As time went on, we met our neighbors, fellow parishioners and people from Valley View School.  I joined the PTA and got involved immediately.  There had been a Talent Show in the cafetorium which we had attended before school let out for the summer.  I knew that was something I could do the very first year.  I offered to direct and structure the show and was heartily welcomed to do it.  There were many other mothers that wanted to help.  I already had a lot of support from the start.  It would become a yearly activity put on by the PTA with more students getting involved each year.  

I was a cantor (song leader and soloist) and began to sing at the mass we attended. Ollie became a Eucharistic Minister.  In the spring, we worked at the fiesta.  I also became a 2nd grade teacher for CCD (religious education.)  Our lives were full.  We had fully immersed our family into a life of purpose and service in our community.  We had been welcomed in school and church and began to develop friendships.  

The kids learned to ride bicycles.  There was a park just blocks away.  They made friends at school and church.  Without knowing anyone when we arrived, we had been immersed into a wonderful community.  It was an opportunity to learn and grow.  It helped us feel like we had a new, different kind of family, as we were not related to anyone there.  Through church and school, we forged new friendships that would blossom and grow.

So now we were active in school and church,  we went to the library every Saturday and had an outing every Sunday after church.  Ollie and I had made some friends.  The kids were getting to know the other students and were making friends too.  We missed our family and friends back home in Indiana.  But we were making a life here.  It was a new beginning, a new life.