painting pictures of egypt.

i used to have a blog who received my daily, or almost daily, attention. She was a happy blog. :)

now she is quite lonely i am afraid to say. not sure if my time is managed poorly or just filled up with other things (like four dirty little hands, a scruffy dog who chases those feet, two beautiful blond heads, church, or a handsome husband... good things) but i do miss writing and posting and remembering and sharing through this window. sorry sweet blog, i am going to try to return to you.

for now a quick update...

phoenix, az is slowly seeming like home to us. they say "home is where the heart is" and though i agree with this statement i think it is misunderstood in a way. the truth is it takes a while for your heart to make a place your home and a bit of your heart does remain in the place you left. we have heart bits in KY and FL... such sweet friends who we dearly miss and love.

don't get me wrong i like it here, but in many ways my year has been filled with grieving. i have grieved the town we left, my expectations of raising my kids near family, a culture change, the ease of small town life, the time my husband has to spend away, loss of friends, distance between my world and the world of those i love. And while there is a multitude of great joy that we have encountered in phoenix (new friends, fun summer in FL, visits from family, adventures in hiking, growth in our knowledge and love for Christ, our love for a new church home) i would not share the entire picture with you if i did not include the difficult things. for me, grieving has been real and hard.

I have also seen God's gracious work in the life of our family. While we are pretty much alone on staff at Trinity (which can be a difficult position to be in) God gifted us with a like-minded Pastor and his family less than two miles from our home. Not only have they been a great spiritual encouragement to us as a family, but they are tons of fun and a reminder of what a good work we are doing here in Phoenix.