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We spent a FUN weekend in Connecticut visiting our dear friends, the Brownes (the couple with whom we started our trips to Mexico, and who brought us first to Haiti, which resulted in us meeting Orilus and Jackson in the first place). So lovely to catch up with them! It's so encouraging to see another family realize their dream of community living...they are building a home on the Browne family property, within a few hundred feet of one set of parents, and within a couple miles of the other set. The house is nearly finished (so different than the empty plot of land we saw when we last visited them in November, and equipped with so many eco-friendly features, including solar panels on the roof!), the kids are HUGE, and their town fair a country treat! I think you know you're raising city kids when a cow stops your son dead in his tracks, and he says, wide-eyed, "Mom, I didn't know they were THAT big!"

And yesterday on our way home we stopped in to see family on the South Shore and to say happy birthday to Jason's Grammie. We were especially impressed to see for the first time Mom and Dad Winchell's new remodeling project...they've created an open floor plan in their raised ranch, and it is beautiful!

And our trip was made possible by our friend, Jodie, who loaned us her car, since ours is not supposed to be traveling long distances any longer. We returned it all in one piece...almost...Kobe chewed through a seat belt, and so that needs to be replaced. Ah, puppyhood.

Tomorrow the P&S for our house will be signed, and we're working out a closing date...most likely, August 9th. That will give us 2 weeks from closing to get into our new house, to build a closet in our bedroom, paint some walls...

And tomorrow marks the start of my doctoral program! I can't wait to begin! If you don't hear from me this week, it's because I'm:
1. in class
2. commuting via a 15-minute walk to the train station, a commuter train, 2 T rides, a 1-mile walk to campus...all of which should add at least 3-4 hours to my day (valuable reading and study time, however)
3. doing homework for class
4. packing a box
5. sleeping (if possible)
6. on my way to Vermont for the Kerr family camping trip (Friday through Sunday)

In all of this, I have to say, our weeks have been marked by a true peace. I'm so grateful we had the time away for our anniversary a few weeks ago...it did much to re-orient us to the kind of summer we aimed to create, and the people we would set out to be regardless of how busy our summer might get. And so far, we are experiencing God's peace here. Orilus said to me today, "Mom, I've noticed how calm you are lately. You have been giving us a lot of grace." Evidence of a work of God's good Spirit in my life, for sure.