I thought I'd give a plain ole life update since there's lots going on in the Strouth house. LOTS.
We've been back in America for 3+ months.... and some days it seems a lot longer, some days shorter. We have gradually eased our way back into life here... some days better than others. Some days we are okay here, some days we wish we were on the other side of the world BUT we're making it, and still confident that we are right where the Lord has us.
So what have we been up to?
July was full of reconnecting with people and adjusting back to life here. And is now kind of a blur. In the midst of being bogged down by a TON of house stuff here, we've asked several times, "Why didn't we do this earlier? Like in July when we had lots of free time?" And it's in those moments we have to remember to give ourselves a lot of grace because we were just doing what we could at the time, and enjoyed great time with loved ones.
As soon as we got back we celebrated the 4th. Within the first week we were back, my mom & dad both came to visit, and my mom returned Lucy to us. Now it's like we were never actually apart.
Then a few weeks later my dear friend Julianna came to visit from North Carolina. We had a blast, as always.
Then Adam's brother & sister in law flew in, with our cute Nephew and we all drove to Kentucky for Kelly's wedding.
He's gotten SO big over the last year! He loves his gifts from EA- KungFu jammies & bug crocs!
We went by campus to drive by our old houses and walk around, which I hadn't done since we graduated.
From there we went to Ohio to spend a week with Adam's family.
We went to the Columbus zoo for Adam's birthday. Austin loves animals & was fearless in the petting zoo.
Oh and in the midst of that, the Olympics started, and they consumed my life for those 2 weeks. I lovelovelove the olympics. Fun fact, I was there, in the arena when the magnificent 7 won the gold in 1996... when Kerri Strug landed that vault on a hurt ankle to clinch the gold for the women. The women winning the gold again was pretty exciting.
Sometime during August, we started our new jobs, working "remotely." HUGE adjustment. So thankful to work with people who prioritize giving grace above all else. Towards the end of the month, we went to North Carolina, but on the way stopped in JC for a few days, where I got some great quality time with old friends. Once in NC, we started working in our new office, and looked at a lot of houses all over the Triangle area.
We found one that we liked, in an area that we REALLY like, and hopefully in a couple of weeks it will officially be ours! So we came back from North Carolina, jumped back into the swing of things here working "remotely" and got to work on our house. We went to Kentucky in there somewhere to a friend's wedding
The last couple of weeks have been CRAZY! But we have survived.
We have been working hard on getting our house ready to go on the market.... doing lots of things that we are asking ourselves, "Why didn't we do this 5 years ago!?" Beats me. Hopefully we wont make those oversights next time. We are pretty much DONE {updated since starting this post!}, and after deep cleaning & "staging" it over the next last 2 days, it will hopefully go is on the market!
So the ball is really rolling to officially get us moved to North Carolina. Bittersweet to say the least. Excited to be on a yet another new adventure, but really sad to leave this city and people here that we so love!
So in a nutshell, that's where we've been. The last 2 months are really jumbled in there, but that's how they look in my brain too. Transition is hard & refining. One of the many lessons I'm learning.
Okay, that's all for now. More soon, when the madness subsides!
