Let's Have A Party!

I'm so glad you could join me! How exciting to be part of THE ULTIMATE BLOG PARTY hosted by 5 Minutes For Mom. Such fun to surf the interweb for some new buddies :-) As we get ready to move overseas, I can see these connections becoming my life-line at times, when I'm homesick, frustrated with learning a new language, or just in need of some laughs.

On my next birthday I'll hit the half century mark [but not until later in the year; much, much later] and instead of being all settled and matronly like I expected, I've just finished giving away all my furniture and I'm packing up my favorite pillow, about 500 books, my sewing machine and fabric stash and moving to South America.

Oh, and I'll take Hubby along, too. :-) Seriously, for him it's kinda like going home. He grew up in Argentina, living there the first 20 years of his life. He'll be able to slide right back into the language and culture.

Me. Not so much. Two years of college-level Spanish and I can barely speak kindergarten Spanish. But as Hubby is apt to say, I like to talk too much NOT to learn!

Why are we going? 'Cause God said to, that's why! No, He didn't write it down anywhere. But He did make it clear that's His plan for us. So...here we go... hopefully in the next few months. Been getting ready for a while -- like years.

We're an ordinary American couple. We met at college, got married, had 2 kids. Our kids turned out remarkably well, considering all the mistakes we made! :-) And like everyone else, we're muddling along the best we can.

In the course of our almost 29 years of marriage, we've lived in four states and Hubby has held jobs ranging from sales to houseparenting to construction. And all along we've been active in the local church. The past 11 years Hubby's served as a bi-vocational pastor and we also spent one year volunteering with a ministry to orphans in Uganda, East Africa.

We've learned a lot of lessons along the way, primarily that it's not so much what we can do for God, but what God can do through us. We're pretty "puney" in and of ourselves [puney is a good southern word meaning small, weak, insufficient]. So it's a good thing it's all about Him and not about us!

I love to read, quilt, read, eat chocolate, read, spend time with family and friends, read... And I have no literary taste. I'll read just about anything except scifi and romance novels. My greatest cultural hurdle will be minimal access to books. In a language I can read, I mean. Hence the 500 plus books I'm taking with me. And thank the Good Lord for amazon.com and eBay so I can continue to feed my addiction. I'll probably spend more on postage than on the actual books. But hey, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

I look forward to blogging my experiences of living in another country. Having done this short-term in Africa, I know others are amused by my cultural faux pas and I'm not above poking a little fun at myself. "Blessed is he who has learned to laugh at himself, for he shall never cease to be entertained." (John Powell)