Returning Home

I am still quite aware just how far behind this blog is... I also know that people have been reading it and would love to read the rest of it! The blog is definitely not finished! I will make sure that you all get to hear the rest of the story!!!

We are now home in California and adjusting to what it means to live life in one place again. If I'm honest, this is the hardest transition yet...for both of us. Yet God continues to provide for us each and every step of the way. Currently we are facing many challenges as we begin to re-start our lives. Money is extremely tight and hours at work are slow to build. Each day we still are able to eat! We do not yet have the money to have an apartment of our own. Friends of our have graciously opened up their home to us and given us as much of our own space as they can, including our own refrigerator. It has been such a blessing to us. We have a roof over our head. We've also been able to re-discover the clothes that we packed up in the attic before the trip. Our bodies are clothed each day. These are the needs God promises us that He will care for, and they are being met daily. We both continue to trust that He will meet the other financial needs that we face during this time of very little.

Emotionally the adjustment back to "reality" is difficult, especially in light of the 6 losses we experienced over the last year. We are both trying to figure out what it means to move forward without the ones dear to us. Grief has hit in a new way now that we no longer have the distraction of traveling. We are moving forward and working to process both the new normal and our grief. Each time it becomes overwhelming, God meets us through a song or a text or another encouragement. Uncertainty and unknowns are our normal. It can be daunting, but we know that our God is bigger than it all. So we continue to trust...just as we did on the trip, so also we must do at home.

We feel as though we have seen the beginnings of new adventures and cannot wait to see where they lead. Once a week we serve at the food pantry that our church offers to those in need. We have been greatly blessed by them during this season of our lives and are so excited to be a part of helping others! The past two weeks we have sorted the many many canned items that the kids of the church collected last week in their neighborhoods! It has been such an example of God's gift of abundance. Neither of us are sure where this will go, but for the first time in a long time we feel drawn to become involved in our local church. Before we left the trip was our main focus. Now it is time to invest in our local community. This trip was just the beginning. Now...it is our calling to continue on the Road Trip's legacy. We cannot wait to see where that leads us!

If you are interested in helping us financially restart or want some of the amazing photos we were able to capture, please visit our etsy shop here.

Thank you for the roll each one of you has played in our trip. We could not have done it alone! It has truly taken Christ's church body to accomplish this!