We have been in Texas nine months and it has definitely been a new experience with lots of learning curves. I have had many people express interest in what we have been up to as well as "what does you life look like" questions. So I figured I would try to answer some of the FAQ's
Where do you live?
We live in a tiny city 90 miles east of El Paso, TX. It's called Dell City and it has a population of
about 400 people.
This is the view looking toward the Guadalupe Mountains.
This is our house. We live in a double wide manufactured home that his owned by the school district.I would guesstimate that 70% of the homes here are trailers or manufactured homes.
Our house is right next to acres and acres of farm land. They grow peppers and alfalfa
There is not a lot of business' in town, but we do have:
A Post Office
Two grocery stores.
One of them ( Two-T's) also doubles as a laundromat and video rental store and has hot food like corn dogs and fried chicken. Miles likes going there because they have a slush puppy machine. The other store (Tuco's market) does pizza and burgers.
A hardware store.
There is also two gas stations, a cafe, a the few other places that are needed to keep a city going. The phone company, the electric company, the city hall.
Oh and because I also get asked this a lot, there is NOT a doctor or hospital, a pharmacy, a movie theater, or a pool. There IS a very very small library at the school and a small city park (but it is very old and not well maintained so we do not go there)
Where does Allen work?
Allen works at the one school in town, Dell City School. It is a K-12 school with a fluctuating student population between 70-80 students. He teaches 6-12 grade English. He also runs the Drama club, the yearbook and works with the GT kids. It has definitely been a challenging first year of teaching. He has seven separate classes to prep and teach everyday plus the extracurricular stuff. It is a ton of work and is challenging even for experienced teachers. I am proud of how hard he has worked this year and all he has learned and accomplished.
What do YOU do all day?
I always kind of laugh at this question. Because in some ways my life looks exactly like it would if we lived anywhere else. I clean, I do laundry, I play with the baby, I cook, I surf on Facebook. But it other ways it looks very different. There is really nothing for me to go and do during the day, if we lived somewhere else I could take the baby to the library or wander around Target. But living here most days the only time we leave the house is when we walk to pick up Miles from school or when we go to the post office. I make one giant grocery shop in El Paso once a month and then usually do one supplemental shop for things like produce and milk. Sometimes I wait and we go in together as a family on a Saturday to do the shopping, especially if we have other things we need or want to do in town. But usually Oliver and I will head in by ourselves while the boys are at school. It has been a huge learning curve living so far away from "civilization". I have to plan my shopping very carefully because if I forgot something, picking it up locally can very quickly deplete my grocery budget. I plan our menu out 4-5 weeks at a time. Living out here away from fast food and restaurants ( we do have a few options but they are not great tasting or great on the budget), means that I cook WAY more than I ever have before. The by product of this is that I have become a better cook. I have found that I really enjoy cooking and baking and I make a lot of things from scratch.
What about church?
There are a couple churches in town ( Catholic, Baptist, Christian), But the closest LDS congregation is in El Paso. This makes going to church tricky. Ideally we would like to make it to church every week and this is a goal we are working toward. But realistically we make it about twice a month. Less the last couple of months as we have all been battling illness. The 1.5 hour trip definitely makes for a long day on Sundays. Church is at 12:30, so we leave here a little before eleven. Then we get home a little after five.I try to put something in the crockpot before we leave so we can eat as soon as we get home. But it is so worth it when we prioritize and make the effort to get to church. Not just for the spiritual edification ( although that is obviously the major reason), but it is so nice to talk and socialize with others. I can't wait until Oliver is old enough for nursery and I can really enjoy my time at church. ( Less than a month!!)
How is Miles' liking school?
It was a bit of a rough adjustment for Miles at the beginning of the school year. He cried almost every morning for the first few weeks and was constantly asking how long he had to "try" public school before he could go back to homeschooling. This literally broke my heart and it was all I could do to not pull him out. But Allen and I had prayed about it and had many discussions and really felt that for right now public school was the best option. He is doing much better now and really enjoys school
( for the most part). His favorite thing is the social aspect and that lets me know that I made the right decision. ( with no co-ops or homeschool groups around here, he would have been very lonely.) He is very smart and does well in all his classes ( which did not come as a surprise to me). However we are very much still a homeschooling family at heart. Eventually when we have the right resources again, we will bring him back home.
Do you like it? How long are you staying?
We are enjoying our time here. We feel that the Lord guided us in finding this particular job in this particular town. I believe that we have things to learn that are best learned here. We have already grown a lot closer as a family and as a couple. In a lot of ways it feels like we are taking a "break" from the hustle and bustle of the world. In many ways things are simpler here. But I also believe this is only a season of our life. I don't know what the future holds or how long we will be here, but I know that we have many more adventures a head of us.
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