Bonjour mes amis!

I’m baaaack. I know I have been away from the blogging world for a long time, largely because I didn’t have much to say. Life was normal mostly; I wasn’t doing anything different than any other American family. Well, in some ways that changed drastically on Wednesday.

Leaving was hard. It was such a strange feeling taking off, looking out the window and knowing I wasn’t going to see home for a very long time. Many people and things I hold dear were not on that plane, though I wished with all my heart they were. I cannot imagine how Jesus left the glories of Heaven for a place not like home and knowing he would not see it for a very long time. But thankfully love compelled him, and a love for him compels us. Sometimes I just selfishly wish love was easy and comfortable….

The flights were long, Owen barely slept, all of our bags were lost in London, but we arrived with grateful attitudes and ready to finally be in our new home. We have waited anxiously for this day to come for three years now, and we are excited to see our lives change. Parents, you know that feeling of waiting for a baby to arrive? You wait and wait and wait some more, and then the baby comes! You are more overjoyed than you have ever been before, life will never be the same, but BIG changes are coming your way. That’s what these first few days have felt like, and I know we will feel the effects for many years to come.

The first few days have been productive. We have gotten a phone and a bank account, been to the store a few times, had much coffee (which is A.MA.ZING), shared many meals with our teammates, been to church, fried a few small appliances, met an Arab man, walked more than we have in weeks at home, cried (Owen and me only), shrugged my shoulders and nodded when someone spoke to me in French and I had no clue what they were saying, gave many bissous (French greeting) and I’m sure the list could go on.

I keep saying, “I just don’t know what to expect every day to look like.” I’m sure I won’t quite know what to expect until we settle into a place of our own and we aren’t the ‘new teammates’ anymore. Right now everyone is looking out for us and inviting us for meals and helping us settle in. As I said that statement to one of my teammates, she replied with the encouragement to think rather about what needs to get done today. That’s a great Biblical perspective we all should probably live by, but I rarely thought about in the States because everything was easy and I pretty much knew what each day held for me. So I will learn to just worry about today and let tomorrow take care of itself.

Well, I will end this post here since it’s a bit long. I just wanted to update anyone who wanted to know about these first few days. If you want more info or have more questions, you can always email me!!