Let me start off by saying that it's WAAAAAAY different than what I'm used to! I know, I know... I'm from here and should be plenty used to the way things work in a small town, right? Wrong. Although I spent 18 years here, I never worried about things like... grocery shopping, fleas, ticks, dry cleaning, funky smells in old houses, fixing leaky roofs, etc. The list could go on and on...
When we lived in Smiths Station/Phenix City, I drove 10 minutes to work, 10 minutes to Walmart, and 15 minutes to the "big city" of Columbus, which had everything you could ever possibly want. I got used to the way things worked there. It was kind of annoying to go by Eastern time, when really we "should" be going by Central time, and switching back and forth every time we went somewhere, and our house was pretty small, as was our lot. Our neighbors (most of them) weren't very friendly, and were definitely not our age, and a majority of our younger coworkers lived in Auburn, so we never really got to do much "hanging out with friends."
We never really felt like we "belonged" in any of the churches we visited, so we never joined to have a "church family." The churches were either too big (Mega Churches), or there were no young couples to be found. We could have driven back to FBC Opelika, where we both joined before we married, but 45 minutes is a long drive to church, and we wanted to be a part of a local church. Needless to say, we never accomplished that...
When we moved to Aliceville (or even before that, while we were staying in Carrollton), we had church invites coming from every direction! The Methodists, the Presbyterians, and the Baptists from all over the county were "recruiting" (for lack of a better word) us to come to their church. Although everyone was VERY nice, we decided that our new church home would be First Baptist in Aliceville. We just felt like that was where the Lord was leading us. We have been attending the service for several weeks, and have become part of the young couples' small group. We plan to go to Sunday School as soon as we feel like Waverly can last that long in the nursery! Hopefully it won't be long. :) We feel SO blessed to have the opportunity to be a part of a congregation of believers who are so open to "newcomers" like us.
Now, back to everyday life changes...
Grocery shopping happens at the Piggly Wiggly, and the occasional trip to Walmart in Northport. This has been a bit challenging for someone who is used to having access to a lot of variety in grocery stores! We're working on this house, that I feel like will NEVER be done, but we're trying to take it slowly and do one thing at a time. Maybe one day we'll have it the way we want it, but it won't be anytime soon! One advantage to being back in a small town is that (almost) everybody knows you... People at the bank, the Post Office, the Pharmacy, and the grocery store all know you and treat you as a friend, not just a customer, and that's a nice change of pace! :)
Being here, I'm also close to other stay-at-home moms, which would not have been the case where we were before. Jennifer, Ashley, their kids, and Waverly and I all walk (nearly) every morning to have a little "out of the house" time and to get a little exercise. It's been a great way to start our mornings recently, and we're really enjoying it! It's actually helping to get Waverly on a sleeping schedule, so I'm enjoying that too!
Okay, I'll stop here. I apologize for the long post, but I knew if I didn't do it all at one time, I'd never finish.
Have a wonderful, rainy day! :)
