Update

So somehow four weeks (when I wrote the last post) has suddenly become three days!!! In just three days, David, Sarah and I will board a plane at 7:30 a.m. and say goodbye to this city we've called home for seven years . . .

So how are we feeling at this point? You know, I really never imagined I would feel as peaceful as I do at this point. The last four weeks, and really this whole Spring, the Lord has allowed us so many opportunities to savor our life and friendships here. David and I just keep talking about how grateful we feel these days--we've had an incredibly blessed life here, but we've also had time this Spring to appreciate it and begin to let it go, rather than hold tightly to it. I don't know if that makes sense, but I am so thankful for the place of gratefulness and joy and even peace that we are experiencing as we prepare to leave. I know that this has not been the experience of all or even most of our friends, especially the ones who've had to make a sudden permanent move back to the U.S. So we know the Lord did not owe us a smooth and satisfying closure to our time here, but we are so grateful that he has chosen to bless us with one.

The last two weeks were occupied mostly with packing about 5% of our stuff to take back with us, and figuring out how to sell or give away the remaining 95%. There was a point last week where I was definitely bitter and discouraged. I didn't want to have to get rid of almost everything we own and start all over, and my disorganized, procrastinating self most certainly did not want to have to do the actual work of going through everything and sorting it all out. I prayed a lot, and in the end the Lord gave me the emotional and physical energy to get it done. The final result was one part sad--the empty apartment that used to be our home for 5 years--but also significantly freeing. I told several friends that going through all our stuff really made me want to aim to live a simpler life material-goods-wise when we move back to the U.S. My good friend Kayla said, "That is a great goal, and totally attainable! That is until you set foot in Target . . . " Oh, how well you know me, friend! Still, I think there is something spiritually beneficial to owning less . . . at least for a little while. :)

Anyway, so that is the update. There is so much more I could write--really the last few weeks have been filled with more blessings than I can count--but I may have to save those stories for later. We'd love your prayers for our flights on Friday--flying 30 plus hours with a two year old is never easy--and please keep praying for our transition too. There is an element that, since we haven't actually LEFT yet, its somehow easier to be at peace with the idea of leaving . . . So, yeah, we'd love your prayers! God is good, though, and we are so thankful for what has been and what is to come . . .

More coming soon from our new home country, the good ol' USA!