'Tis the season...

... to be missing family. Okay, so here's a serious blog for once. It's tough being this far away from our families - though I know I'm certainly not as far away as I could be. My cousin is living overseas so I really shouldn't complain, but it's still a struggle for me. I always thought I was such an independent kind of girl - not worried about leaving one place and moving on to the next. Not afraid of a big change. But as each year passes I wish we could be closer to family. The more I consider starting a family, the greater my desire is to be near mine. Don't get me wrong - I'm so thankful for this time in Kentucky. It has stretched me in ways I didn't know it could. God has given us a beautiful home, wonderful friends, and great jobs. He has taken care of us in more ways than I can count. But being here has also helped me to appreciate my family so much more. I think I took it for granted - the fact that we were an hour and a half away from both families when we lived in Orchard Park. And now that we're far away, I find myself longing to be back where everybody knows my name... oh wait, that's Cheers... but I digress. I think what's keeping me from calling Kentucky "home" is the fact that I know we'll be leaving here once Shane is done with school. At least that's the plan at this point in time. We want to move close to our family - and only time will tell where that place may be. My family is a treasure... and I hope that they will always know that. I need to be more deliberate about telling them how much I love and appreciate them. How blessed I am to be a part of the best family I can imagine. How amazing it is that God has given me parents & siblings who "get me" and can laugh at my randomness. How thankful I am to not only have been raised in a home where Christ is at the center of everything... but how I came to marry a man whose family believes just the same! And now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, and the Christmas season is upon us, we find ourselves wishing we could be closer to home - because for us "home" is wherever family is.