A few days ago a friend emailed to ask how we are doing. I responded, decrying my inability to get a blog post up more often than once a week. He suggested that the whole email I sent him was, in fact, a decent blog post on its own. It feels a bit weird to just publish an email as a blog post, but he is a real writer so I am going to take his word for it.
So here it is…the answer to "How are you guys doing?"
This is hard, but not overwhelming. I think if we did not have a direction for the future to drive toward we would be in trouble. Truthfully, feeling so strongly driven in a particular direction makes all the difference. But if God closes the door on this pursuit, we will have to do some more thinking and soul-searching. We are still not done unpacking, which is really annoying because I keep thinking, "Seriously. If it takes longer than four days it is STILL too much stuff." But part of the slow-down is that we have not allowed the moving chores to get in the way of getting together with friends. When Kevin hung up the pictures last weekend it gave me a lot of energy. And I do really like this townhouse. It's pretty cozy and inviting. Getting stuff checked off (orthodontist, chiropractor, dentist, etc) feels good. My new chiropractor has already made me feel a lot better AND he was able to help with that tailbone injury I earned at Great Sand Dunes NP, which is HUGE.
School has started taking up more time and energy too as we are getting a groove back on there. Work is going well for Kevin, but commuting to work and being in an office environment is a big adjustment. A whole other blog post, really. The Boyinks are headed our way soon, which is something excellent to look forward to. And this family we met awhile back sent us a WHOLE CASE OF CHEERWINE! (I slugged one right away then put on the Old School Hip Hop station)(no, I did not take video).
The toughest part for me emotionally is looking at pictures. I have had to do it lately because I am doing a full back-up onto my website and that requires picking through all 5000 of them to make sure I am uploading the right versions (really, really grateful for unlimited data on the Verizon plan right now). Then our friends come over and they all want to see them and there are just some shots that feel like a hit to the gut to not be able to BE there. Or close to there. Or at least somewhere I cannot hear highway noise. And I follow Department of the Interior on Instagram and they keep posting shots of places I have stood and inhaled and thanked God for and sometimes I just have to scroll on by quickly and be thankful that I got to go do what 99% of the population will never do.
And I cannot begin to tell you how hard it is to blog. I am forcing myself to keep at it because it is really cathartic, but man…it feels like all writing ability I ever possessed has been stolen. Kaput. Gone. Writer's block 24/7. The one I just did last week took me two days. There are about eight posts in various stages of completion sitting on my iPad, but putting them down in a readable form is just really hard. Kevin says he feels like we have an opportunity to touch even more lives since we got home than we did all last year, but he's basing that on his colleagues who are all now very interested to hear more and to pick his brain not just on the logistics but on the "why" of the trip. We have also gotten a few more random emails from people we've never met who have questions. I love that.
So, yeah, I am fine. We are all fine. We are not buried under snow. My cat has forgiven me. We are all healthy. We have great friends. People are still reading this blog (weird). Honestly, we are better than fine. We are changed. I could elaborate, but I think that too is its own blog post. Stay tuned.
-Jenni
So here it is…the answer to "How are you guys doing?"
This is hard, but not overwhelming. I think if we did not have a direction for the future to drive toward we would be in trouble. Truthfully, feeling so strongly driven in a particular direction makes all the difference. But if God closes the door on this pursuit, we will have to do some more thinking and soul-searching. We are still not done unpacking, which is really annoying because I keep thinking, "Seriously. If it takes longer than four days it is STILL too much stuff." But part of the slow-down is that we have not allowed the moving chores to get in the way of getting together with friends. When Kevin hung up the pictures last weekend it gave me a lot of energy. And I do really like this townhouse. It's pretty cozy and inviting. Getting stuff checked off (orthodontist, chiropractor, dentist, etc) feels good. My new chiropractor has already made me feel a lot better AND he was able to help with that tailbone injury I earned at Great Sand Dunes NP, which is HUGE.
School has started taking up more time and energy too as we are getting a groove back on there. Work is going well for Kevin, but commuting to work and being in an office environment is a big adjustment. A whole other blog post, really. The Boyinks are headed our way soon, which is something excellent to look forward to. And this family we met awhile back sent us a WHOLE CASE OF CHEERWINE! (I slugged one right away then put on the Old School Hip Hop station)(no, I did not take video).
The toughest part for me emotionally is looking at pictures. I have had to do it lately because I am doing a full back-up onto my website and that requires picking through all 5000 of them to make sure I am uploading the right versions (really, really grateful for unlimited data on the Verizon plan right now). Then our friends come over and they all want to see them and there are just some shots that feel like a hit to the gut to not be able to BE there. Or close to there. Or at least somewhere I cannot hear highway noise. And I follow Department of the Interior on Instagram and they keep posting shots of places I have stood and inhaled and thanked God for and sometimes I just have to scroll on by quickly and be thankful that I got to go do what 99% of the population will never do.
And I cannot begin to tell you how hard it is to blog. I am forcing myself to keep at it because it is really cathartic, but man…it feels like all writing ability I ever possessed has been stolen. Kaput. Gone. Writer's block 24/7. The one I just did last week took me two days. There are about eight posts in various stages of completion sitting on my iPad, but putting them down in a readable form is just really hard. Kevin says he feels like we have an opportunity to touch even more lives since we got home than we did all last year, but he's basing that on his colleagues who are all now very interested to hear more and to pick his brain not just on the logistics but on the "why" of the trip. We have also gotten a few more random emails from people we've never met who have questions. I love that.
So, yeah, I am fine. We are all fine. We are not buried under snow. My cat has forgiven me. We are all healthy. We have great friends. People are still reading this blog (weird). Honestly, we are better than fine. We are changed. I could elaborate, but I think that too is its own blog post. Stay tuned.
-Jenni