Eight months: life on the road

Location: our cozy little cabin at home... for a couple more days
Today is packing day for the big adventure.
Tomorrow we winterize the cabin and Thursday we drive away.
Friday we hang with the little guys and fly out early Saturday

Outside: 14 degrees!!! Meanwhile it is 69 degrees in Santo Domingo heading to a high of 80 today.

Walked: Because it is nearly impossible to find safe walking conditions these days because of the ice & hard-packed snow, much of our walking has been in stores & plowed parking lots the last few days. But soon... Very soon we will walk on the beach...

Watching tonight: one of the last Netflix for awhile... We have canceled our account for the winter.

Recent happenings:
Fun meeting with our house church group last night
Celebrating the holidays with our kids

Unexpected: How little we missed the big house and how joyful we have felt during this first Christmas season away from there. It really is about the people, isn't it? I guess we're moving on.

Surprises: The realization that it has been 8 months since we moved out of the big house. Two-thirds of a year and we are loving this life!

Discoveries: We may not have internet access very often... After my initial disappointment, I began to gear up for working off-line and can actually see some of the potential benefits of being unplugged.

Stressors: the multi-tudinous decisions about what to take - which will likely be simplified by what fits in the suitcase.


Mindset: I stand this week between two worlds. There is much to do in this old world to prepare to be absent for a season. There is maybe even more to do - or at least to think about - to prepare for the travel and the life in the new world. This is pioneer territory. We have never done this before, at least not quite like this. We don't know the drill yet. But there is excitement. There is hope. There is joy - giddiness even. And there is gratitude that we are able to do this thing. Much gratitude.