Hello
friends & family!
Is
it already this time again? I can’t even believe it! I hope this letter and
card finds you well. This has been quite the year for us so I thought it
deserved a separate recap!
As
most of you know I had a major health scare and surgery that closed out 2014.
That brought on a lot of thoughts about future events – both good and bad. We
realized how isolated we were in California. Although we had a huge “family” of
friends and my beloved workplace, we knew we wanted to be closer to my
immediate family, especially as we begin to think of beginning our own. We
wanted to be closer to family in case there were emergencies or health changes
(mine or others) and we wanted to be part of their lives – not the visiting
aunt and uncle. Since Luba’s family is far away (in South Africa), this
relocation would be beneficial to all. We started making mental and tangible
plans to relocate to St. Louis, where Letetia lives.
We
checked final items off of our California bucket list in early 2015 and I
applied for jobs in St. Louis. We made plans to road trip to our new home in
April 2015. Saying goodbye to friends, co-workers, and clients/families was
brutal. I stayed in denial and shock until the car hit the freeway heading out
of Orange County. We checked many states off of our “states visited together”
list this year. Luba got to see a lot of America through the road trip, as did
I. We stopped at so many quirky & fun spots along the way (pictured: spray
painting at Cadillac Ranch). We also stayed in some spooky places that we can
now laugh about without a rising heart rate.
We
arrived and moved in to our apartment on May 1. Since then, we have been
settling in to new routines and making connections. I started work on May 18 at
Easter Seals Midwest as a behavior analyst providing behavior therapy and ABA
supervision/staff & family training for children and adults with autism.
Luba started working at the International Institute in July. I also opened a
private practice for speech pathology to allow me to keep up with my skills and
build my network providing my first love, speech and language therapy.
We
live about 5 miles from Letetia and her family and we love it (picture from
Apple Picking at Eckert’s Farms). We have had lots of double dates and time
with her kids. As Brady said: WE CAN DO FAMILY DINNERS! We even stayed over and
were “insta-parents” while they vacationed in Mexico for 1 week. We are also
driving distance (10 hours) to Mississippi (home) and have made the drive once
already to visit my parents. I love that we can also visit family by meeting
half way in Tennessee or somewhere else if we want! Everyone is much more
accessible.
We
like St. Louis so far. It’s in a great location for us geographically. We made
it to 2 Cardinals games (picture from Busch Stadium) and have tickets for the
Rams for December! Fly over state? Psssht. Within 8 hours, we can drive to so
many cool cities. We have gone to Louisville Kentucky for the weekend (picture
at Churchill Downs) once and are trying to plan Chicago, Nashville, Memphis and
Kansas City. I love being able to hop in the car and go somewhere fun and a
have a choice of states! We are loving the seasons but also bracing for
initiation into Winter, coming soon.
We
are also trying to plan a trip to South Africa for Spring 2016. This will be
Luba’s first time home since coming in 2013 (he just celebrated his 2-year
America-versary). I have not been since 2012 after going yearly for 6 years so I’m
dying to get back there as well. This year’s trip will be very different for
us. If you are in South Africa, WE CANNOT WAIT TO SEE YOU!
Please
keep in contact with us. Our contact info is on the back of the cards. We would
love to hear from you & know everything!
With
love and warmest of wishes, Danielle & Luba
A picture is worth a thousand words right? Highlights from the year:
