SFO to CHS

G & B are sad… I still haven’t made the beds I promised them and we’ve been here for 2 months now. But I reassured them that they would have them before Christmas… and hopefully those stockings for me and D will get knitted before then as well.

Lots of things can be buried under tests, quizzes, Beta Club, and conduct grades – including my motivation to make things. I’m a whiner, I know… but the stack of fabric and neglected sewing machine are whining at me right now from the ironing board I piled them on 2 weeks ago. My beads have all but given up hope of ever being strung again and my clay hardened it’s heart toward me a long time ago. My goal this weekend – to mend those broken relationships!

But I have started working out again (it’s only been 3 days, though). It’d been a while since my last walk with A around Redwood City. Now, the beach is my gym. I feel very G.I. Jane on the beach running, doing sit-ups and (girl) push-ups in the sand. My Army Ranger brother would be proud. I’ve watched a lot of baseball – showcase games, scout camps, 13U Little League. We spent some time in “classy” Myrtle Beach last weekend… oh Little League parents. My husband is a s-a-i-n-t. He can disarm a hot-headed, vicariously-living father in 2.3 seconds. He rocks.

We’re officially settled in. We’ve got our “routine” down and have managed to have real dates and even double dates with Mr. and Mrs. Mae despite our crazy work schedules. D has been crabbing and fishing and putting some succulent feasts on the table. He’s taken with the city (who isn’t) and has captured some really unique shots of his favorite houses, churches, and vistas.

I do enjoy being back in Charleston. I’ve come home. I missed my Spanish moss, my alma mater, and my old buildings. And how glorious it is to be back in a climate that allows bathing suits at the beach!

The pups made it across country, sniffing the early morning desert air familiarly as we zipped through Northern Arizona. We did stop zipping long enough to enjoy two rocking chairs at a cabin in Tennesee along the Music Highway between Memphis and Nashville.

We’re having fun in our apartment with it’s porch and pond and hardwood floors. We feel so elegantly funky taking bubble baths in our claw-foot tub and laying in bed, looking at the exposed beams and high ceilings. (Hey-when you’re living on a teaching/coaching salary it doesn’t take much!) The Lord has truly blessed us.

It’s been fall now in Charleston for about a week and we’ve been inclined to let the after-dark chill whisper in through the screen door while we make dinner and report the comings and goings of our day to each other. Oh, how glorious are Low Country autumns! The days are still nice and warm and 80 degrees – minus the marshy humidity. But the mornings and nights are nippy, inspiring the changes and pumpkiny baked goods and long evening walks of a quintessential fall. Plus, D is in heaven because it’s squash season (the food, not the sport).

And, NO, our life is not this picket-fency every day. (Though I did get roses Friday night!) We have definitely had stress and doubts and tiffs and burnt pancakes last Saturday morning… D was very supportive through my recent breakfast disaster – for some reason it was particularly traumatic for me.

But what I mean is that today I’m sitting back and looking – realizing how God lavishes life on us and how I must look at those things more often. Last week was rough. I just get so driven sometimes, trying to be Superteacher, Superhousewife, Supereverything that I go careening right off the road the Lord put me on and into resentment. Anyway – I’m back on track now – finally caught up and got ahead at school with time leftover to paint my toenails and do a crossword puzzle! Life is good… all and only to the glory of Our King.