At Home

Hi All,

We made it back home! After struggling to say goodbye to our new friends at MTI in Colorado, we hit the road and made it as far as Salt Lake City where we spent a wonderfully "at home" night at Amy and John's house. The next morning we got up quite early and pushed all the way through from SLC to Seattle where we ended up at our Lake Forest Park home - and Oh! was it good to be back home. As early as Boise we could tell that we were nearing home. Then, to drive through Snoqualmie Pass with the sun having just slipped behind the majestic, craggy, rocky peaks of true mountains, but with just enough light to let the boldness of the changing leaves drip like syrup along the sides of the freeway. It was spectacular! Truly our hearts leapt within us and we almost had to pull over because we couldn't tear our eyes off of it all.

On Sunday, we went to UPC for the 10am service and were so encouraged to see so many of you and to experience how EXCITED you all were for us! Afterwards we went to lunch with mom and dad Cruze and had the most wonderful time swapping stories of the last 5 weeks and just being together. That night we stayed with our dear friends Megan and Cameron in Tacoma which was just what our hearts needed.

And now today. We are settled into a beautiful mother-in-law apartment beneath the house of one of our COTN colleagues. We spent the day getting oriented to the offices and practices of COTN Silverdale where we will be working for the next 2 weeks before heading to Chicago to be with the rest of my family (check out the new timeline in the left hand margin!)

We have come to realize that God is helping us feel at home no matter where we are because it is within the dwelling of Christ and the surroundings of community that we feel most at home. What a blessing that for us, home is not the place, but rather the feeling of being able to be most ourselves with people who are most themselves.

That's the update. More later...S&K