Half Jokingly

Welcome to my first blog post! After a few days of home sickness and utter loneliness (aside from Ian, of course) I decided I needed an outlet. I've never had to be the new kid before. No really, I never was. I was always quite comfortable with the same ol' people all the time. This is a whole new experience for me so I decided to start a blog to share my thoughts on a somewhat consistent basis. Sometimes, I will share a funny anecdote about my day, or a revelation I had, sometimes I may reveal a new dish prepared by my personal chef, sometimes it will be a random thought, and sometimes it will be a picture or two. Here goes nothing...

At the start of Lenten Season, I half jokingly gave up Washington as a fasting in order to prepare my heart for Easter. I am accustomed to giving up sugar, soda pop, fast food...something just painful enough to fast in order to make ME feel good about what I was doing. This year is different. I find myself longing for my God more than ever before, yet the craving for home does not surrender itself quite the same way soda would after a quick prayer.

So I continue to trust in the Lord and His promises. Ian and I are so thankful for the fact that there are so many people at home who continue to support us and love on us. We look forward to making new friends and keeping in touch with old ones as well.

Someone told us at our wedding to "love extravagantly". It's easy to love your spouse as newly weds, but I wondered what that could mean as new neighbors in a town full of new faces. I will continue to ponder that thought and leave you with a picture of our home that we took when we first arrived. It's the New York Billingsley Home: Winter Edition. We are to the left of the red door and our "front door" is located on the side of the house. Don't be a stranger now...



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