Still in Limbo

Since June, when Dennis took on his new role in GP, limbo seems to best describe our living situation. By limbo I'm not referring to a state of neglect or oblivion, but rather a choice to put finding a home on hold. My thesaurus described it this way - to be determined, up in the air, and I especially liked this one, in cold storage, which would be true of most of our belongings sitting in a storage unit up in Michigan.

We entered this new adventuresome life seven months ago full throttle (not that it wasn't adventuresome before). Dennis has taken a dozen trips to nine different countries on four continents, and I have joined him for seven of those country visits. Thanks to friends who have made their home available to us while they are taking out-of-state schooling, time has been on our side until life slows down a bit to look for housing. When people ask if we've settled yet, our typical answer is "after the first of the year." Now that the new year is just around the corner, my excitement is growing. We are more than ready to have a place to call our own. With no international travel planned for the month of January, it's time to make condo/apartment searching serious business!

Our criterial list has been made out since summer, including both negotiable and non-negotiable elements to a new home. We realize we can't reproduce our Budapest flat, though we would love to try. So, walkability is a non-negotiable, high ceilings, lots of character, plenty of windows, and two bedrooms are just a few things on our list. We're looking for simple and low-maintenance. Makes sense with our travel schedule. There are numerous old buildings or former factories turned into condo or apartment living in downtown Indy, so I'm hoping we can find that special place where we can say, "this is us."

It's been quiet around my blog over the past month, only because life hasn't been so quiet. A trip to Haiti at the end of November - there's great work being done on the island of La Gonáve in Haiti. A new Wesleyan hospital is going up which will serve the people so much better than the old one. The M's are working hard to make a difference in this poverty-stricken, post-earthquake country.

We followed up the Haiti trip with a much-needed vacation, which proved to be relaxing and refreshing.

And, of course, Christmas. On Christmas eve and day we enjoyed hanging out with Julie. A beautiful late-night Christmas eve service brought in Christmas, and on Christmas day we absolutely loved seeing Les Miserables. Definitely will see this movie again! The whole family was with us in Indy, except for Clint, Jamie, Evee and Iris, who we sorely missed. Josh and Kari drove in on Christmas night making their last leg of the journey on their move from Pasadena to Indy. Mike and Joni drove in on the same night from Michigan. Both came in earlier than planned to beat the winter blizzard that was predicted to begin about 3:00 a.m. We woke up the next morning to a white-day-after-Christmas that continued snowing and blowing for most of the day. We spent the entire day holed up in a downtown hotel where we had made reservations for a few nights so we could all be under one roof. It worked well, but we look forward to Christmas in our own homes next year.

A few pictures below of the family.

We missed the Usshers!

Leo wasn't sure if he liked this photo shoot

Christmas Eve night

Papa and Leo