I could try and catch everyone up on the last six months or so, but honestly the thought of trying exhausts me.  So I won't. 

I have been in Northwest Arkansas now for six months - hard to believe that so much time has already passed...some days it feels like longer and some days it feels like I just moved. 

I think for the most part I have settled in...work is finally starting to make sense and I am catching up to the rest of my team.  Most days I really like my job.  I get to travel (two weeks out of the month) and see lots of the country.  I get to dictate my own schedule to a degree that most do not.  I get to learn new things every day.  Super cool.  Plus I really like the people on my team.  They make me laugh and we have a great time together.  I didn't anticipate the time on the road being so lonely, but that is really the only drawback and nothing that I can't handle for the 18 months that I am committed to this particular job! (I hear Aundrea in my head saying 'You can do anything for a year Havah' ).

I have yet to find a church that I want to settle in.  I think it is a combination of a couple factors - first of all, I haven't attended church regularly for several years because of my work schedule and I am out of the habit. (If that makes any sense - probably will to some of you and not at all to others) Secondly I don't feel like I fit anywhere.  I don't have a convenient 'label' if you will...other than the dreaded 'single' (which in my opinion is a synonym for pathetic and fresh-meat in most churches).  It is weird to go to a church by yourself.  I think for the first time I really get how incredibly intimidating church is for people who haven't been (ever/in a long time/in a new place).  Church has always been such a social thing for me and I miss that sense of community, but dread the work that is inevitable to find and establish a place for myself anywhere.  Lastly, I come a bit more skeptical and leery than I have ever been...that old phrase 'once bitten, twice shy' certainly applies.

All of those factors aside, I know that I need to find a place to plug in.  I need the encouragement.  I need people around me who (while not perfect) remind me what is true and good and right.  I need people to hold me accountable.  I need people to do life with.  And that is why I keep getting up on Sunday morning and playing the Russian roulette of 'where to go to church'.

It must be said at this point - that I am not lacking in dear friends who have invited/taken me with them to their churches.  And there are several that I have really liked.  ((sigh))  I am grateful to these friends for their love and interest in helping me find a 'home'...I just don't know where that is supposed to be.

Haha - I just analyzed my whole church situation without meaning to...and you all got to come along for the ride.  Thanks for taking that side road with me...

Back to other news.  I am happy to report that while I miss my family terribly I am not really homesick.  I have gotten to see them WAY more than I thought I would (at least once a month since I left!) and am so grateful for that.

My friends that I am living with are amazing.  I couldn't ask for a better place to be.  Such a HUGE blessing.  The weekend that I moved in they were actually out of town, but the kids had made 'welcome home' signs and hung them all over my room, and Amber had left little gifts and a beautiful vase of flowers for me.  My mom walked in and saw all of that and burst into tears...I was a little confused until she could articulate how grateful to God she was for providing such an amazing family/place for me to live.  So good.

Gotta get off of here.  Talk to you all soon (hopefully)!