Alabama-bama-fo-fama-fama-bo-bama-bama

Alrighty y'all, we are here in lovely Alabama.  It's somewhat how I expected it, and yet not at all.  I envisioned dusty dirt roads and Jeremy envisioned swamps, and it's really nothing like either of those.  We're still getting to know our way around (although it's pretty easy in this small town) and are getting used to everything.

Before I share our thoughts about everything, I wanted to say how welcomed we have been by the church members here.  We attended our branch of about 50 people on Sunday, and everyone was so sweet.  Our landlady is in the branch and knew we didn't have any furniture, so she told her husband, who announced it in Priesthood, and by Tuesday we had a couch, a bed, a dresser, 2 end-tables, computer chair, lamp, and crib.  Wow!  We were so overwhelmed by the generosity of everyone.  These are on loan, so we will be giving everything back of course.  We had originally hoped that between Craigslist, garage sales, and the church members, we would be able to find a few basics, but they just took over and helped with everything we needed - and then some.  We also bought a kitchen table/chairs at a garage sale the day before from a nice neighbor who, when I told her our situation, said she'll buy it back from me at the end of the summer for the same price!  What a sweetie!

Let me say, having a bed and a couch has made a world of difference this week!  We have all hardwood floors, and it was hard not having anywhere to sit but the floor.  We are feeling very blessed.

I'll write more about our other impressions of the south later, but here are a few pictures to get started.  This is an end-table we got from my friend Megan who lives here (who I knew as a kid).  We used it as our kitchen table the first day or so:

It worked perfectly for the boys.  One level for each of them!

 Then with our new table (with dinner dishes still on it, oops)

The house we're in was built in the 60s so it has this lovely wood paneling in the dining room.  It also has a room painted pink and a bathroom with pink tile and a pink tub.  What were they thinking?!? Haha.  We actually really love the house though.  The kitchen is ginormous compared to our Pittsburgh one, and it's really a nice place to live.

And here are some pictures of the boys playing outside.  I love the big mature trees in the yard - the yard! It's so fun to have a big yard to run around in.

 I have to keep reminding myself that we 're just here for 3 months and it's not my job to fix everything up.  It's against my nature and is very hard, but I'm trying!  I really want to take a large power tool to those bushes in front of that nice bay window, but again...not my job (nor in my budget to purchase all the tools necessary to get this place lookin' awesome). :)

A look at part of our neighborhood...

 Oooh!  A leaf!

 Chalk art.  Do you see his eyes, smile, arms, legs, and hair? This kid's an artist. :)

 Oh!  And we planted some plants!  There were a lot of pots left here, so we decided to fill a few.  We figured we'd be here long enough to harvest something, so we planted 2 tomato plants, basil, mint, and parsley.  I hope they survive!

That's all for now. More to come later!