How are we really?

Lately I've gotten a lot of messages from friends that all say the same thing: how are you?  And they seem very insistent that they want to know how I really am. Not just the happy stuff that goes on social media. We've been gone long enough that I think people really do wonder what it's like to be in our shoes. It's been 6-9 months since most people have seen us, and what must it be like to be here this long? Many times I start to tweet or post about how amazing/beautiful/scary/overwhelming it is here, but I just stop. It's too hard to communicate in so few words, pictures, etc. and who would understand anyway? But I feel a tugging that I need to give some of the real stuff. The nitty gritty day-to-day stuff. And if only my friends and family who really want to know read, that is fine. If nothing else, I figure I need to find a way to record some of this incredible experience, because I'm not keeping track of all those thrown away thoughts that have never become social media sound bites.

There's also this looming shadow of a really great blog that somebody else in this house puts a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into. He's an amazing writer who is philosophical, theological, poetic...and then some. He tells our story so beautifully that I almost don't want to interrupt it with the mundane. But then I take another deep breath and acknowledge that there's not too much about this life that is mundane. So, I'll take this step out of my nicely protected thoughts. If you really want to know: we are good...except when we're not. But God is good all the time, and our life here is a testament to that. So, if you care, stay tuned. Daily life of ordinary people living in a place where they don't know from one day to the next what might happen...that's all I can chronicle for you.