Tucson

My mom flew out to Monterey to watch the kids for us while Mario and I went house hunting in Tucson.  We really appreciate her flying across the country to watch our kids.  They love when grandma comes.  She and Zachary spent many hours walking at the beach.  She has so much energy, no one can keep up with her! 

I had been researching for a long time on the area we thought we wanted to live.  Mario and I found a great house within the first few hours.   It was in a nice area of town.   Then we went to see the kids' new schools.     Unfortunately they were in a bad section of town.  We didn't feel comfortable dropping off our kids everyday in a neighborhood known for lots of crime-drugs, violence, gangs, robberies, etc.  So all my research went out the window and we had to start from scratch.  I was really sick the entire time we were in Tucson, so that didn't help.

After praying about what to do next, I felt prompted to look in a different area-the Rita Ranch area.  Unfortunately we haven't been able to find a home with a pool yet.  We want to rent because we are worried about the dropping home prices.  We may have to settle for a community pool.  The neighborhood we are looking at has the elementary and middle schools within a couple blocks.   We feel blessed to at least know the area we want to live, even if we don't know what house yet.  At least we have reservations for a month in temporary lodging if we need it.  

I have always loved our time in the military, but I am even more appreciative of it now that economic times are bad.  So far, the military has been very good to our family.   I love moving and seeing new parts of the country or world.  I am not an overly adventurous person, so the military provides me many opportunities to break out of my shell and have new experiences.  I love it.   I will let you know if I still love it when Mario gets deployed!