An autumn of change.

As the leaves change color, so does life.

This autumn in particular holds a couple of big shifts for us.

Cute news first. Emmett is getting a puppy brother – quite literally his half-brother as they have the same mom, Sadie. Einstein will come home with us in early November; we’ll do a quick road trip to MN to pick her up from Rose Creek, the same place we picked up Emmett three years ago. He’s pretty darn adorable and we certainly hope he’s as chill as Emmett. (Though part of me thinks we can’t get that lucky twice.)

In other news, my last day at Lincoln Elementary was Thursday. If it were a normal school year, I’d be more sad about it but in the time of covid, school was much more stressful and hard and uncertain. It was my last day because on Monday I begin a new adventure as a hospice chaplain. I’ll be part of a team, based within the Aurora hospital system, that serves patients in Racine, Kenosha, and northern Illinois. It’s full time and new and exciting and anxiety-producing and all sorts of things. There will be a couple weeks of orientation before I begin doing the actual work. I’m hopeful it will be a good fit.

Since I’ll be based out of home, I’ve set out to peel wallpaper in the guest room – the LAST ROOM in our house that still has it. (And, naturally, it has the wallpaper that seems to be the absolute hardest to remove. Sigh.) It will transition to a combo guest room/office for me. We picked up a cute secretary desk that will go perfectly in the corner. Always a project. Updates to come.