miles plays charades

charades is one of our new favorite family games. miles loves it.

in-between days

i cannot describe to you the panic i felt about having 2 weeks of limbo, having just had a baby and being exhausted and inadequate to care for 4 children while traveling...my thoughts regularly spiraled out of control for a bit there. through the incredible generosity of friends who happened to be overseas, we were able to all stay in town and in one place for the whole two weeks. basically, we have been granted a local vacation (except adam has been putting in lots of work hours). i can't pack or unpack, so we have just been able to be present with each other and that has been so good for our relationships. having a baby and packing up the house kind of forced us to semi-ignore the big kids for a bit, so this short season has turned out to be so sweet. that's grace. we certainly do not deserve such a lovely place to stay, but we are oh so grateful!

farewell first house

we are no longer homeowners. it happened very fast and seemed like such wild timing, but then who am i to think i know best all the time? our house sold quickly and without really being listed to dear people who will love the old house and our neighbors well. it's bittersweet. moving always is i think, but by God's grace, my clenched hands have become open as we enter a new season. adam has led on this and i am learning to trust in the process. our house has held many memories. it sat in a unique urban neighborhood. we will miss the sweet community of believers striving to love a place so marked by the challenges of city neighborhoods. we learned much. we moved into the neighborhood as newlyweds 10 years ago and bought our house 5 years later. it was a good place for us and it is hard to move. but there are seasons for things and our family needs a change. we trust that just as we felt our house was God's good provision for us for a time, so now being free from home-ownership is His provision for us too. adam's work in the ER has made it more and more stressful to come home to the city. home seemed stressful, with old house problems and city-neighborhood problems. we felt the weight of expensive home repairs and looming med-school debt. we did not try hard to sell it, but decided if someone wanted to buy it, we should be open to discussing it. some friends approached us just a few weeks before owen was born and a month or so later it was sold! we scrambled to find a place to go, i have been anxious, but God has provided a wonderful place for us to rent as well while we wait to see what adventure God has for us next, and while adam finishes up residency. we moved two weeks after owen was born and had a 2 week gap before we could move into our rental. i panicked about that too, but another wonderful place was provided for us thanks to very kind friends. so here are some farewell pictures of our first house that we loved. we will miss the proximity of so many of our neighbors and friends, but we are really only moving about 10 minutes away so we can keep up with folks. and we trust God will give us many opportunities to love our new neighbors. i'll miss all my plants, but am eager to plant things when we move in. overall we are very thankful.