WE SOLD OUR HOUSE!!!

As it is late, and WAAAAY past my bedtime these days, I will be brief. Just wanted to let you all know that our house officially went under contract Sunday afternoon!!! As you can imagine, we are thrilled to have this huge obstacle out of the way. We will be closing at the end of July, so there is a lot to take care of between now and then. Over the long holiday weekend, we will be traveling up to the Raleigh-Durham area to find an apartment and a storage unit so we can move in the coming weeks. We are also in the process of lining up the moving company through Duane's new employer. We are dreading the return to apartment life, especially now that we have a dog and a toddler, but at least it is just short-term. We are hoping to be in a house sometime this winter, assuming we can find a home in an area that we will like.

I am in my third week of work at the new job. I am really enjoying it...it is a nice change from the world of academic-based research. I especially enjoy the variety that comes from learning about different diseases and treatment options! It is keeping me on my toes! Between the work at my new job and trying to finish up things that I left unfinished at Wake Forest, I am staying busy with a variety of work-related tasks. I try to focus on my real job during the day, and I "moonlight" for Wake Forest in the evenings once I get home and we get Sarah in bed for the night. It has worked out well so far...I have managed to get a paper revised and resubmitted, have a conference call with some folks, revise another paper, review some papers for the editor of a diabetes journal and answer lots of questions for other folks along the way. We shouldn't have much longer before we get this last series of papers submitted...maybe then my work load will slow down. I won't complain though. They are my papers and reflect the work I did during my time as a postdoc, so it is only to my benefit to see them through to completion.

Duane is getting geared up to start his new job in about 4 weeks, and I am trying to mentally prepare myself for transitioning Sarah to a new daycare as well. Boy, do I DREAD that! I am sure she will do fine...she is a very adaptable child. But I am not so adaptable, so I am more concerned about how I will manage!

Sarah is doing great. Talking all the time and getting really close to beginning to potty train. Her latest accomplishment is learning to count to 5 in Portuguese. Her teacher, Ms. Rita, is from South America, so she has been teaching them how to count in Portuguese. They are like little sponges at this age...it is amazing how quickly they learn new things!

In spite of our busy and hectic schedules lately, we are trying to spend as much time with our friends here in W-S as possible. We are certainly going to miss them all once we move! We know we will still see them all regularly, but it won't be the same as it is now. So leaving this city is a little bittersweet for us.

Hope you are all well, and we hope you enjoy your holiday weekend! I'm sure we'll be updating soon as more things develop!