Life Lately :: April 2017

I've started this post a good three to four times. Then, some other task arises and by the time I find my way back to this space, I can't remember what my train of thought was and so I start fresh.

But we find ourselves with a quiet evening and better now than never!

We've lived in Montgomery now over a month (!!!) and in that time have set up a home, purchased a car, set up ikea furniture and misc. amazon furniture, broke down boxes, lived with a broken fridge, unpacked half of our minnesota boxes, adventured with family (we've had family visit already 3 times!) discovered bugs, and played hard.

Now we're hitting a stride of relative calm before the new baby comes.

Phew.

People have been kind to check in and ask us how we're feeling with this big leap in culture and adjusting back into the american life. Honestly, there's things I absolutely love and missed and am happy to be reunited again, and then there are things that I struggle with deeply.

Ultimately moving back has been a very tender process.

We're grateful that we foound a church we think we'll be joining. We're grateful for a home that accomodates guests when they come (we were able to provide beds for my sister and her crew of 6! wouldn't have been able to do that in Helsinki!) We're grateful for grass outside and warm weather. For an obstetrician who is kind and chill and seems to be a really good fit. I'm grateful for a mom group that is an inter-denominational one and meets quite regularily. I'm grateful for a home with a bathtub for this sore body. All the unpacking and ikea building and hustling in my now third trimester has me one tired mama.

I struggle with how it all feels normal and different. I both delight and feel stretched by the merging of the two worlds-our life in Europe and our life in the states. I catch my breath at how easy and how hard it all can seem to feel all at once. I'm not convinced we ever went through a honeymoon stage with the culture shock. Friendships feel weird. Everything just feels weird.

We've always said this and I'll say it again. There's something to love about any place you live. There's something to own and to grow and to decide to commit to in each little space God has brought us to. So we're seeking out places that we can love, seeking out faces to love even more, seeking out reasons to celebrate.

One of the more easy things to celebrate is family coming. We've had Ben's parents visit twice and my sister and her husband came through on their kids spring break. The photos in this post are from the couple of times I grabbed my camera with them.

What a blessing it's been to be closer to family. Next time we see the crew we'll be welcoming cousin #7 to the crew!