Happy New Year!

Gent is so beautiful this time of year. There are lights and decorations all over the city and a winter festival with a Christmas market (food, gifts, etc.), rides, and other fun things to do with the family. I was excited to get back after our trip to the U.S. so we could catch the tail end of the holiday festivities.

Street by our loft

Giant ferris wheel in town

Christmas market with the Belfry tower in the background 

Rides

Top of the ferris wheel

Top of the ferris wheel

Harrison LOVED the fries!

There is also an ice skating rink in the middle of town. We had a great time teaching the boys (and trying to remember) how to skate!

I remember being here at this time last year to look for a place to live, schools, etc. It was beautiful, and still is! As I think back over this past year, I am so amazed by what has happened. We sold our house, our cars, packed up all our things, moved to another continent, and started a life here. We have had some of the highest highs and lowest lows this year. We have faced many fears, been pushed beyond what we thought we could handle, and had some struggles, but we have also experienced God's provision in ways that we never have before. This year has been exhilarating, scary, frustrating, fun, stressful, and completely amazing all wrapped up in one! I can honestly say that I have never experienced a year like this before in my life. I think Cole would agree with me when I say that we have grown in our marriage, as parents, in our faith, and as individuals more this year than ever before. and we have received so much support from friends and family back home as well as new friends here in Belgium. We even had some amazing friends and mentors from home offer to drop everything and fly here when we were going through a specific struggle and needed support. I can't think of one time this past year where God did not provide us with exactly what we needed to get through a struggle, or fear, or stressful situation. This year hasn't always been easy, but this opportunity already has been so worth it! This experience has forever changed us and I'm so thankful for the opportunity to grow, learn, and experience this journey with my family! Happy New Year…I'm looking forward to much more traveling, fun, friendships, and life in 2014!

Where Are You From?

We have been in Belgium for six months now! It has gone so fast! One of the things that has surprised me (among other things) is that we are often asked where we are from. It's surprising to me because I feel like we stick out as Americans so much. I don't know why I feel that way, but I really do feel like there's an American flag hovering over my head when we go out. But really, a lot of people can't tell. The other day, I went into a store and asked if we could speak in English. Throughout the course of our conversation, the lady who was helping me told me that I spoke English very well. In my head I was laughing and wondering where she thought I was from?! I don't know where she thought I was from, but it seemed like such an odd comment.

The funny thing is that I feel like we totally belong here now. I can't believe that, in the short six months we've been here, I feel so at home. I know I have posted before about being nervous that we would never feel at home here. Before we left, Cole and I decided that, if we were going to feel comfortable here, we would have to be committed to making this our home. And we have worked really hard to do that...making our loft a space where we feel comfortable and at home, trying to learn the language and culture here, finding community, and making ourselves get out, explore, and become comfortable with our surroundings. In fact, I have become so comfortable here that I often forget that we are in a different country until I go out and everyone around me is speaking a different language!

I have no doubt that our ability to adjust and feel comfortable so quickly are signs that we are right where God wants us to be...that's a good feeling! Even though there are lonely and frustrating days, we are so thankful for this opportunity and the ways we have grown as individuals and as a family! We are looking forward to continuing this journey and seeing what the next six months entail!

Diversity

Cole and I recently decided that we were going to take on a 31 day prayer challenge for our children. I found a calendar on Pinterest to guide us through the 31 days of prayer and we are working through it. So today, the theme for prayer was "diversity." I studied and prayed over Galatians 3:28 to go along with this theme.

²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

As I read and prayed over the scripture for the boys, I was struck by the significance that I felt while reading and praying. I can honestly say that I have never prayed for diversity for the boys. I pray that they will know Jesus, that they will be protected, that they will be feel loved, accepted and safe. I pray for their future spouses, big decisions they will make, and careers..but diversity? Never! Then, the reality of our current situation sunk in. We are in nothing if not a diverse situation right now. Everywhere we look there are people who look, sound, and talk different than we do. Of course this is true throughout the city, but it is particularly true for us at church. There are people from all over the world who attend ICCG. People come from all different cultures, speak many different languages, have different accents and colors. Thinking and praying through this this morning really moved me.

Diversity is not something that I am really too familiar with. I grew up in a small town where most people and families seemed the same (at least from the outside looking in). For the most part, we all went to similar churches, thought in similar ways about things, and went to the same high school. A lot of people stay in or around the town where I grew up. FYI...I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing, but it doesn't do much for finding diversity either. The same is true for my college experience. I went to a small christian university where, again, it was not really that diverse. Of course there was more diversity than where I grew up, but there wasn't much that was earth shattering, and it was very easy to find people similar to me. After Cole and I got married, we moved to England for a short expat assignment. That assignment was VERY hard for me! People and things were very different than what I was used to. Instead of trying to embrace our situation, I became very closed off. I didn't do much to try to get involved in our community. We found a little church that we attended while we were there, but we didn't really get to know people or try to engage. When we left to go back home, we didn't feel like we were leaving anyone or anything because we hadn't given ourselves really at all. I'm ashamed to say that I can't even remember the name of the church or any of the people we met while we were there. When we returned back to the U.S. and moved south, we immediately began looking for people who were similar to us in thinking and lifestyle. It was easy to find that and we eventually found ourselves very comfortable in the midst of a great church and small group.

In my opinion, that in and of itself is not necessarily bad, but it's very easy. It's easy to gravitate towards people who are similar to you. Who live like you and think like you. Who look like you and talk like you. It's very easy to do that. In fact, we have even found ourselves drawn to other Americans that we have found here. It's easy! The danger in that is that it's also very easy to look down on or brush off those who are different than you. I am amazed at how God has changed my view of this in the short time we have been in Gent. We have been so incredibly blessed by people who are very different from us. We have been loved and embraced by the people at International Community Church Gent (ICCG) and are constantly in awe of how God has been working through this adventure here.

If I'm being honest, it was hard for me to want to attend ICCG when we first arrived. It's different than what I'm used to and different can make me uncomfortable. But despite our differences...our cultures, our languages, our heritage, how we grew up, how we're used to worshipping, etc., we are all connected eternally through Jesus Christ. And we worship together. Despite our differences, we find a way to put aside our selfish desires of what we're used to or want to come together and worship the One who is greater than all of that. The diversity that we have found here has opened my eyes to so much of the selfishness in my own heart and mind when thinking about church and what our purpose is in the church. It's helped me work through my issues about attending a church that is so different than what I'm used to. It's helped me be able to worship alongside a fellow believer, even if we don't agree on every issue that we (as people) choose to argue about...politics, music, marriage, traditional church, relevant church, etc. When we make church about anything more than the gospel, we are spoiling it and making our desires more important than the gospel.

I am so thankful that God has placed this on my heart and is working to change how I feel about embracing and worshipping with people who are different than me. I'm also thankful that the boys have a chance to witness, first hand, how people can love each other and worship together, despite differences that might arise. You can bet that I am going to add diversity to my prayer list for the boys. I can see how important it is to be able to see past our differences and look to the fact that we are a body of believers connected through Jesus Christ. I hope that, with God's grace, Cole and I can be a good example of this for the boys. They need to be able to see what's truly important. Thankfully, we will have lots of opportunities to practice this as a family with church, school, and everyday life!

8 Years

Today, June 25th, marks eight years since Cole and I got married! I remember our wedding day well...it was a VERY hot day. The wedding was in a church with no air conditioning and the reception in a tent   in Cole's backyard.

Despite the weather, it was a wonderful day to celebrate with our friends and family and join together as husband and wife after five years of dating. What a day!

As a side note, our journey started long before that day. Cole and I began dating all the way back in high school when I was a junior and Cole was a senior. High school sweethearts! :)  We have been a pair for a long time! 

Shortly after we started dating (2001)

                                            
                                             We felt so much love and support on that day! 

Since then, we have moved many times, including two overseas moves, worked in several different jobs, we've had people come and go in our lives, purchased and sold a house, added two amazing children to our family, and much more in between. Life has drastically changed since the day we were married. Although many things around us have changed, there are still some things that have remained the same.

First of all, Christ is still constant! Even when we forget or ignore His call to love each other in a Christ-like way or are slow to forgive, God is still there. I am thankful that our understanding of Christ in our marriage has grown and that we are continually learning to trust God and follow His will for our family and relationship. We fail often, but He gives us grace to move forward and forgive each other. What a gift! 

Venice

Second, from the very beginning of our relationship, Cole has been my best friend. We were friends before we started dating and, for me, he has remained my very best friend since then. He knows things about me that no one else knows and he still loves me. We have enjoyed so many adventures together, come through challenges, and grown together. He loves me, even in my worst moments. There are so many things in life that have been richer because I have been able to share them with him. Do we have struggles, yes. Have we been through challenging and difficult times, of course! But the fact remains that there is no one else who I would want to walk through this life with other than Cole. My love for him has grown and changed from a giddy, butterflies in your stomach feeling when we first started dating, to a strong commitment and a desire to experience life with him for as long as we are on this earth. Marriage is not always butterflies and roses...there are times when it's hard, or when we disagree and struggle through things, but we have a God who walks through all of that with us. So I am thankful for the eight years that we have been given and look forward to many more to come! 

Six Months Seizure Free!

As of June 7th, I have officially been seizure free for six months!! If we were still living in the states, I would be able to start driving again after the mandatory six months seizure free period. Looking back over the past six months, it seems crazy that I even went through that whole ordeal because my life has not changed that much in terms of my health. Of course we now live in a new country, but it seems like that month was taken from someone else's life. Maybe it's because I don't remember that time very well? I thought I would recount that time for those who don't know what happened. I am writing very little of this from my memory and most of it from what Cole and others have told me about that time. I especially don't remember any of my time during the first two seizures.

The Monday before Thanksgiving last year, I woke up early in the morning and sat up in bed. Cole thought I had gotten a cramp in my calf and that had woken me up. However, after a short time sitting there, Cole said I slumped over in the bed and started having, what we now know was, a seizure. Thankfully, we were staying with Cole's family and his dad, who happens to be a doctor, was sleeping in the next room. Cole ran over to get his mom and dad to help. Cole's mom quickly took Cameron out of the room while his dad calmed Cole down and told him I was having a seizure. They called 911 and my parents and watched me to make sure I was ok. The ambulance came and took me to the hospital to have an evaluation. Seeing as I had never had a seizure before, Cole was terrified that I had a tumor or some other serious condition that was causing the problem because I had been complaining of headaches for the previous two weeks. I can't remember the exact series of events once I was at the hospital, but I know that they did several tests on me and that I also had another seizure while I was there. I only remember being coherent two times while I was there. The first thing I remember was being wheeled to a room to have a test done. I can't even remember what it was, but I remember the guy who was getting me ready. I had no idea why I was there or what was going on. He told me I had had a seizure and that they were going to start a test. Needless to say, I was very confused. But he was very kind and reassuring. I fell back asleep, or out of consciousness at that point and don't remember anything else about the testing. The other time I was awake and coherent was when the neurologist came in to talk to us. He told us that they had not found anything wrong and that they could not see any reason why I had had the seizures. He also told me that, because of all the medication they had given me, I could not nurse Harrison for at least a week. I was crushed, confused, and happy all at the same time. I was crushed that I couldn't nurse my baby, still confused by what was going on, but happy that nothing seemed to be seriously wrong. I don't remember anything else about that day. The only other thing I remember about that week is that I woke up the next morning feeling like I had been hit by a truck. I had open sores all over the inside of my mouth and I had a hard time moving. But still, nothing was seriously wrong, and for that, I was grateful! 

Once we returned home, we had to seriously discuss what was going on and whether or not we wanted to continue moving forward with our plans to move to Belgium. Even though the doctors had told us that there was no major reason why I had had the seizures, we were still a bit rattled by the events that had taken place. What would we do in Belgium if I had another seizure? We had help and support at home. In the end, we decided that God was leading us and that we would continue with our original plan...as long as doors continued to open, we would continue to walk through them and follow God's leading. Although I was not allowed to drive, life calmed down a bit and returned to a pretty normal state. 

Fast forward to the morning of December 7th. I woke up early in the morning and didn't feel very well. I had an upset stomach and my head really hurt. Cole offered to stay home and help me, but I told him I thought I would be ok and that I would call if I felt any worse. Once he left, I started feeling worse, so I called my sister (who doesn't work on Fridays) and asked if she would come help me. By the time she arrived, I was throwing up and my head hurt terribly. I can't remember if I called Cole or she did, but he was home before I knew it. He told me later that he knew I was going to have another seizure and was on the phone with 911 before it even started. So once again, I took a trip in the ambulance to the hospital to be evaluated. I don't remember any of this and only have a few concrete memories from being there. They, again, did tests on me to see if there was something going on with my brain that was causing the seizures, and again, came up with nothing. The only thing I really remember is that the neurologist came in to tell me that I would have to be put on anti-seizure medication. I was crushed because I assumed that meant I would not be able to nurse Harrison anymore. The neurologist told me that I would again have to wait for the drugs to wear off from the hospital before I could begin nursing again and that he didn't know if I would be able to once I was on my new medicine. I know it doesn't seem like a big thing, but nursing my babies has always been very special and important to me. If I'm being honest, I was a bit frustrated with God because I didn't know what was going on or why. Cole and I both started to wonder if this was a sign that we were not supposed to take this opportunity in Belgium. We were confused...one one hand, we felt like doors were still opening to move, but on the other hand, these unexplained seizures. After a lot of discussions and prayer, we decided that we would still continue to move forward with plans to move. 

I met with a neurologist the week after my last seizure. He was a gift from God. Not only was he very kind, but he explained things well and worked with me to find a medicine that I could take while continuing to nurse. He prescribed the medicine and ordered one final EEG to see if they could induce a seizure and find out what was causing them. He calmed our fears and answered our questions the best he could. We met with him one final time after my EEG and he told us that it was not likely that I would have any more seizures. They were not able to induce another seizure during the EEG, so they still have no idea why they happened, but he told us that he would not worry about it and that he would not change our plans to go to Belgium because of this. He said I would need to take the medicine for at least three years, but that I would probably take it for the rest of my life. I don't like to take medicine, so I was annoyed that I would have to take medicine for the rest of my life for something that they couldn't even tell me more about! At first, the medicine really messed with my mood. It made me much more irritable and tired. I would freak out about completely unimportant things all day long. Once I would get to the end of the day and think back over it, I was so amazed at how many times I had lost it over something so insignificant. But I was determined to make this medicine work because it was the only medicine I could take and continue to nurse. Thankfully, for everyone involved, I have mellowed out and don't notice any effects from the medicine anymore. And, I haven't had anymore seizures since I started taking the medicine!

When I think over the events, I am completely amazed that nothing more serious was going on. I could have had major issues causing the seizures, but instead, they can't find any reason for them. Of course we would love to know why they happened, but it's much better being in the dark than finding a major reason why they happened. Also, I could have had more issues with medication or continued seizures, but I haven't. The two things that affected me the most were the loss of my short term memory and the driving restrictions. Thankfully, my short term memory has finally come back to almost as good as before, and I can walk or bike almost anywhere here. 

Of course we can't know why this happened the way it did, but after reflecting on these past six months, here is my take on this whole seizure thing. I have always struggled with control and needing to be in control of my life. I'm not good at asking for help and feel bad, needy, or weak when I have to. I realize that these are feelings I put on myself and that I need to work them out. With all that was going on with the decision to move to Belgium and the approaching holidays/travel, I was in some sort of "need to control" overload. Instead of just letting God lead us and following, I was stressing out about this or that and trying to take the reigns. I was stressed. Looking back, I really feel like God allowed this to happen right when it did to take away the control that I had in my life. My ability to drive places and do things on my own, my ability to remember and process things on my own, making plans on my own...these things were all taken from me in that moment. I had to rely very heavily on others and, most importantly, on God. I couldn't remember things, I couldn't go places, I couldn't make plans. It was very difficult to try to get things ready for our move to Belgium because I simply couldn't remember what I had already done and what needed to be done. I had moments of complete frustration because I couldn't do these things, but during those times, I was also drawn to God. Even though those months between my seizures and our move were very stressful and trying, we don't for a second question our decision to move to Gent. God has blessed us and provided for us so much, both before we moved and now, that we can't deny His presence in all of this. I still struggle with my need for control and wanting to know why this happened, but I am thankful for the growth that I have experienced in the last six months. I'm not sure I would have chosen the seizures the teach me this lesson, but God has such a wonderful plan and we are so thankful for his protection and guidance. Praise God for six months seizure free!!!

Loneliness

I wrote this post a couple weeks ago but have been hesitant to post it. One, because I don't want to sound like I'm complaining or whining...we are so incredibly blessed to be in the situation we are in, to be healthy, and to have our wonderful boys, each other, new community here, and a strong support system back home. We can't deny that God has richly blessed our lives in so many ways. Secondly, it's hard for me to admit when I fall short or when I or we as a family are struggling with things. We all want to present a nice, picturesque little family and life, right? So it's hard to admit when things just aren't that way! However, I think this post is a testament to God's tremendous grace in our lives, so I decided to share it even though it might make me feel uncomfortable or vulnerable! So here it is...

For Cole, life in Gent is not too different from home. Of course he has a new role at work and therefore, new/more responsibility, but his day to day life is not very different. He still gets up and goes to work everyday. He told me yesterday that he is surprised by how fast Gent feels like home for him. I am so happy to hear that, and for the most part, I feel the same way too. I think the boys have adjusted better than both of us, so we don't really worry too much about them! Personally, I was preparing for the worst because we had been told by several people that it would take 7-10 months to get adjusted and make this feel like home. Being me, I decided that, if it took others 7-10 months, it would definitely take me at least a year! Fortunately, like I said before, for the most part I feel very at home here. It helps that Gent is a beautiful place to live and that there is plenty to do. It also helps that most people speak at least some English and are generally pretty friendly. However, there are times when loneliness creeps in and I really miss my life in America. Just the other day was an example...Harrison's 1st birthday. We had a nice little party for him with some friends from church. We had a great time and I am thankful for the friends that we have met, but it just wasn't the same. There was a nagging feeling and a bit of sadness that our friends and family back home, as well our our boys' second parents (you know who you are) couldn't be here to celebrate with us. Then there are other times when I just want to go get some Taco Bell or Dairy Queen at 10:00 p.m. (no equivalent here...that's probably a good thing!!). Or other times, when it would be nice to go on a date and spend time with Cole, without the two crazies whom we love very much! :) Or when I see pictures of things going on back home that we are missing...weddings, get togethers, church events, new babies, etc. While I am happy these things are going on, it's sometimes hard to live in the moment and not wish I was there too!

There are things that are more difficult for me here. They affect me more because my day to day life is VERY different. Of course I am still home with the boys all day like back home, but I don't have all my wonderful mom friends to hang out with and have play dates, or the library to do story time, etc. I realize I'm whining a little bit here (I have no reason to complain), but that's how I'm feeling today. It's times like those that I mentioned above that I get a little discouraged and wish that we were back home. Things were just easier. I knew how to do things and get things accomplished. I had a strong support system. I just miss home sometimes!

But there is always a plus side, right?! There really are a lot of good things about being here, but one has really stood out to me over the past week or two. Because we are here by ourselves as a family, we have spent a lot of time together without distraction! This is a good thing! But in the process of spending a lot of time together, God has really pointed out ways in which we have failed each other, both in our marriage and in our parenting. The loneliness has forced us to see the ways that we have been falling short in serving one another and growing together. There was so much going on back home. We were constantly on the go with friends, family, kids, church, shepherding group, worship team, work, etc. that we didn't realize what was going on with our family. While those things we were doing were good things, our priorities started to shift a little bit and affect our family life. Once we arrived here and didn't have all the distractions or demands of our time, we realized that things were a little off.  Maybe we saw it before to a certain extent, but we didn't make it a priority to fix those things...to slow down a little and focus on what is truly important. We desperately want to have a strong marriage and family and we are so grateful for God's grace in our lives to show us where we fall short, and that same grace that allows us to have grace with each other. We are also thankful that, through the difficult times, God has been working to draw us closer to Him and to each other. We are fallen people and naturally find faults with each other and our children. However, God is so faithful in showing us the things that we need to work on, giving us the strength to change, and the ability to forgive each other when we mess up.

Loneliness is hard and there are days when I really don't want to deal with it. But I can't deny the fact that God is working, even through these difficult times. So once again, I praise God for what he is doing in our lives and teaching us!

Politie

Recently, I have started wondering more about the police, or politie as they are called here, and what their role is in the city. You see them everywhere...on foot, bikes, motorcycles, cars, and vans. They seem friendly enough! Other than giving parking tickets, I haven't really seen them do much other than be a presence. I'm not trying to say they don't do anything, I just haven't really witnessed it. Obviously they keep people in line because Gent is a very safe place! In the past two weeks, I have had two little encounters with the politie while I was driving. The first time, I was driving in a bus only lane. The officer behind me passed me and pointed that out to me. He also waved for me to come out of that lane and into the proper lane, then drove off. I thought that was nice of him! The second time happened just yesterday. I was driving home from Ikea and got a little turned around. When I realized I was going the wrong way I, as I would back home, just quickly turned onto a side street, did a u-turn, and pulled up to the street to go back the other way. I knew this probably wasn't allowed because there wasn't a turn lane for me, but I decided to do it anyways because I didn't want to go any further in the wrong direction than I had to. I was also heading into a crazy construction zone and didn't know when I would have another chance to turn around. As I turned onto the side street, I pulled right in front of an officer coming the other way!!! I was sure this would be my first tongue lashing since being in Belgium. As I was pulling up to the stop sign to turn back onto the main road, the officer slowly rode by and motioned to me that I was not allowed to do what I just did! I threw my hands up and mouthed "sorry" a bunch of times. Rather than coming to chastise to me, he motioned that it was ok and continued to ride on! Again, I thought that was very nice!

So, while I'm still not sure if they are super strict, or what exactly you will get in trouble for, I am thankful that they have been gracious to me as I continue to learn the ropes!

Our First Week

Our first week in Gent is a little bit of a blur, but if I'm being honest, I'm not sure we actually did that much other than wonder around and try to acclimate a little bit. Cole had that whole first week off so we could get things done which was very nice. I'm glad I didn't have to do everything by myself!

We met with our landlady Wednesday (I think) to do a walkthrough of the loft to discuss any issues and also so she could show us how to work all the appliances. We turned the heat on that day and decided that, if we could, we wanted to move into the loft by Friday. This meant we had to get a few things to tide us over until our sea and air shipments arrived. We went to Ikea several times the first week. I have never been to Ikea before, but it is one of those stores that I love and hate at the same time. It is so huge and overwhelming, but they do have a lot of stuff to choose from. Anyways, since we didn't have our car yet, we had to make our trip to Ikea on the tram. Now normally, this would not be a problem at all. It's just a short tram ride to Ikea. However, we did not take into account that when we we would be coming home with lots of stuff from Ikea and that it would also be nearing "rush hour". After we purchased our things from Ikea, we walked back to the tram station with the boys, double stroller, and big bags full of a few dishes, pots and pans, kitchen utensils, towels, pillows, and blankets. When we got on the tram, it was completely empty. At that moment, we felt very confident that we could get home no problem. We picked some seats near a door and tried to be as inconspicuous as possible...not happening! :) As we got closer to town, the tram started to get more and more crowded. It got to the point where we realized that there was no way we were going to be able to make a quick exit. We made a valiant effort to get off at our stop, but the doors closed before we could get off. We again made an attempt to get off at the next stop, but we could not get all of our things and children past all the people standing in the way. Between that stop and the next, Cole and I decided that it was every man for himself and we just needed to get off as we could. We began making plans for what we would do if one of us got off and the other one didn't. It's funny now, but stressful at the time. So, armed with the stroller and Harrison, I prepared to push my way off at the next stop. Cole was in charge of Cameron and the bags from Ikea. At the next stop, a kind lady took compassion on us (I think she heard our game plan and didn't think it was very good), grabbed the stroller and ordered people out of the way so we could get off. So much for being inconspicuous!! At least we got off the tram and were able to head to the loft. We dropped off our bags from Ikea then went to the grocery store to get some cleaning supplies. We spent Wednesday evening and a good portion of Thursday cleaning to the point where we felt comfortable moving our things on. Our loft is quite large and the previous tenants left it in bad shape, so it took at loooonnnnngggg time to get it clean enough to move our things in. As I mentioned in a previous post, the loft was partially furnished when we arrived, so we had beds and couches to use until our things arrived.

Thursday, we picked up our temporary lease car . It was nice to have a car, although you really don't need one here that often. However, when we first arrived, it was FREEZING here! So it was nice to have the option to drive places if we wanted to. Other than picking up the car, I don't think we did much else except clean on Thursday.

Friday morning, we packed our bags at the temporary apartment, loaded the car (to full capacity), and drove over to our loft. I'm so glad that I had an excuse not to drive (seizures) because driving here is crazy!! The streets are narrow, there are pedestrians, bikers, trams, and buses everywhere, and the driving laws seem to be a little up to each individuals interpretation. Add to that, pedestrians and bikers have the right of way at almost every cross walk, so they were just walking out right in front of us without notice. Of course it startled us because we did not know that rule at first! Cole did a great job learning how to drive these crazy streets and has kept us safe so far! Now, getting into our teeny, tiny garage is a different story. Out of the first five times we tried to pull in, Cole scraped against the side of the garage 4 times.  Even with me out of the car directing! I suppose you could blame me for bad directing?? Now, we are both able to get the car in and out without scraping, but we definitely had to come up with a game plan.  We spent most of Friday cleaning, putting things away, and figuring out how to work things in the loft. Hands down, Cole's favorite part of the loft is the built-in coffee maker in the kitchen!

Saturday, during the day, we ran errands and continued to work on the loft and getting the boys on their schedules in this time zone. I haven't talked much about the boys, but they were rock stars during this week. We, of course, had some moments where we didn't know what to do with them, but for the most part, they went right along with everything and were great! Saturday night, we were invited to another American expat's house for dinner. We found out (through our mutual hairdresser in South Carolina) that there was another American expat here and we were happy to connect with her as quickly as we could. We also found out that she attended the same church that we anticipated attending! She invited us over to her apartment for dinner with her and some friends of hers from church. It was wonderful to just sit, eat, and talk with people and not have to worry about everything to do. The food and company was great and we felt very blessed to have been connected with so many wonderful people so quickly!

Sunday, we decided that we would attend the service at International Community Church Gent. We found this church even before we accepted the offer to move and had been in communication with the pastor. We even met with him during our trip to find housing. It's an English speaking church just 15 minutes or so from our loft! We were both excited and nervous to go. If I'm being honest, I was a little apprehensive about attending a new church. As I mentioned in a previous post, we have a wonderful church family in South Carolina. We love our pastor, leaders, family, and friends that are there. We grew so much while we attended there. I had a conversation with someone who, at the time, I didn't know very well, but I now consider a friend about this very topic. I didn't think any church could measure up and that we would just have to make due until we returned home. This friend gently reminded me that, even though this church probably would be different, it would be exactly what we need. I am so amazed at those words and how they were spoken to me at just the right time. She opened my heart and mind to the possibility that God would work through me and in me regardless of where we attend church. I am so thankful for her gentle reminder to just seek God where we. So anyway, when we walked in the doors of the church, we were immediately greeted with warm, welcoming smiles. It is instant community! The church is much smaller than our church in South Carolina, maybe 20-40 people on a given Sunday, but the wonderful, gospel-based preaching and sincerity with which the pastor spoke really encouraged us. What are the chances of finding an English speaking, gospel preaching church in such a spiritually dead area?! It is different from our church in South Carolina, very different, but still good! We left feeling encouraged! (I want to write a post to explain more about the church at another time.)

After we arrived back at the loft on Sunday night, we received a call from our realtor in South Carolina who told us about an offer she had received on our house! If you recall from a previous post, we had listed our house just six days prior to her calling us with an offer. Six days!!! After a bit of negotiating, we accepted an offer and were told we would close sometime in April!

That night, as Cole and I talked about the week and about selling our house, we were just amazed at how much we could see God's hand in everything that had been happening, even before we left. He has been so gracious to us and protected us all along the way. We are so thankful!  We have now closed on the house and don't have to worry about it at all anymore! Praise God!