Further Up and Further In

Alright, it’s been a while since I posted about anything (not that I've been posting long enough to have a general rhythm, but still…). Around here, lots of life has been happening what with finally unpacking boxes to fill our apartment, working on appointments and paper-work to re-pack and re-locate to Italy (no big deal, really…more on this later ^_^), planning a trip to visit a certain adorable little niece, (check out  Steph's Blog  to see just how adorable she is and get some insight into the life of a new mommy here), and still getting done daily life things like dishes and laundry and more dishes. A few weeks ago if you would have asked how I was, I would have told you I was great…just a wee bit bored since my days are pretty long with not a whole lot to do. Now, that couldn't be farther from the truth. I have to do lists, a budding social life (yay for new friends!) and did I mention I have lots to do? Before things really started moving here, I kept myself bus...

One thing that is really important to me when moving to a new location is finding a community to get connected to. It helps you feel a little more settled and part of your new environment. So, it comes as no surprise that a few weeks ago I found myself on my way to a small group through the church we've been attending.  Casey is in class, so I do have to make it there on my own, but I’m determined to navigate these unfamiliar Georgia roads with the help of MapQuest and my trusty (or not-so-trusty) GPS. I’m actually super excited, so I leave ten minutes earlier than I should need to and with a general sense of the location and my GPS in hand I head out the door. That’s when the GPS decides the location doesn't actually exist. Problem. BUT not to fear, I still have a sense of where I’m going. Until I realize I've missed a turn and am now a little (or a lot) lost. I finally call someone from the group (super nice and super helpful) who tries her ...

“Oh, are you new? Awesome! Where are you from?” If you grew up in the military like me, or have ever asked a military kid this question, the response probably went something like this… “Uh…well…..originally I’m from Missouri…but I’ve moved around a whole lot so I’m from a lot of places….I just moved here from Germany…..I don’t know….” Growing up in a military family, moving was just part of life. Of course leaving friends was hard, but you learned very quickly how to adapt, make new friends, and love the new place you found yourself in. New places, new adventures were always exciting, but with all the changes, I never was able to call one place home; rather, there was simply a list of all the places I’d been and home was where my family was. My dad retired from the Army and moved my family to Arizona a little over 12 years ago, and being that I’m only 22 (almost 23) I’ve actually spent more than half of my life in the same place even though the first half we didn’t sta...

“We’ve all been blind - we’re only beginning to see where we are.” I first heard the phrase “Further Up and Further In” from C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia:  The Last Battle. It is a cry of delight urging everyone to see that they are no longer in the Narnia they once knew, but rather in the real Narnia, one without beginning or end. They can now race through the real Narnia with rapturous joy towards Aslan’s garden, and as they go further into this garden, their joy only increases in abundance as does the beauty of the land they have entered  and the glory of Aslan. I like to think that I have not quite been the same since reading Lewis’ creative imagining of what it could be like when at last this world falls away and we enter a new world, one more real than we could ever guess as we walk with Jesus, our Aslan, eternally. And it seems, I am not the only one whose heart strings where struck by Lewis’ words. “My beating heart is bursting out my skin, to go furth...