Things I love about Wisonsin

1.  best.burgers.ever.
2.  the beer is good.  really good.  and I'm not usually a beer drinker.
3.  cheese.  (duh).  specifically fried cheese curds.  at The Old Fashioned.  Mmmmmm.
4.  green.  beautiful, green landscape. 
      *On the phone with my brother the other day he said "how's your yard?  It looks really green".  this is how the rest of the conversation went:

me:  "Our yard?  Yeah, it's green." 
J:  "I've always thought that Wisconsin was really green"
me:  "Really?  You've always thought that about Wisconsin?"
J:  "Yeah.  Well, actually it started when I came home from Iraq.  We flew into Ft McCoy and, granted, we were coming from the desert, but there was a plane full of adult men who couldn't stop talking about how green Wisconsin is."

isn't he the cutest?  :)

5.  the scenic:city ratio.  We live a little ways outside of town in a beautiful little wooded neighborhood.  I love it.  It's more private, there is more space.  There are dairy farms less than a mile away and we can hear the cows mooing when we play outside.  We have a big hill the boys love to roll down/ride bikes down/etc.  There is plenty of room for the dog to run around.  We LOVE the location of our house.  What makes it even cooler is that it only takes about half hour-40 minutes to get to ANYTHING in the city.  not at all similar to our options in old B-town.  In our old location, half an hour would get us to church and Target.  Now, 15-30 miles gets us unlimited options.  And we get to see beautiful scenery on the way.  best of both worlds.
6.  Our house is awesome.  We feel at home.  We feel at peace.  We are making it our own.  Don't get me wrong, we have a ways to go, but we love it.
7.  So many fun things to do.  Free zoo.  Awesome indoor playground.  Incredible parks everywhere.  There is always something new to explore.  Still on the agenda:  children's museum, farmer's market, many-a-delicious-restaurant, and much more.
(Can you tell I like food?)
8.  My boys love Wisconsin.  This is huge.  It would be very hard for me to love it if they didn't.  Don't get me wrong, we miss Iowa.  We miss my family and our friends and our church and all the familiar.  We talk about Iowa a lot.  We are still mourning much of what we have left behind.  But, somehow, at the same time, we are all so excited to be here.  We really DO feel at home and we are enjoying the family bonding that has come with only having each other and the good Lord to depend on.
9.  God likes to show off in Wisconsin.  (Ok, He is amazing all the time and everywhere, but it is just incredible to watch Him prove his faithfulness in this new endeavor.)  We have had one confirmation after another that this is where we are supposed to be.  The short version goes like this:

• when we learned we would be moving to WI, our friends got us in touch with some of their friends who live in the area.  We went to dinner during our first visit to WI and they are fantastic.
• also, the first time we visited WI to house hunt we were drawn to a particular suburb... but how were we supposed to know if our gut instinct was a good choice for relocating a family?
• turns out we know a couple that live in this suburb (they used to be in a Bible study with us when Joe and I first got married). 
• the second time we visited the area, we found this house and were praying we'd get it. (we actually got a better deal on it than we were anticipating!  yay!)  we also visited our friends' church - where we got to hear a guest speaker - who turned out to be another friend we know from Iowa.
• we keep "coincidentally" meeting people who are awesome.  example:  yesterday at the park, I met a lady and was asking about her kids.  During the course of the conversation, she mentioned that she goes to the same church we visited.  Her kids go the school.  She is the coordinator of Family Adoration.  "coincidence".

10.  There are raccoons.  Okay, this one is a little strange, but it's become the running joke in our family.  Before we moved we told Roman that there were woods behind our house.  He was very excited and asked about the animals in the woods.  We told him there were probably deer, opossums, raccoons, squirrels, bugs, etc.  He got really excited about that and was always telling us that he was going to see all these animals when we got to Wisconsin.  We had to explain that we probably wouldn't actually see those animals very often.  One time I was telling him that raccoons don't really like people, that they would be scared of him, and that if they weren't scared, he should leave them alone because they could bite.  Then he got a little worried about raccoons.  SO, when we got here, one day he asked Joe if they could go exploring in the woods.  Joe said "no, there are raccoons in the woods".  He dropped the topic.  Then the next day they were in the yard and Roman heard something in the bushes.  Roman said "is that a raccoon?"  joe said  "We should go check it out"  So, as they approached, Joe grabbed Roman and scared. the. crap. out of him.  They had a good laugh about it after Roman calmed down.  So now, anytime we are doing something new or Roman doesn't want to do something (or any other time it seems appropriate) we bring the raccoon to the situation.  Examples:
Roman:  " i want chicken and fries for lunch." 
Joe:  "how about raccoon and fries?"

Roman:  "I don't like these noodles"
joe:  "but they're raccoon noodles"

Roman"  I want to go to McDonalds"
Joe:  "I want to go to the racoon restaurant"

Roman:  "I don't want to go to bed"
Joe:  "If you don't go to your room, I'm going to put a raccoon in your bed"

I wish I could think of more, but it's just constant, so there are too many to remember.  This is awesome because Roman finds it hilarious.  instantly puts him in a good mood when you say the word "raccoon".


So, in summary, Wisconsin is delicious, beautiful, clearly God's plan for us, and full of raccoons. 
Which, apparently, is all we need.