What We Miss...

1.  The relative quiet of Orange City.  We hear sirens every day, often several times a day.  The novelty has long since worn off.  We no longer hear the rooster in the neighborhood--not sure what happened to him.  (The chicken soup was good!  Just kidding.)

2.  Familiar faces at Fareway, the library, and basically any store downtown.  I think the librarians of the Yankee Clipper branch of GRPL are beginning to recognize us, though.

3.  OCCS.  This would have been our 9th year of having children at OCCS and we miss the teachers and staff and most of all our friends.

4.  Our neighbors, the Walters, especially Sarah.  Sure, we have neighbor kids over here all the time, but nothing can take the place of that bond of friendship that was formed before Sarah and Caleb were even in preschool.

5.  Watching the fields being harvested on our trips to and from Sioux Center.

6.  Being able to go to the grocery store or library or park without having to go through 17 stoplights (or at least it seems that way)

7.  Stopping at my mom's for a cup of coffee after a Walmart run.

8.  Trading babysitting with Cora and seeing the cousins enjoy playing with each other.  Or just stopping in for a coffee drink and a crumpet.

9.  Watching baby Nora grow up.

10.  Our play area at our Orange City house.  The kids go in our backyard here in Michigan and are at a  loss.  I did not realize how much of their playtime outside centered around that play area.  Okay, maybe I did, but just suppressed it.   This may be one of Russ' first projects come spring.

11.  Sunday dinners with Grandpa and Grandma, aunts, uncles and cousins. 

12.  Pumpkinland

13.  Being able to walk to a destination.  We can go for walks, but never to a specific place.  If we want to go to the post office, park, library, grocery store, they are either too far away, or you have to cross an extremely busy road.

14.  Dawn Steggerda and Gary Vander Hart, our piano and string teachers.  We miss their personalities and style of teaching.  We also miss Dixie and the OCCS orchestras.

15.  Digging potatoes, harvesting apples, and making apple cider at Grandpa and Grandma's house this time of year. 

16.  Driving to BSF with cousin Caden on Monday nights

17.  My book group.  It was more than just an "accountability to read" group.  I appreciated the discussions on church, parenting, mission work, schools, etc.

18.  OC hospital and clinic.  Finding a doctor here is a little daunting as there are a kazillion clinics and you just don't know what doctors are taking new patients.  Thankfully, Spectrum Health has a 1-800 number you can call for assistance in finding a doctor.   Oh, I guess we need a dentist and eye doctor, too...

19.  He doesn't talk about it too much and it helps that he is really busy, but I know Russ misses his coworkers and student interaction at MOC-FV.

20.  Did I mention Sunday dinners with Grandpa, Grandma, aunts, uncles and cousins?
Yes, we are a little homesick.  We try not to dwell on the things that we miss because they make us sad, and instead try to focus on the blessings we have in Grand Rapids.  We will list those on another post.