This Adventure

We are on an adventure.  Having a new baby makes every day feel somewhat adventuresome, but that aside, we are on an honest to goodness real adventure.  We left our home in Raleigh over three weeks ago and plan to return two weeks from now.  I'm pretty sure five weeks away from home plus a newborn definitely equals adventure.

We spent the first week in Asheville, North Carolina, my hometown.  Being home was heavenly.  I was reminded once more of the pull that the mountains have on me.  This has inspired many lengthy conversations and the devising of plans for us to someday return to the mountains for good.  Oh how I hope that to be true.  Ben spent the majority of the week studying for his final exam (and we now know the result of those efforts!) while Elijah and I spent our time walking around the lake with my parents, meeting new friends, and enjoying being pampered by my momma, all while enjoying Asheville's beautiful and humidity-free weather.  After Ben's final exam, we hit the road, traveling to Ben's hometown of Birmingham, Alabama.  We spent an enjoyable long weekend introducing our sweet boy to his family and friends, all the while watching as Hurricane Issac barreled his way directly to our final destination: a sweet, homely beach house on the coast of Alabama.

Though Issac did rip up about 60 feet of the beach house's dock, the house sustained no damage and so we were  undeterred.  Ben, Elijah and I continued southward and landed ourselves here nearly two weeks ago.  After all the travel, it has been so very lovely to alight somewhere for a couple of weeks.  We've unpacked our bags, stocked up on groceries, picked up fresh produce and seafood at roadside stands and have spent our time getting to know each other as a family of three.  We've been beyond blessed this summer to have Ben at home and to have the gracious help of family and friends.  But these sweet weeks have been the first time when it's just been the three of us together, without a CPA exam lurking over our shoulders.  We've been able to relax into this space and move at a leisurely pace.  Anyone who has spent any time at all with a baby knows that time moves in fits and starts.  It's both the quickest and slowest kind of time.  We've been enjoying those fits and starts nearly exclusively on a wide, wrap around, screened-in porch overlooking the water.  We watch the boats on the bay, scan the water for jumping mullet, swing in the hammock, listen as Ben plays the guitar, sing along since there's no one around to hear my efforts, and talk, talk, talk.  We're having hard, but good and fruitful conversations around here.  Conversations that I pray strengthen our marriage and deepen it as we prepare for a season of transition ahead and as we grow into these new roles as parents.

This adventure has been such a gift.  It has been a safe, quiet pause in our life after a challenging summer.  I am so glad for the timing of this space and look forward to returning to Raleigh in the fall, my favorite of all the seasons.  Until then, you will most likely find me on the porch.