Thursday Thanks Tank

It has been a simple week here at the Viking Hus. Simple in that we are FINALLY in our new home. That we have made a conscious decision to move towards less clutter and only things we love coming into the house while all the mess of moving boxes and such stay out of sight in the garage.

Simplify, simplify, simplify has been a type of glue holding everything together through the last 4 weeks of chaos of starting school, being the "new kid" myself, and DaHubby being on rotating shifts (days, nights, weekdays, weekends).

So, in the spirit of simplicity, here's what I am thankful for this week:

...my new neighbor and "momma friend", Erin. She lives four houses down and our boys are in the same kindergarten class. She's also a growing Christian who is interested in possibly starting a Moms In Touch International (MITI) prayer group for the kids PLUS she hooked us up with a new possible church. AND, knowing we have no family around and haven't found any babysitters yet, she's offered to corral the Vikings for one evening so DaHubby and I can have a date night before a major project begins at DaHub's new job which will require him to work six 12 hr midnight shifts/week for 3-4 weeks. (An aside: I didn't want to freak her out but the day before I met her I had prayed [along with several of my friends back in Michigan] that I would find just one other mom to start a MITI prayer group. Twelve hours later, I met Erin at the bus stop. :) Yea, God!)

...the Vikings' new teachers. While Flicka is adjusting with relative ease, I'm still thrilled to have found out that her teacher is a Christian who used to teach in a Lutheran school. Meanwhile, Pojke has been simply miserable with the whole school experience to-date but his teacher (a "rookie" of three years) has been helpful and accommodating in assisting him acclimatize to yet another change in his little life this year.

...rest. We have been running at high-flyin', survival-only speed since about 2009. While the move has been more upsetting and discombobulating than expected, there have been times recently of sweet, sweet rest and silence lately in the new house. I'm home alone more during the day with both kids in school. PLUS, DaHub's schedule is such that he not only rotates shifts but what days he works as well so he has been home some weekdays and it has just been the two of us for the first time in a VERY long time.

...reading. Directly relates to the resting thing. Being out of "survival mode" means more time for pleasure reading, time to put feet up and lose myself in a good story for an hour or so. My local librarians are probably already tired of me, paperbackswap.com probably thinks my account's been hacked, and I've found a new addiction on a Facebook page with daily listings of free books for my Android Kindle app.

That's what I'm thankful for this week. What about you? Pam hosts Thursday Thanks Tank. Stop by her bloggy home today and see what see has to say.