Today marks one year of the little Cooks living in the Big Easy! It’s hard to believe that we’ve been away from Georgia that long. Looking back on it, the time has flown by. It seems like we were just unloading the moving truck in the NOLA heat. So much has happened over the last 12 months. There have been challenging moments, but overall it has been a good year, and we are glad to be here.
When I last wrote, summer was just beginning, and now summer is coming to a close.It has been wonderful to take a break from our normal hectic schedule. In June we spent almost three weeks on the East Coast. We traveled to Georgia first for Josh to be in a friend’s wedding (number 4 out of 5 this year). Then we headed up to Washington D.C. to spend the week with Josh’s sister Jennifer. She has been working for a Congressman for about a year and a half now, and we really wanted to visit while she’s living there. We walked our feet off but had a lot of fun exploring all of the national monuments and Smithsonian Museums. Jenn even hooked us up with a special night tour of the Capitol, and we got to see areas they don’t show people on regular tours. It’s nice to have connections!
Sadly, we ended our visit to D.C. by learning that Josh’s Maw Maw was not doing well. She had been battling Ovarian Cancer for almost a year and had quickly gone downhill. We had visited her in the hospital when we were in town for the wedding, but since we left she had been sent home with hospice care. Josh, Jennifer, and I quickly traveled back to be with their family during the last week of her life. On June 15th, she passed away. While we are glad that she is no longer in pain and is celebrating in heaven, it was very hard to lose her. Meanwhile, Josh and I had to leave at the end of the week to travel to South Carolina for Josh to be in our fifth and final wedding of the year! It was a bittersweet time, enjoying a happy occasion with friends but also hurting from the loss of Maw Maw. We traveled back to Georgia for her funeral on Sunday and then headed back to New Orleans late that night. It was a crazy trip with lots of traveling back and forth. Total, we estimate that we drove around 2,855 miles and spent about 39 hours in the car!
The rest of the summer was full of little trips. We went camping at Gulf Shores with some friends over the 4th of July, to Panama City Beach with Josh’s family to spread Maw Maw’s ashes, and I took a solo bus ride to Atlanta to spend time with my family since I had not seen them at all this summer. I realized that I had jumped right into school the day after we moved to New Orleans and had not come up for air until this summer. It was not until summer break that I’ve had time to get homesick. So the trip home was good for me, although I was sad that Josh had to stay behind and work.
School is about to begin again, and I will be starting my new job at a difference school as a 4th grade teacher. This is my third year teaching, third new school, and third new grade! Please pray for me as I transition into this new role. The pressure on teachers for their students to do well on the 4th grade standardized LEAP test can be overwhelming. Pray that I enjoy my new job but that I can find a way to organize my time and separate school life from home life. Josh has been working all summer. (I’m so thankful for his hard work!) He is starting his second year of seminary in a few weeks. Please pray for him as he gets back into the school mode and all the extra work that comes with it.
Thanks to everyone for your continued support! Hope you’ve had a wonderful summer as well!
