Our first day

Thanks for your prayers for our move! It was tough, with much more to do the last couple days than we anticipated (yes, we know, there is always much more to do at the end than one anticipates). We ended up with a few hours of sleep the last two nights before we left.

Abe proved his “wings” again, as a star traveller. Thursday he slept for over an hour on mommy’s chest during the flight (nowadays he prefers to sleep in his crib) and got his normal afternoon nap in the car heading to our house. Colleages, “Uncle” John, “Aunt” Lois, and two of their boys picked us up at the airport, took us to lunch and a quick grocery stop, and brought us home, with the extra blessing of some chicken tetrazini for dinner.

It was just what we needed for the challenges ahead… we got to the house we will be using (a colleagues’ vacant home in a village setting 20 min from the city) and the keys didn’t work to open the door. We conquered that hurdle to find the refrigerator inside not working. (Our neighbors/ caretakers of the house lent us a small fridge yesterday until we find a solution). That evening we had some unwelcome visits from a few roaches (one crawled up my foot during my shower), the unexpected presence of a few gecko eggs (and their dead sibling) in some toys Abe was playing with, and a healthy dose of exhaustion. God gave us the great gift of a stunning sunset as we took a quick walk outside to get some fresh air and some perspective. Thank you, Lord, that you are here with us.

Abe seems to be adjusting well. Besides the obvious signs of teething (drooling a river, unprovoked bursts of displeasure, and biting on everything in sight) he’s doing really well. He has been sleeping wonderfully and is exploring his new environment. After the silence of a few minutes yesterday, I turned the corner to find him climbing the stairs in the entryway (his second stair adventure)... looks like we'll be installing some baby gates!

Pray for hope, peace, and encouragement during this time of transition. It’s tough on all of us. I know I’m going through some of the grieving process involved with moving, once again missing friends and community, and not feeling very energetic to begin the work of relationships and figuring out the day to day mechanics of life here once again.