Back from Hiatus--the Adventure Continues . . .

After a particularly crazy summer hiatus, I am back to blogging and am coming to you from my new hometown, Carbondale, Illinois.  I last blogged on the day I was leaving Jordan, May 4th.  A lot has happened since then and so this post will be a quick catch-up on what was a very short and busy, but very exciting, summer.

When I left Jordan, my family and I spent a short holiday (in American English, that's "vacation").  Then, we popped over to Madrid for about a day and a half before heading back to the hectic realities of everyday life in America.

We arrived home in mid-May and spent about a week re-adjusting to American culture.  It was so strange to drive after not having driven at all for over nine months.  I remember feeling dazed and confused the first time I walked into a Barnes & Noble.  It was an indescribable feeling.  Are all these books . . . in English!?!?  How am I supposed to pick from all these hundreds of books . . . all in English!?!?  But, it didn't take me long to get my bookstore groove back, which is a good thing because my summer was already moving faster than the speed of light.

While I was away this past year, I had accepted a new job as the dean at the Southern Illinois University School of Law in Carbondale, Illinois.  I was excited and eager to get started, but we had not done one thing to prepare to move.  It is pretty hard to orchestrate a move across the country when you aren't even in the country.  Consequently, we had decided to wait until we got home to make any concrete plans, like finding a place to live, getting our Texas house ready to put on the market, etc.  But, now we were home and the plans had to be made quickly.  We scrambled to find a house to rent in Carbondale until we could find something more permanent, and we began preparations to move a few things so that we would have a functional home there.

With quick trips to Carbondale, a conference, and my niece's wedding in Colorado, I was only actually at home in Texas for about three weeks total--but not consecutively--before it was time for me to begin work at my new job on July 1. Maggie joined me in mid-July, just in time to start daily band practices (she made the snare line--yea!!).  Paul and Charlie are spending some time in Texas and some time in Carbondale.  Even since arriving in Carbondale, we attended another niece's wedding, this one in Cincinnati, and I attended a conference.

So, although we are back from our trip abroad, we have not stopped traveling!  But, we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.  Charlie will be going to college in a couple of weeks.  Paul will be staying in Carbondale more and just returning to Texas when necessary to deal with matters regarding the house.  We hope to have a more permanent home soon so that we can finally get settled in one place after a crazy year of traveling and living out of suitcases and boxes.

So far, I am enjoying Carbondale a lot.  It is very much like the area where I grew up in Indiana, and I'm closer to my dad and sisters.  We are very excited about the high school Maggie will be attending.  I am honored to have the opportunity to work with an incredibly talented group of people at the law school and the university.  We are looking forward to becoming part of the Saluki family and the Carbondale community.