I'm a Country Girl!

Howdy folks!

Since living here in Idaho, I am amazed that my loving husband even managed to tolerate life in the big city for the first 6 years of our marriage. After all, he grew up here, camping and fishing and hunting. I don't know how he retained his sanity in a tiny condo for 6 years, sitting in traffic for hours (literally) each day, and listening to police sirens and helicopters ripping through the air on an hourly basis. How did he tolerate living like that, after enjoying the serenity of Idaho?

I mean, seriously, how did I stand it? I used to actually hear the freeway from our front "yard," although it wasn't even really our yard, just a common area shared amongst the other box-dwellers in our $385/month HOA condo complex. The only answer is that I knew nothing different. I had been a city-girl my entire life, more or less. I grew up in the 'burbs.'

Now, each day I'm detoxing the city. I feel like I'm living in my own private spa. I'm experiencing the best therapy every single day! But seriously, I can hear the cows' teeth tearing the grass. It's been my favorite sound ever since we left the city; the sound of grass being ripped up by the mouthfuls. Deliciously relaxing. I can proudly recognize the long call of the meadowlark and the shrill scream of the killdeer. I no longer foolishly confuse the coo of a mourning dove as the call of an owl. At night, I hear the frogs making a racket on the lake, not the roar of the 805-163 merge in San Diego.

Yes, it took me a while, but I am no longer a city-girl. I hereby bestow upon myself the status of "country girl," but I still have so much more to learn. That's the thing! I learn something new every season, something that I feel I should always have known. I learned that the first cutting of hay isn't as good as the second cutting. I learned that some vegetables can be planted in the fall instead of the spring. Sadly, I learned that a weak chicken will be pecked to death by the stronger chickens. Those are just a few of the countless small things I have learned while living in the country.

I was so sheltered from real life in the city. But real life is very hard. I will never forget moving into our house here on a cold, snowy March afternoon. The next morning a baby calf entered the world, steaming wet on the frozen hard ground. I was stunned. I marveled at the hardship of simple survival. But the tiny calf, rocked back and forth by its mother's tongue, was wobbling to its feet. The big city had displaced me from the struggles of real life. The true miracle for me was that the calf stood up and was fine. I realized real life isn't cushy. Real life is a newborn calf on a cold morning.

I love sitting on my front porch, just after sunset, watching the colors fade from the fields. I love the beauty of running deer, floating silently up and down over fences in the vineyard. I love the spooky cackle of coyotes yipping and howling on the hillside. I love sore muscles and my dirty boots and a can of cheap beer. Yep, I think it's official: I'm a country girl.

10 Years of Marriage

I'm speechless!! ::)

Our Family

We've been proud Idahoans since March 2008!

We made the decision to leave San Diego in June 2007, setting the process into motion after returning from a trip to Seattle. For 10 years, every time I flew back to San Diego, I felt like I was coming home. I always felt a wonderful, warm feeling returning to that beautiful city, "America's Finest City." But that time in June, the feeling of coming home eluded me. I felt restless and vacant. So I knew it was time for a change. Thankfully, my husband was just waiting for the chance to leave the crowded city for his homeland, the wilds of the Northwest!

We flew into action, remodeling the master bathroom of our tiny condo and putting it on the market by August 1. Despite the worsening economy, our place sold in 39 days! The offer came September 9, during Dennis' 30th birthday party celebration. Perfect timing to celebrate! We escaped from San Diego before the housing bubble burst and prices plummeted, forcing people to foreclose in record numbers. We even made a decent profit, which we planned to use so Dennis could go to school.

Moving is tricky! We closed the sale of our condo October 23. Meanwhile, we rented a small house near downtown San Diego for 6 months while we got all the details lined up. I was pregnant with our second child, David. We needed to stay in San Diego for his birth, and then make the move to Idaho.

As fate would have it, David Emmanuel was born on Christmas Day 2007. In February, Dennis flew to Idaho to arrange housing for our move. He ended up finding a beautiful country house on over an acre of land. The house has a view of a huge 16-square mile lake. In March, he quit his well-paying job and we packed up our stuff and drove to our new home in Idaho, with the future wide open. There is something nice about having no path to follow, but having to make our own path through the times ahead.

March 2008 was cold, and spring was late in coming. It took me an entire year to adjust to the new weather patterns. It was new for me to live on the edge of the time zone. The extreme swings in temperature and daylight were difficult for the first year, but eventually I came to love all aspects of this high desert climate. The wonderful house made the move easier. The peaceful setting soothed my nerves, and the many cows that surrounded our home reduced my stress levels. When David was 4 months old, I discovered that I was pregnant yet again.

Alanna Joelle was born 13 months after David was born, in January of 2009. She is now 6 months old. Sam will begin kindergarten in a few weeks at the new charter school here in town. And life is good.

We have a full life here, a wonderful church, many new friends and family nearby. Our faithful Labrador "Scout" survived the trip, no worse for wear, and we have since added "Bat the Cat" to our family. Both animals live outdoors and enjoy each other's company.

God has blessed us immensely!