Six Months

As of Friday, we have lived in Baku for six months.  Now for those of you who live Normal Lives where you do mythical things like buy houses that you plan on staying in long enough to paint rooms and change light fixtures, six months doesn't sound like a lot of time.  But for me, six months is a lot of time.  The last time I lived anywhere for six months straight, it was 2010.

All of our boxes have been unpacked for at least four months now, and we've been here long enough that several drawers have gotten cluttered enough to hide various important things - like my car keys.  The tomato seeds that I ordered from Burpee during the endless days of snow now have red fruits at are almost ready to pick.  At least three or four walls have been colored on decorated by Edwin, and the vertical blinds have been partly destroyed.  Who thought it was a good idea to combine vertical blinds and children?

Joseph, who came here as a scrawny little seven week-old is now sitting up, rocking back and forth on his hands and knees, and trying to chew on everything and anything that is unwise enough to get near his death grip.  Edwin is potty-trained.  And talking.  Somewhat.  Sophia can read.  Somewhat.  Kathleen is almost in first grade.

So, after, six months, I can say that I like Baku.  It's not the kind of like where'd you'd like to build a summer home here, although some of the trees are lovely.  But, considering that it's not Europe, it's a fairly pleasant town to live in.  The traffic can get bad at times, but Baku is small enough that even if you're sitting in a parking lot, it can only last so long.  Good luck finding some things to cook with, but that's probably true no matter where you move.  And this mission is full of really nice people, that I personally know a lot of.

Some times the six-month mark can be hard to deal with; you've been in a place long enough to feel like you've been settled without actually being settled, but I think that this for this go around my six month mark is pretty good.  I think that having four children and homeschooling probably helps; it fills up my days and keeps me structured enough that I don't have much time to worry about whether or not I'm happy.  No tantrums today?  I'm happy!  Underwear is dry all day?  I'm happy!  My husband is home for dinner?  What more do I need?

So life here in the Sherwood Family is good.  We've been doing a lot of swimming, some bike riding, and getting to know the parks really well.  In three weeks we leave for our R&R and Brandon gets to come the entire time.  And then when we get back, time for Kathleen and first grade, and then fall, and then Christmas...  and time just keeps rolling on.  Even in a place as strange as Azerbaijan.