Hello there

Well, hello there. It’s certainly been a while. How are you? How are things in your world?

I’ve been wanting to pick things back up here for a while now, but life often gets in the way. And when I say life, I mean the hard kind of life. The current season around here has been a difficult one. I don’t quite feel like I’m in the clearing yet, but things have gotten better in many ways since the beginning.

I so earnestly have wanted to share the details. You guys – my loyal and lovely, lovely readers – have been such a great support to me, time and time again; and no matter whether I ever write another thing on Gumption again or not, I will always be thankful for that. But I just can’t share the details. Maybe one day, I can and I will. I would like to. I would like to think that the ability to share intimate and challenging parts of my life means I’ve made it through that season, for better, and am in a season of joy and refreshment. Regardless of if I’m in that season or not, I have been learning to see the good, make good, and do good in my current season. And that is what I can share here.

With that in mind, here are a few updates since March, if you’re interested:

I finally started a full-time job! I love where I work and while working at my current place of employment, I have the opportunity to get a master’s degree for (almost) free! So..

I’ve decided to apply for a master’s program that would start next fall (2016). I actually just took the GRE yesterday and will have my completed application in by December 1. We’ll see what happens! I’m excited.

Hubby and I moved into our own place! BIG NEWS! After living with my generous parents for a year, we were finally able to start renting our own home. Being back in our own space has felt so good. And I can’t wait to share photos and some small projects we’ve done.

We adopted another basset hound! Well, she’s a bit of a basset/beagle mix but she is just the most precious and goofiest thing! Her name is Twix and she and Rolo love each other. I'll give you a proper introduction soon.

We’ve bought our tickets and are headed to Namibia in December! We’ll be spending time with Gordon’s family, who have a holiday home there, for two weeks. And with an eight hour layover in Istanbul both ways, we’re very excited.

The humidity is finally starting to drop here in Miami and it's October...it's starting to feel like fall! And that always brings happy things. :)

I wrote a while back (omg..ok, a year ago) about having a blog-identity crisis. I still kind of feel that way but I’m in a better place to tackle that “crisis” instead of feeling overwhelmed by it. So, if you’re willing and able, please stick around. It’s good to “see” you again. J