A Tale of Two Cities

Once again I'm so far behind I don't even know where to begin!! We have had so much change since the last post it was a bit overwhelming to think about where to start.  I decided just to copy our Christmas letter that we sent out this year.  

A Friedmann Tale of Two Cities:

It was the best of times. It was the busiest of times. Jonathan got a new job this year, and we now live in Houston, TX! He started looking for a new job last year in the Little Rock area but without any results. Early this year, he expanded his search to target Houston because of its large engineering industry and its more central location considering both of our families. We went about six months without hearing anything, and then the he got two calls in one week to setup two interviews for the same day! He got to pick from two good positions and has found a really great fit at Stewart & Stevenson in Northwest Houston working on a rail car mover called the Rail King. He has a lot more freedoms and responsibility as well as a great team of bosses to learn from. It was a very busy fall for us all. After Jonathan accepted the job, we packed up the house, found a place to live, put our house on the market, moved down to Houston, and he started two weeks later. However, it was obvious that God was orchestrating the entire ordeal, and it was a smooth transition all around. We are very blessed to have sold our house in Little Rock the first week of December! There are some parts and people in Little Rock we will always miss, but it has clearly been a great move for Jonathan’s career and our family.

Magen obviously had one of the toughest jobs this fall as she was not only supporting wife and mother of two but she also handled the majority of the transition details. She not only handled the stress for herself and the kids, but also packed, found a place to live, listed the house, transferred utilities, and countless other crucial tasks. Jonathan could not have done what she accomplished, and we could not have done it on our own. We are so thankful for how much help we received from friends, family, and strangers in both cities. Even though we are still settling into Houston, Magen has already established a busy weekly routine. She attends a weekly bible study, goes to play dates with other moms, and takes the kids to visit Aunt Karen for lunch dates at her school, while squeezing in girls nights here and there. She has picked up sewing as a hobby and loves it. It’s a great distraction from the mundane details of housework and a wonderful outlet for her creativity and generosity.

Audrey is now two years old.  We found out the same time of the move that one of her ears was completely full of fluid and making it difficult for her to pick up new words. We hadn’t caught the fluid earlier because she didn’t have any ear infections as a result from staying at home during the day. So in the middle of packing up the house, Audrey also got tubes in her ears. Since the tubes, we’ve noticed a dramatic increase in her speech, and it’s fun to hear her use words or phrases that she’s picked up without our coaching. We could really tell that all these transitions were taking a toll during the week of the move. However, as soon as we moved in and setup her room just like it was before, she was back to normal. She could tell that stability was being restored. She still loves her little brother so much. Just tonight Luke cracked up laughing watching Audrey playing. The kept feeding off each other, and we watched them laugh at each other for five minutes.

Luke is now eight months old and has his two bottom teeth.  He can now drag himself around the floor and is rocking on all fours, so we expect crawling to begin soon. He is still much larger than Audrey was at the same age and couldn’t be more laid back and cheerful. Until the last month he’s been a very quiet baby, but we’re starting to hear more and more of his voice as he starts baby-talking and screaming when his sister tickles him. 

Now that we are living in Houston, I figured it is even more important to "try" and keep up with my blog.  Audrey is daily doing something that makes me laugh and I know that friends and family would want to know about them too!

So here's to starting a new year and blogging!!! Wish me luck!!