Quality.

Zach and I were able to go on a date last night and it was a treat to have some great quality time.  We ate a good meal at Global Gourmet (really yummy, sauce-covered salmon for me and a Kenyan curry dish for Zach) and hung out afterwards...a visit to the mall and Barnes and Noble, a coke at Sonic.  We're just that cool.  :)

I'm trying to really savor these last few months of just the two of us.  We're excited to meet our new addition, but I know this time is different and special and I don't want it to go too quickly.  Sometimes I still can't get over how much our plans have changed recently.  It's all really good, but sometimes the big-ness (I have no other word to describe it) of it all has me feeling like this whole summer has been one really long week.  And although I rarely want to wish summer away, I'm excited for fall to come.  Not just for the weather, or the proximity to Christmas, or the Pumpkin Spice Lattes, but maybe just the newness of it and the start of a new season of the year and of life.  To have fresh perspective and cherish God's goodness in all of it.  Remembering that His faithfulness lies in the changes and turns he brings about.  I know I've written about it before, but it's something I'm continually learning.  And I think part of the lesson is seeing the difficulty I often have reconciling that mourning of what is lost with the rejoicing of what's to come.  Over and over again.  Over time that gap has become smaller, but He's still having to teach me big time.  That it's okay to love the things you've left behind (people, places, and experiences), but to embrace and accept the things He's put ahead as well.  Without that, I've found so many times that I lose precious time.  It keeps me from being fully "there" when I'm in something new...remembering all the good times I've had somewhere else, all the while missing out on the greatness of what's happening in the moment.  I know He doesn't want this for us.  It took me so much time to get used to being home, but I feel so happy here.  He's provided an amazing husband, friends (old and new), a great church, and the treat of being so close to my incredible family.  So I'm praying in this coming season that God teaches me and leads me through, helping me to minimize that lag time and embrace the change, all the while being thankful for the past.  I hope this made sense.