This is the part where it gets icky. It kinda feels like camping without all the fun activities. We’re ‘camping’ in a furnished, third floor walk up, one bedroom apartment in the fringe where urban meets suburban. The neighborhood appears to be safe enough, but there’s no outdoor space and we don’t have good views from the windows (parking lot and trash bins). There really isn’t any place to walk to either. Dick and I tried a trail nearby, which was fine except for the garbage strewn everywhere. The street is filled with huge houses split into multiple apartments and Spanish music can be heard all around. The apartment kitchen has the very basics and cooking healthy recipes has been a challenge. We’re doing another Whole30 during the month of July to detox from overindulgence during our travels.

The job thing is still unsettled and that’s stressful. Dick has the best prospects and we’re praying that one of them solidifies into a permanent position. One promising opportunity fell through after two rounds of interviews, but he has a tentative offer from an agency in Boston. They need to go through the search formalities and don’t expect the hire to happen until mid-August. It’s wait and see for now and Dick will do some temp work in the meantime. My search has stagnated. Three applications are pending, but I’m losing confidence in them as time goes by with no contact. I’ve applied at a temp agency for library type jobs and will see if anything comes of it. Lot’s of waiting going on here!

We’ve decided that we will have to move into an apartment for several months until the job thing is settled and we can buy a house. We’re looking at apartment complexes that offer short term leases and are close to commuter rail. Dick also wants to be close to Kathryn’s school during her busy fall activities. Our shipment of household goods arrived after 4 weeks of travel and 2 weeks in customs. We’ll have to sort two storage units to figure out what we will move into an apartment temporarily. Fun stuff!

It’s weird that the transition back is so much more difficult than our transition to The Netherlands. The landscape, culture and people here are all well known to us, but without a job or a home we feel unmoored.

Some days we are discouraged and impatient, but we try to keep in mind that our basic needs are met and it’s only been six weeks. We have so much to be thankful for and so many memories to savor! God is good!