*ciudad de carson

I feel a little pressure to make my posts real interesting, now that I "invited" you all!  I need to just pretend you're not there, that this continues to be my little outlet and way to share what's going on in my head and our life...

So anyways, we are settling in finally here in CARSON CITY, NEVADA. That's where we moved, for those of you who still weren't sure!  Ben defended his PhD dissertation brilliantly back in August.  We had been waiting to hear about one job in Orem, Utah, and had decided that if he didn't get it, we needed to make a move either here or to California.  It just wasn't financially feasible to stay in Salt Lake with a big mortgage and no good prospects for Ben.  It worked out well to come to Carson, as my parents had recently bought a house for my uncle to live in (he has early dementia/alzheimer's). Just before they were to move him in, they decided it wasn't going to work, and they moved him to a memory-care facility.  So they had this perfect little 2 bedroom house ready for someone to move into. The really neat thing about it is that it was actually the house my great-grandparents lived in in the 50s! How crazy is that? My mom kept saying it was just sooo familiar to her, but apparently the people erroneously said they were the first owners.  Anyway, it turns out it was their house and it's pretty neat and makes it all seem quite meant to be.  Probably the only things that remain from the 50s are the pink fixtures in the bathroom... fun to think of washing my hands in the same sink as my Grandma Ruth, or looking out the same kitchen window as I wash dishes :)

Ben is still working on some dissertation revisions, and will help with some appraisal work for my dad. He's also applied to a few random jobs around here.  After 8 years of working on his MA and PhD, it just happens to be the worst time in history to get a job in academia. Specifically history. So that's nice :)  It's been hard and depressing at times. But really we are confident in a God that is in control, that he is teaching us to trust and rely on Him.  We live in such a crazy, broken and sick world - we are so thankful for our health and our 2 healthy wonderful kids, as well as families on both sides who love and support us. 


More later along with some pictures...