Well, we are on the final days of our twins Intro Tour to family and friends. All 9 pieces of luggage have made it and miraculously gained weight with each stop. We have voyaged to Seattle, Boulder, Warrenton, and now Louisville. Each stop has brought hugs, smiles, and tears (mostly of joy, but some of tiredness). My mind is a maze of mixed memories of meals, laughs, and games. Our kids have the smells of all the many hugs they have received, the sounds of generational play, and the tastes of family favorites. Annabelle even got to sleep over at her cousin’s house for the first of many times! What a blessing this has been!

Barrett and I have also done what has to happen when being away from the States for so long…get our haircut by people whose first language is English, amend taxes by people that aren’t voluntold to be accountants for a couple of months, meet with our tenant, and catch up with our finance guy. We have eaten at Chick fil A enough to make our Oki friends jealous and managed to drain all of our Starbucks gift cards in a month. Yet it still a challenge to live in the moment rather than plan for our unknown future that begins in four sleeps. Four sleeps. Wow.

For now we are concentrating on connecting with Louisville peeps. Barrett is getting his soul shot up with refreshing truth at Together for the gospel while I am having coffee talks with friends to help renew my mind. Traveling is weird. You don’t get the time you wish you had to delve into life with friends and family, yet you fight for every minute you can, while inevitably missing special people. I pray that we remain thankful for what was accomplished rather than dwell on what we wish we could have had. A skill I try to teach our kids yet struggle with myself.

So thank you all once again for traveling to see us when needed, for not only housing us, but letting your washing machine work overtime with our clothes, for feeding five hungry mouths three times a day, for joyfully playing with our kids, for asking us about what’s going on in our lives as well as telling us what is going on with your lives. Thank you for letting us be tired and in an overwhelmed zone once in a while. Thank you for having excitement in your eyes when you see us and thank you for carving what time you have to spend with us.

Well, four more sleeps until we head to our new land of the next three years. The Lord has kept us so far, I know He has our future as well. We love you all!