception of the worship pastor who seemed to be trying his best to get some kind of emotion out of the congregation, even the people leading seemed to be just going through the motions.
There are some pluses to being able to visit around to other churches. The things we see and experience can be brought back to our new church home….when we find it! It is fun to see how diverse people worship God – to observe in person that, although the methods and people differ, the core message can be the same. There are minuses also, though. It is easy to become a church “connoisseur”…to sit there and critique absolutely everything the church does. (“Hmmmm…they should throw in a dash of praise songs and a pinch of small group interaction.”) But today, as we drove away from this church, we all agreed – the traditionalist and contemporary set alike – we’ve never seen a more bored group of people.

Freeze up....

Sorry it has taken me so long to write another installment of my blog. As I realized that more than two people were reading my blog, it became more difficult to write. All of a sudden the question became – “Is this worthy of writing and posting? Why would a dozen people want to read this?!” It gave me writer’s block; I froze. Which is funny…I have less trouble writing up a speech and giving it to a hundred people. I don’t freeze up when in front of a crowd, but then again, I can SEE the reaction of those people in real time. I can gage their reaction and adjust. You simply can’t do that in written form.
But one thing came to me this morning as I was in the shower. (Yes, some of my best moments of clarity happen either as I lie in bed, wide-awake as usual, in the middle of the night or as I shower!) As I was thinking of the struggles of several of my friends, and formulating some words of encouragement and advice to write to one of them, I realized how easy the words were coming. That’s because I was only thinking about writing directly to them. I wasn’t worried about pleasing them with my words…just about telling them something I thought they needed to hear. When I speak in front of large groups, I’m not so worried about how I sound. I’m more worried that I make the message clear. I know I have something important they need to hear and I don’t care if they like the messenger, just that they understand and respond to the message.
So, bear with me as I blog, sometimes on important issues – sometimes not. Sometimes with a message for you – sometimes just ramblings as I try to work out things in my own head. Some things will be written specifically for a certain set of people, of which you might not belong. Some things might seem like I am living inside your own head. Hopefully when I DO have a message, it will be clear.

THE library

Oh…my…goodness. The Cincinnati Public Library was 542,527 square feet of homeschooling delight! It had a four story bridge connecting the two buildings of five floors (three user floors each)! On the first floor was the “Popular Library” which had thousands of DVD’s, music CD’s, and all the most read books, fiction and non-fiction. I got lost in the Documentary section of the DVD’s, while my non-reading husband, who is convinced he doesn’t need to learn anything outside of his job and Videography, explored the massive collection of popular TV series and movies collection. I let my fingertips brush over the History Channel, Discovery Channel, A & E, and Answers in Genesis DVD’s…not just a few but rows of them! To Rodney, this field trip was a snorefest, but to me it was heaven!

My eyes grew big as I explored huge reading rooms and reading nooks on every floor, 100 public access computers with internet, a huge children’s library, an impressive “Teenspot” library, TWO large non-fiction libraries, a genealogy library, and special learning centers for scholarship search, college comparisons, SAT prep and SO much more. I know I sound like a radio commercial but to know that I was only thirty minutes away to one of the largest libraries in the United States was exciting. You must remember though, that back in Jackson, GA, I was driving thirty minutes to nearby Covington just to have access to a few more classical books-on-tape for Michelle, my dyslexic, auditory learner.

Reading the “Get acquainted to your new library” pamphlet the librarian gave me, I learned I now had online access to hundreds of books-on-tape…I don’t even have to go to the library for dozens of classical digital books. I even have access to a couple hundred classical and instructive videos on the internet. As I clutched my brand new Cincinnati Public Library card in my fingers, I felt my knees weaken; I felt myself going into a reader’s diabetic coma.

Providentially, on the top floor, I discovered a fairly large Grants Research library. Not only did they have hundreds of books telling you where and how to get grants for non-profit organizations, they also have software to search for grants and a free three hour class for those beginning to learn the process. Before I left my position as interim director of Life Choices Pregnancy Resource Center, I promised new director, Judy Hodges, and chairman of the board, Kelly Wood (both founders and beloved friends of mine) that I would continue to hold a position at the center even though I would be in Cincinnati. I would be their Grants Researcher! I take my first Grant class on Tuesday. The Lord taketh away….but the Lord giveth…blessed be the name of the Lord.

Church Fun

On-the-edge contemporary service was what we experienced at our second attempt at church-hunting here in the Northern Kentucky area. We entered the sanctuary as the service was starting so we did not get to take advantage of the pre-service coffee house in the lobby. Obviously a prerequisite for joining this church is to drink coffee. The lobby was made specifically to be a coffee house; everyone had a paper Starbucks-type coffee cup in their hand, with even the pastor nursing a cup up on the stage! It must be quite a popular church. Their bulletin announced that they hold a Saturday evening service and three Sunday morning services, followed by a new members 101 class with lunch. They obviously reuse their bulletins though, for when I struggled to open mine, I found it had chewing gum squished between the pages! The girls couldn’t contain their giggling; as far as they were concerned, that situation alone was worth visiting this church… for the entertainment value.

A Christian rock band led worship. I think “Animal” from the Muppets, with a bandana covering his hair, was the drummer. The worship leader/guitar player got “into the spirit” a little too much and kicked his music stand across the stage and sent all the music sheets flying. The Lord’s Supper, held during a quieter song, consisted of all Believers going to the nearest table (ours in the back of the room) , waiting in line to pick up a piece of saltless cracker, dipping it in a wine glass, taking it back to your seat, and partaking as you sat down. There was no pulpit; the pastor either sat on a stool or paced back and forth on the stage, making great use of video and power point technology during his “talk”.

We just happened to come on a Sunday that he was expounding on what they warned was a “PG-13” subject – on sex. I’m thinking – “Oh, great! What a Sunday to bring my tween and teen girls!” But we actually really enjoyed it! It was very different, to be sure, maybe too different for Rodney’s very conservative, Southern-Baptist-only-thank-you taste, but the music was entertaining, rockin’ but worshipful, the sermon engaging, and the people friendly but not overwhelming. I was also impressed that, according to one of the gum-less bulletins I borrowed from the girls, they are very much into serving the community. All members are expected to provide turkeys for Thanksgiving and toys for Christmas for families in need in the Cincinnati area; many opportunities for reaching out to the community are available. They did not seem too focused on themselves – an excellent quality for a Believer and the Church.

New experiences

We take so many things for granted when we live in one place for a long time. Since I had lived in Georgia all of my 46 years, I have taken MANY things for granted! I assume everyone does things pretty much like we do. I assume that communities, churches, libraries, businesses, food, and entertainment is the same everywhere. I assume that "our way" of doing things is the best. Now why I would think that when I've only ever lived in small rural towns south of Atlanta, I don't know. But even though I've only been in Florence, KY (just south of Cincinnati) for one week today, I'm learning that things are the same....and things are different.

I haven't got to truly meet anyone yet. Just very short conversations with the pharmacists, Movie Gallery guy, two vets, cashiers, etc. People are mostly friendly. We are living in a very crowded area! So many people are stuffed into this Cincinnati suburb; there are apartments and houses a few inches apart. We were not used to hearing other people bumping around right next to and above us. Every once in a while, someone above us makes a sudden loud bumping noise and Michelle says "Mom, we better go pick our neighbor up from the bottom of the steps!" In this area, yards are small and each backyard backs up to dozens of other backyards...no privacy! Cars are parked up and down the roads of almost every subdivision...everyone parks on the street! But we are less than 10 minutes from everything...and I mean everything! Kohl's, Petsmart, Best Buy, HHGregg, a huge mall, every restaurant imaginable, 2 minutes from the closest Kroger (there is a Kroger every 10 minutes or less here!). And last night we went to the grand opening of a Kroger Marketplace in the community of Walton about 15 minutes away. It was freakin' HUGE. It was the size of a small mall. It included sushi bars complete with little Japanese guys fixing it in front of you, several aisles of fully prepared food including many hot ready-to-eat items, several salad bars, a super large deli that fries up it's own potato chips daily, more pet food items than the local Petsmart, two aisles of toys, a dozen aisles of household goods such as kitchen towels, washcloths, silverware, tablecloths, beautiful plates and serving items and FURNITURE. Now I'm not talking about dinky, cheap furniture. I REALLY want to furnish my house with the beautiful suede sectional sofa and the 5 piece dark wood dining set. Really nice stuff...amazing store. I wish for my Georgia friends....a Kroger Marketplace nearby!

We attended Florence Baptist Church last Sunday; it seemed OK. They are almost ready to move into a new huge facility one exit south of their present building. They have two packed services and no parking space....they definitely need the new building and the new parking areas! I'm not sure if we will go there this Sunday or visit another. There is not a Baptist church around every corner like in Georgia but there seems to be at least one in every community. There are just as many other denominations as Baptist...many Lutheran, Catholic, Church of God, Christian churches...much more diversity.

We acquired our first Kentucky library card yesterday....in Boone County...at their headquarters in Burlington. This new library put any Georgia library I've been in to shame. It was gorgeous, huge, state-of-the-art technology, awesome! I want to build a house next to this library. I know. I'm such a homeschool mom geek. But this library! It has 48 public computers, a large "teen scene" room, several community rooms, a large screen TV which hosts "movie nights" for teens and families, a huge children's library on the second floor, massive overstuffed chairs everywhere, self checkout machines, and, according to their posted schedules, really interesting programs every week. Programs like: blue grass/folk bands, jazz groups, a Native American who sets up a teepee in the library and teaches families about Native American culture, chess clubs, family movie nights, and much more. It even offers, with a library card, free access to many books on tape and digital books that you can download into your ipod and/or pocket pc! Ok...some things ARE better here.

As for food - We ate at a new place called "Cheddars" that is GREAT! A higher-end Appleby- type of restaurant. Very classy...excellent food. It will become my new favorite date place I'm sure! I have not been able to try the most "Cincinnati-type" food yet....Skyline Chili. Chili served Cincy-style is supposedly slightly sweet and spicy and very thin and served over something....like spaghetti or macaroni noodles....with lots of cheese. Other transplants here say that you either love it or hate it. I'm interested in trying it soon. Rodney - not so much. But I think I will be able to talk him into it soon. If not, the girls and I are game.

The girls want me to purchase the truly Cincy game called "Corn Hole". Transplants tell us that EVERYONE here plays Corn Hole. A few Fridays ago, Rodney's office had an employee's fun day. They had to choose games to play against each other at the park (I'm sure it is some kind of Kroger "bonding" idea). Other games offered were volleyball and putt-putt, but Rodney said that the game almost everyone signed up for was the famous corn hole game. It is some kind of wood board with a hole and you lob a corn-filled bag at the hole. It is similar to horseshoes in the rules. And people here take it very seriously. They wanted to know who the officiator of the games were and if official rules were to be followed! I guess we need to learn such an important game!

I'm sure more new experiences are on the way! We are wanting to get a library card at the Cincinnati library...the second largest library in the United States! The art deco railroad station turned art museum keeps beckoning us from it's perch off I-75. There are many parks here....we haven't explored any of them. The girls want to do it all now! I keep telling them that we are not here for just a couple of weeks. We will have plenty of time to explore. We must pace ourselves!

Challenges

Well, immediately we ran into "challenges", of course! We took the 75 lb dog, Moose, to his first visit to Petsmart on Sunday. He did great...he did not even eat one little dog! There were some dogs hobbling around in there that he COULD have eaten in one bite, too! Since Moose has been mainly just a guard dog running around in our backyard in Jackson for the last 5 years, he was not "kept up" in the manner that a true urban dog should be. And since he will be living the life of an urban dog at least for the next couple of months, we felt Moose should be groomed...well, at least a shampoo, flea dip, and cut out all the knots in his tail and behind his ears!

We took him into the grooming area of Petsmart and set up an appointment but they said he needed his rabies documentation before he could come there. When I called my Jackson vet, my fears were confirmed - Moose was very much out of compliance and needed a new rabies shot. So, we got the nearest appointment for the Petsmart vet we could, which was yesterday, Wednesday morning. They gave Moose the vaccine and, at my request, ran a heartworm test so I could put him back on the monthly treatments. Much to our chargrin, Moose's heartworm test showed positive. The Petsmart vet gave an estimate of $870 for treatment! My heart sank. We don't have that kind of money...I had thought twice about even running the heartworm test because it was an extra $32! $870!!! And she told us, without us asking, that no vet will now put a dog down for a treatable disease. It would have been difficult for us to do that anyhow since Moose did not even look sick at all. I told her I did not even know what to do...we did not have the money. She suggested that we go home and call some other vets to get estimates from them. Most would not give even an estimate over the phone, but it was looking like I could not get out of this for under $500. But I did get a response from an "Angel Animal Hospital". After a short conversation with the receptionist, the vet himself got on the phone with me, asking me questions. He told me he didn't think it should cost more than $500 but maybe he could keep it around $300 or $400. Well, that sounded a little better....not money we keep around...but not over $800.

The vet office was only 10 minutes from our apartment. It was a very old office...with very old posters and pictures on the wall. I found out why; "Doc" Angel was a very old man. But a very interesting one though! I read an article on his wall that told of his fighter pilot days in WWII! When I questioned him about it, he said he was 20 years old at the time. He seemed like a very caring man and, despite frowns from his assistants, gave us the best deal he could...he said no more than $300 and he would even try to keep it closer to $250. Which means the man is not making money off of us...probably just paying for the medicines he is giving to Moose. And I met my first "character" in Cincinnati area! I love characters!

We are still concerned about Moose. He has to undergo some painful shots for the next few days and we can not take him home until Saturday. The medicine to kill the heartworms is strong and he probably feels bad. When he comes home, we will have to keep him penned up and only walk him on the leash for short periods of time so his heart will not be stressed. But really where he is now is perfect for that. We were upset that when we came here that Moose, who is used to running around on a half acre of yard, was going to have to stay penned up in the little one car garage of our apartment and only taken out on short walks around the neighborhood. He was not going to be allowed to run around free as he was used to. Now we find out that the only thing that may save him is his confinement! God works in mysterious ways. Maybe that is a lesson for me, also. Something that feels like confinement is actually the only thing that may be saving me. Sometimes things are painful and I don't understand why they are happening and I don't like them and they seem awfully confining....but they maybe the things I need to survive...just maybe.

I'm here....

Well, it is done. We are now in Cincinnati. For better or for worse. The 500 mile, over 9 hour trip (with stops) went REALLY well considering we made it with a 75 lb dog named Moose, two twittering birds in cages, and with visibility only out the front window. We stuffed, literally stuffed, as many possessions as we could fit in my mini van. If we found a little vacant hole...we stuffed a salad dressing bottle, whipped cream maker, bag of grain, or other "necessity" into it. I don't know if we will be living in this apartment for a few weeks or a few months so I was reluctant to leave my other possessions behind.

Even more overwhelming was leaving my two grown children behind. I know that they have matured to great young adults, very independent, people I am proud to know. Still, I am horrified not to be able to just visit them at a whim. Not seeing them on a daily basis is a great loss for me. But I comfort myself with the great reality of modern technology like emails, skype IM, and facebook. It was also very difficult saying goodbye to my mom and dad. They drove their SUV with us to Cincinnati carrying as many of our boxed possessions as possible combined with their suitcases. After spending the night in the girls' twin beds, they left for a slow five day trip back to Georgia, cruising through the Kentucky, Tennesee, and Georgia mountains and stopping at points of interest.

We have now settled in our Kroger-provided temporary furnished apartment. The boxes are unpacked. We have purchased a cheap Target desk and shelf for our computer and many school books and have even resumed schooling as of today. Considering I now have no job or church responsibilities, I have reverted back to homeschooling mom and Suzie housewife demeanor, cooking all nutritious meals from scratch, clipping coupons, and hosting reading-out-loud marathons to the girls, things I haven't had time for in years. While it is a refreshing change for us, it was also like running a long marathon and then hitting a brick wall...the stop was so sudden...we didn't know what to do with ourselves. But I'm sure we will adjust soon and wonder how we ever did all that stuff before!