Here we are!

First impressions/experiences:

• The walls in our apartment are not stark white - they have a little creamy/beige-y color in them. That makes me happy, since we aren't allowed to paint. (That tells you a lot about me that that's my first bullet point! There's just something about color that fascinates me... :-)
  
• I don't like the ants that I find crawling around the food that Bethany drops in the kitchen. At least the ant traps are slowing them down a bit.
• We have met great people here!! There are two other young families in our building who also just moved here from out of state, and we have spent a lot of time together watching the kids play at the playground, eating together, going to church, and hanging out after the kids are in bed.
  
• Plus, between Todd's cousins, grandma, aunts and uncles, and parent's friends, we have had plenty of people to eat out with, watch Vikings games with (we can root for the Vikings when they're playing the Browns, right?), and explore town with. 
• Yesterday we had a fun adventure with some friends of Todd's parents who are also seminary students. They took us to the St. Paul farmer's market - which was such a colorful, delicious-smelling experience in itself - but on the way back, we drove past the "Hmong Marketplace" and decided to check it out. It was a true outdoor market with fruits we had never tasted, music we had never heard, and a huge variety of ethnic clothing and foods. We felt like we were in another country!
• We are loving the fact that our baby monitor works in our new friends' apartments... we have already started talking about taking turns "watching the monitor" for each other so that we can go on late-night dates after the kids are in bed!
• We visited what is possibly the largest "charismatic Lutheran" church in the world this morning, and really liked it. It's the same church that Todd has a 2nd interview at for a position as an Adult Ministries Assistant. I've been to a few huge churches before and didn't feel comfortable, but I loved the worship at this one, the message definitely spoke to me, and there are lots of ways to get involved.
• I LOVE, LOVE the variety of free activities that are around here and that I can take Bethany to in the winter to get her out of the apartment. We have a really nice mall just a few miles down the road, and the Mall of America isn't too far away and is a really fun place to make a cheap half-day trip out of. Plus, we have a "free" (donations requested) zoo, conservatory, and Japanese garden just 15 minutes away!! The zoo is definitely a lot smaller than a typical city zoo, but it has all the animals that a toddler would care about! Lions, zebras, giraffes, monkeys, fish, flamingoes, tigers, leopards, and more. What fun!
• There's much more I could say, but I'll leave it at that for now. God is good to us and is providing for so many of our physical and emotional needs... in spite of my hesitance to take this big step!
  

 

I may dress Bethany in girly outfits, but when it comes to playing outside, she LOVES playing with the gravel and tractors at the playground on campus!!

 

You can see our LR & DR windows in the bottom right-hand corner of the building (in front of the fire hydrant... and right next to the front doors)

Living Room

  

Bethany's little "play nook" behind the couch and in front of the window. She can stand on the pew and watch people come in and out of the building!

Dining Room

 

My Itsy-Bitsy Kitchen