Woolly Wonderland

Alright, there are no longer (were there ever?) Woolly Mammoths here in the great land that has them as its mascot, but Mammoth is still a wonderland to explore. We've spent the last week up here with the Miller family, and as I write, the rain is coming down strong amidst peals of thunder - the perfect ending, really. Yesterday we were chased out of the high country by this same storm that has now followed us all the way back to the condo. But we did make it through Duck Pass up to Duck Lake, about 11,000 feet - BEAUTY! The week has also been filled with lots of simple things like rest, fishing, golf, and house-hunting (for our bro/sis-in-law, not us). All the while we are trying to fight the anxiety bug that wants to make us worry when we try to puzzle piece the future. We know whose capable and trustworthy hands hold all things practical, and there we too must stay.

Sevens

Well here in the 7th month of the year we've been surrounded by several sevens. One of our dearest friends, Kristen, got engaged on 7-7-07; so cute, I know. It's fun, too, because I (Brooke) lived with her when I got engaged, and we are now staying with her when she's gotten engaged.

And last weekend we had seven munchkins to love on over at the Spansels. These are the ones we talk about virtually nonstop. Mom had a birthday to celebrate, so we took over for a night. Umm, hello a lot of work. The kids are AMAZING, and have been raised to be delightful. But still, a lot of time and attention to pour out of two into seven. But also a ton of fun. We're definitely going to be the kind of parents that gush about our own kids and tell all their funny little stories and retorts and such.

And finally, in seven short days we'll be spending seven days in dear old Mammoth - a Miller family summer tradition. As crazy as we've felt while bouncing all around So. Cal., we're excited for the week of rest and play.

As I write this, J is in one interview only to head to yet another this afternoon. So we're hoping that we're close to knowing some next steps, but in the meantime life is FULL as we take each day.

Still reflecting

Have you ever looked at something without really feeling like you're grasping it? You keep looking, sometimes even straining, all the while trying to explain to someone what's in your line of vision, and you bounce between moments of clarity and blurs. That's kind of how this last month has felt. The last thing we want is for this last year to be packaged up with a pretty bow and set up on a shelf to look at as "our little adventure". This year was real life. This coming year is real life. How do we take what one year of life taught us and apply it to this next round of ever-moving life? At the same time, there is a necessary time of reflection and gazing after a year of this kind of significant lessons. We haven't written much this month because, while we've been talking and talking and talking as we catch up with loved ones, we often feel lost to aptly describe what we're thinking or feeling.

On the pragmatic side of life, our days in and days out have been full of continued grace as we are welcomed into one house after another - but we're so ready to land in a little corner of the world we can call our own again! So of course we're looking for jobs, both traditional and not-so-orthodox, knowing that we would be fools to think the Father would lead every step for this last year only to abandon us now that we're in a place we "know".

We'll try to get better about intentionally describing what we're peering at through the looking glass as real life continues.

Three Down

This marriage business is an amazing gift, let me tell ya. Today marked three years from the time we stepped out into this wide world as man and wife. We could not be more thankful or amazed at what has been given to us in three short years ...

Life back in the not-so-fast lane

Two weeks yesterday. Two weeks of “being back” that are entirely difficult to try and summarize or explain, aside to say that it’s been very good, but very surreal. What we didn’t expect when we stepped out of LAX was for everything to be so normal. Like we’d never left. Like you feel when you’ve been engrossed in a movie and then walk back out of the theatre – just an eight month movie. Fiji was a real gift from God as it was basically our de-brief week. We didn’t do much of anything. We talked, reflected, prayed, cried (okay, I think that was just me and not Jason), and worked through the emotions and anticipation of this chapter ending and preparing to turn the page of the next.

I can tell you this, though. We feel called to this culture. That has drastically changed the way we see things. When we turned our cell phones on, it certainly didn’t feel good to sign a contract obligating us to pay more each month for cell phone usage than food and lodging would have cost for weeks in Vietnam. But in a culture that communicates and relates and connects via instant cellular connection, we can honestly say we are choosing that expense as a means of ministering in this society. It’s interesting, actually, to be using those words, because I think when for eight months you’ve been looking and analyzing what you see as a culture around you, you do the same when you return – you recognize things that you didn’t before, and you recognize them as cultural distinctions – “normal life” for Southern California, maybe, but not necessarily “normal life” around the world.

One of those cultural distinctions is just how fast everything and everyone moves here. Like everything is a frenetic race. There is such a fast-paced-production-driven mentality in this home culture of ours, and seeing it again in action has helped cement some things about what we came to understand about how America is perceived around the world – in politics, in missions, etc. Somewhere along the journey we slowed down internally and we don’t want to race back into the fast lane, but to live at a pace where we can breathe.

Mark 5:19 is a treasured directive to us right now … “Go home to your friends and family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” The mercies and things He’s done for us this year are abundant, so we’re processing and praying and taking whatever doors open to share it, whether from behind a microphone or across a coffee table.