I am still blogging.

Scotty sharing at Bethlehem Baptist in Minneapolis

No, I haven't given up on blogging to only "facebook". I much prefer the blogosphere but I just haven't had a lot of time lately...or anything interesting to say. I'm not sure that I do right now, but I thought it was past time for a new update. We've been busy. As soon as we moved into our cozy basement at Mike's house in Charlotte, our lives suddenly sped up a few notches. We are trying to see all our friends and supporters here, but until now, haven't been in town long enough to make much of a dent in those plans. We had a wonderful SIM retreat a few weeks ago- moving into the guest accomodations on the SIM campus and spending every day in meetings or rest time where we actually had all freedom to read, sleep, meditate on scripture, pray, eat, walk, whatever! It was glorious and surprisingly difficult to remember how to be still. One of the main points of the retreat was to remind us how to find rest and incorporate it into our daily lives...most people have a hard time doing that, but missionaries seem to be the worst sometimes. We did have this amazing time learning from the other couples and singles that were a part of our week- all of them on the field for 20+ years. There was a lot of gleaning to do from these people that have so commited their lives to foreign service. My mom was awesome and flew in to hang out with Natty during the day so we could be all there and not worry about her. She learned to say "Nana" that week- very cute. We went straight from SIM onto a plane headed to Minneapolis. It snowed the first day we were there- all day. I was so not ready for that. We had some lovely interactions with friends, supporters and Scotty's home church and loved "doing life" with the family we stayed with while we were there. However, we are thrilled to be back in one spot for a while.

Natty is advancing so quickly now. She began crawling a few days before her birthday and is a pro. She seems to understand so much and is trying to imitate the words you say. She's just started pulling up a little but gets pretty angry at the fact that she doesn't know how to sit once she standing. She loves stuffed animals. She's been super flexible on our trips and we are having so much fun with her!

So, there is really only a little over 2 months left until we leave. This is a very short amount of time and it's hitting pretty hard right now. It's hard to describe what it's like to live in one world, but know you have another life waiting for you in another. We've spent the last 5 months enjoying all that the US has to offer, enjoying old friends, enjoying family, enjoying church in English. Although we are in no way planted here, we are comfortable here. I am comfortable- with clean houses, carpet, central heat and air, big grocery stores, parks, dogs on leashes, reliable plumbing, libraries, friends that understand me. I'm a little apprehensive about re-entry and all the things I know so well are stressors for me. And yet, I have no doubts of God's call on us. So, even though God has blessed us in this time home and I am thankful for His generosity and kindness, there is another type of life He has asked us to live and I want to live it joyfully.