Eden's first day at the beach

Greetings from North Carolina

I hardly know where to start. An apology? Some sweeping statement about the nature of life's big transitions? A knock-knock joke? OK.

Knock-knock.

Who's there?

The Neelys.

The Neelys who?

Oh my, it has been a long time since our last blog post.

Wah, wah, wah ...

4th of July at the Dethier's House

Eden- 17 months

Enjoying a swim at MeMe & Grandpa's

When we last left you, we were counting down the weeks and months until our move to North Carolina. Well, those months have come and gone and we are finally settled in, mostly, to our new home, no thanks to Hurricane Irene.

We made it through the storm just fine. We were without power for a whole 45 minutes one night and had a lot of wind and rain, but otherwise the storm was fairly uneventful for us.

Kendall finished up her job at Shands last month. All of her friends and coworkers there gave her a very warm sendoff. The month of August was a VERY busy and tiring month for us.

Some photos of our little cheerleader at UF

After flying home from my orientation here at UNCW the first few days of last month, Kendall and I got straight to work packing up our apartment. Actually, she somehow managed to get quite a bit done while I was gone.

That following weekend we went down to Tampa for one last get-together with our family. We had a great time, even though it was tough knowing that we'd be moving farther than we'd ever been from family before. We were really grateful everyone was able to make it out.

That next week, we rented a moving truck, packed up our storage unit, made our way back to Gainesville with Kendall's parents, put the apartment in the truck, struck out for Wilmington, arrived in NC and unloaded the truck, and started putting the house together.

Everything is pretty much done at this point, still just a few things that need to be hung on walls and what not.

Discovering a new playground by our house in NC

So far my job is going very well. My colleagues are great, and I like the students, too. I'm very busy with teaching new classes, trying to get research out the door and just getting a feel for the university. But I'm managing to keep my head above water.

Kendall also is very busy. She's been staying at home with Eden, who continues to grow every day in her levels of adorableness and stinkerness. She's giving a lot more hugs and kisses, especially to Henry, and she may hold the record for how many times one person can say "no" in a single day. Her vocabulary is also growing, and we are learning all her new words right along with her.

Eden's new "sand & water table"

Kendall also manages to get more done in Eden's nap times than most people do all day. This week she has managed to repaint our bedroom, polish the floors, manage correspondence with the rental company and repair man (our iced used to smell like old sweaty gym socks), do multiple loads of laundry, shop for new dishes, and reconceptualize fractals and string theory. All this while also meeting some moms in the neighborhood, taking Eden to the pool, and otherwise keeping our toddler entertained.

Eden & Henry enjoying the new backyard

We've started going to a church up here called Port City Community Church. It's very similar to the one in Tampa where Kendall and I met. We like it pretty well so far, so maybe we won't have to spend months on end "shopping" for a home church. We'll see. God's got a place and a plan for all of us. We'll walk it out one day at a time.

At the park down the street

Anyway, that's the news for now. We'll keep you posted.