Our new life in Greenville, NC

My acceptance to ECU Alternate Entry MSN program has been quite a change for our family. My wonderful, supportive husband and I packed up our house and moved across country! It was a great trip, see the blog post earlier, and we have enjoyed becoming accustomed to the 'Southern Hospitality' that we have been graced with here. Thus far, we have ventured to a few festivals-- The Watermelon Festival in Winterville, NC and The Collard Festival in Aden, NC. We have enjoyed, or tried to enjoy, the Hot, Muggy weather here and our new home, which accommodates us with a swimming pool and playground. We were also able to venture to Chapel Hill and Durham, to take in the UNC and Duke stadiums. It has been a great place to live thus far, although we have missed our families dearly. We hope they come and visit soon!!

Some tid-bits about the NC and the South--
   You are always addressed by 'Ma'am and Sir'
   The food that is served is almost ALWAYS fried
   They have not heard of 'environmentally conscious' for they still use Styrofoam like it was just         invented yesterday
    People are overly nice, well, maybe that's how we should all be
    In the summer the bugs are crazy! They are everywhere!!!
    The preschools serve very unhealthy foods, that unless you want your child consuming PopTarts and sticky buns for breakfast and snack, you have to pack your own.

I started school on August 17. It has been exactly what I expected thus far, and we are now just starting to get extremely busy. 12 hours into making my study guide for my second exam is just a little taste of what is yet to come. It has been great being back in school and I have enjoyed all of the new information that I am learning. I am really excited for the future as a FNP and cannot wait to get into practice.

Sam was able to get back on with Verizon, after about a 2 month sabbatical. He enjoyed his time off, but was a little burnt out being home with the little one everyday. Being a stay at home dad is a lot of work!! He is working 45 minutes from Greenville, but we are hoping for an opening at the store here in town. We are down to one car, so I am walking to and from school, which is great because it is just across the street from our home.

Bristol is doing great. She is getting so big, towering over almost 4 year olds, and acting like such a big girl. She is saying the darndest things these days. Such as, at church a few weeks ago, she looked at me very serious and said "Mom, are you ready for Jesus?" I loved that! She is still just as cute and cudly as ever.

All in all, we are enjoying this new part of the country. We are learning so much and trying to make the best of it. Greenville is a lot smaller of a town than we are used to, but we are finding our way around. I have enjoyed having the opportunity to get to know new people, especially in our ward and at school.