The View from the Bike Path

We decided to take a bike ride on this warm, windy, Sunday afternoon. Perhaps it is because I grew up in Chicago, but I am always so impressed by the open spaces here in Iowa. The bike path runs through town, but has great views. You'll notice that those views include a few signs of fall's imminent approach.

The bike path also runs through a nice children's park and we always have to stop and take a break to play a bit. Maria is still recovering from her surgery earlier this week so she didn't come along today, but Jon Felipe had a great time. What a beautiful day to start doing our traditional Sunday afternoon bike rides again. (We did it all last fall, so that makes it a tradition now, right? :-)

Women's Soccer

What a beautiful weekend for enjoying outdoor sports. John and Mary drove out from Michigan to see their daughter Katie play on the Dordt women's soccer team. John is Dwight's cousin and we enjoyed having them stay with us while they were in Sioux Center.

Katie is one of the goalies. She is only a freshman, but she played both the Friday game and the Saturday game and did a great job. Dordt won both games 3-1. How nice that her parents could be here this weekend to see the games.

Convocation Today

A few pictures of my department colleagues "enrobing" for convocation. This was probably the most interesting part of the whole event :-)

End of Summer

This amazingly huge caterpillar was happily eating the plants in front of our house.
A beautiful Iowa sunset.
On the hottest day of the summer, we spent the day swimming with George and Regina and their family. Fun!
Jon Felipe putting his school supplies in his desk at school during the open house.

Maria went to the open house despite having surgery earlier in the day. She needed to greet all her favorite teachers from last year.

Maria had had her old port removed and a new port placed that morning. In the maroon bag is a portable pump so she could go to the open house and still get her IV medicine.

Maria with her new teacher for 7th grade.

Waiting for the bus on the first day of school. Maria did not want to miss the first day, so even though she was feeling quite a bit of pain from the surgeries, off she went to school.

Not Me Monday

I did not have ice cream tonight since I'm on a diet and didn't actually lose any weight this week.
Nope.
Not me.

Wordless Wednesday: The Community Pool

One Year

We have now lived in Iowa for one year and I have to say, "It is good!" Of course, we miss our family and friends. Of course, there are lots of good memories from before we moved here. Of course, we miss the familiar places and routines from before the move. But, Iowa is good too.

Before we moved here, someone advised us to think of it as though we were moving to a foreign country. I'm not exactly sure what the intent behind that comment was, but I think there was some wisdom there too. When you go to a foreign country, you do not expect things to be the same as home. Instead you set out on adventure and embrace all the new experiences involved in being in a new and unfamiliar place.

I think we approached our move the same way. We did not expect Sioux Center to be like Holland (or like Chicago, where I grew up). We expected it to be different and we delighted in the experience of getting to know this new place. Along the way, we also made new friends, new memories, and new routines. Iowa is a good place to be.

Plus, we have the joy of being able to go back to Michigan, back to Chicago, and see all the family and friends that are there. We didn't lose friends by moving, we made more. We are so blessed!