Home

(Previously titled: "18 hours of wind and rain")

It took much longer than expected to reach our destination,Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  Symptoms of freezing rain followed us for half of the journey as trees leaned over the road and mocked our attempt to navigate the roads safely.  Kevin and I were trying to be smart and leave earlier than Holly in the Penske truck, but a 45 minute detour in Fishkill, New York, caused us to slow our pace and meet up the the Holly and the pre-Beahms for lunch, which provided time for us to exchange incredulous stories from the road. 

Though the temperatures rose as we moved South on Hwy 81, the rain was relentless - save for an hour or so.  Somewhere in hour seventeen we saw the beautiful words, "Welcome to North Carolina."  Finally, we breathed a sigh of relief and made our final stride toward home.

Kevin made the trip enjoyable with good conversation as we worked out the complexities of why dirty words are actually dirty (or not). Of course, he also provided the soundtrack; one unexpected song came from Old Crow Medicine Show, called "Wagon Wheel" and it captured the theme of the journey well:

Headed down south to the land of the pines
I'm thumbin' my way into North Caroline
Lookin' down the road and I pray to God I see head lights
I made down the coast in seventeen hours (17! I wish!)
pickin' a bouquet of dog wood flowers and I'm
hopin' like Raleigh I can see my baby tonight

The song humorously illustrated our desperate desire to land in our driveway, unload the inflatable mattress and pass out.  Oddly enough by the time our heads did hit pillows, we couldn't stop laughing about just how peculiar and frustrating the day had been.  Sometime around 3 am we fell asleep and then awoke the next morning to unpack the truck with the help of local friends.

"Home" might be the best and worst word for us in the coming months.  We are indeed "home" but we feel like we can't REALLY unpack because we're trusting God to call us to a job somewhere (maybe here).  Yet as long as we're here, we look forward to time with family and friends and of course preparing a home for our little girl. (pictures of the nursery are forthcoming!)

This morning we went to church where a visiting pastor encouraged us to remember how God uses broken people for his purposes.  As we celebrate the "coming" (aka "Advent") we see beauty through brokenness and humility.  I look forward to witnessing how our great God will reveal his plan for us and how our little expectant family can expect to see Him lead us wherever He might.

[Holly has more updates about our house and baby showers, but for now, we're checking in from "home."]