quick update

well we made it safely to PA and are at my parent's house now. Rebekah was great on the plane, but had a little bit of a hard time on the drive home and hasn't been feeling well today. So my Mom and I took her to the Dr today, and she has an ear infection. :( hopefully she'll be feeling better soon though. I am hoping to relax and de-stress during our time here. rebekah being sick makes that a little harder, but I am thankful for my parents being able to help.

Hard to believe we have left Chattanoooga! thanks to all of you who made the last few days so sweet. we will miss you! we will be in transit for like the next month or so. exciting, but i am sure that by the time we get to finally settle into our condo in Victoria I will be ready for that.

thanks for all your prayers as we've left Chattanooga. please keep praying for us, that our house would sell, Rebekah would feel better, kyle and I would be able to get some rest, and that this time of transition & time with family would be enjoyable and not stressful.

thank you

I just want to take a moment to say thank you to all of you Chattanoogan's who have blessed us in our time here. We have known many people that we are very thankful to have met. Many have come into our lives and then moved or left in one way or another, but I am still very thankful for the time I've had with you. You have truly been a breath of fresh air in a barren place. I know my last post was a bit of a downer- I just want to be sure that for those of you who read this and have known us in our time in chattanooga, you know we are grateful for every smile, every encouragement, every blessing large or small that you have given us. we have had some very sweet friends here (both currently and in the past), and i hope that we will keep in touch. when Rebekah was born, you provided so many meals and gifts and necessities for us, it was unbelieveable. Our neighbors, Ryan and Amanda, have been so amazing and have blessed us in so many ways. The two churchs we've went to while here have blessed us in many ways- St. Elmo Ave. Baptist has such a huge heart, and always treated us as family, even after we started going to a new church. Downtown Vineyard has been an encouragement to us. Our small group has strengtened us. Many people have offered to help us get ready to move in various ways. I am very grateful! I am gateful for the people who have adopted our pets. I am thankful for the people we've met in Chattanooga, the blessing you have been, the friendships both now and in the past. You have sustained us, encouraged us, and helped us. You have stuck with us during our physical and spiritual journey in this time, which often has not been easy. Thank you. We won't forget you. Come visit us in Victoria!

update

So we've set a date to leave Chattanooga. July 22nd. Not very far away. House has not yet sold, but we are going to fly to PA to visit with my family for awhile on the 22nd, then go to Seattle for awhile, then finally get to Victoria around the middle of August. Trusting that God will bring someone to buy our house, whether now or after we leave. He has worked things out for us and confirmed this move in every other way.

Yesterday Kyle and I also celebrated our 5 year anniversary. My parents were here so they watched Rebekah while we went out for dinner. It was very nice to do that. I am so thankful for my wonderful husband,and looking forward to many more years! Speaking of my husband... he is finishing up his PhD very soon. On Thursday he will defend his dissertation. So there is a lot going on for us right now.

Warning... this next part may be rather depressing but just feeling the need to be honest right now. Actually feeling rather lonely right now after my parents leaving, and Kyle is at school working on his dissertation right now, and it is the 4th of July- a day when you usually do fun things with friends or family. Now I am so thankful for the friends we have had here in Chattanooga. But at this moment it feels very lonely, and I feel that there really aren't too many people I could celebrate this day with here. Okay, in general, Chattanooga has just been very lonely and a very disappointing place. I am feeling happy to leave. In fact I feel like I want to leave as soon as possible. But that is not where I want to stay emotionally. Kyle and I did not look for a way out, despite the loneliness we have felt here in Chatt. It was very clear that God wanted us here, and we were prepared to stay here for a long time. Now that God has made it clear it's time to go, it is a struggle to know what these last few weeks should look like. It is easy to just want to run away. Usually, when leaving a place, I expect to feel like there are lots of people I want to see and say goodbye to. And there are some people I do want to see, and there have been some good friends here. But overall, it has been lonely. and in these last few weeks, I want to still embrace what ever God is teaching me or giving me or blessing me with. Whether it is done in the midst of loneliness and being alone, or whether I am in the midst of last moments with other people here. I want to embrace what is left here, and not just run away from here as fast as I can. that feels hard right now. but I will try. I will look to God to help me. and i am sure the He will bring the treasure out of this time.

Okay, a bit of happiness after my sad rambling. A cute photo of Rebekah, our biggest blessing in this Chattanooga desert. She is now rocking back and forth to music, beginning to push herself up on things, and generally growing and changing and being her wonderful happy self. Here she is in her red dress with a red spoon.