this and that

Ever since going for his first ride in a combine a few weeks ago, Abraham is combining everything! The green rug in the bathroom is his favorite field, but he happily fertilizes and tills and combines his food every night with his fork or whatever tool is handy. Quinoa is particularly fun to combine, apparently. This boy loves farm equipment. It makes me grin so much. I can't help picturing him gleefully doing farm work as a teenager in another ten or twelve years.

I have been absolutely loving the countryside of Iowa this month. Any last bit of homesickness I was feeling for the mountains has completely melted away as the fall harvest has finished. Even though the vast fields of corn are pretty, I much prefer the scraped-bare look of the winter fields. I absolutely love being able to see so far, and being able to enjoy the long sunsets. The landscape looks exactly like central Alberta to me right now! It makes me delighted and nostalgic every time I drive anywhere. It makes me think of the beautiful, freezing cold, windswept winter prairies of Alberta. It makes me think of our college days there... all the wonders that God did in that time... and our months of engagement and first few years of being newlyweds that Keith and I enjoyed up at Prairie Bible College. I can't even really describe how sweet it is to have that thrill of nostalgic reminiscent every time I go for a drive here in our new home! I can't believe how Alberta-like it is here in Iowa.

Speaking of home, one of the recommendations that an old friend from St. Maries gave us when we were moving out here was to make this our home. We are really doing that. We came here knowing that we were all in, that we were burning our bridges behind us, that we have no other livelihood to return to, that we don't have the desire or intention to move west again. And it does feel more and more like home all the time here in our little corner of Iowa. Just to be clear, though, because I have mentioned homesickness on here, I have never wanted to return to Washington or Idaho to stay there (although I do look forward to seeing my family again next spring, God-willing). I don't want to leave this place. I am more in awe all the time of what a good fit it is for us. And the people are truly so delightful. It is a remarkable thing to love people like this, to really truly care about them so very much, to wish all the time that we had more time with each family in this church. It is sweet to pour in here. We have so longed to have a home where we could settle down for a long time, where we could invest ourselves for the long-term, where we could make a life together that wasn't transient. I do miss our friends, but I am also really thankful for the new ones we are making here. And I am also really thankful for family coming to visit. It is setting in more for our kids just how not-often we will be seeing our extended family members. But thankfully, we live in the age of fast travel, so we do get to see them again in this lifetime... and that is really a blessing!