The post that I've been meaning to write for quite some time.

It's been awhile, and I apologize for the absence. There is no excuse other than that I have been slightly lazy. But now, with fingers anxious to type and a mind ready to spit out words, where do I begin?

As many have heard by now, we are expecting again. And as many of you know, I wrote a post describing the experience of and the emotions that occurred immediately following our miscarriage, but that was just the half of it. With intent to come back to this topic in the future, I only wish to say for right now, it is an experience that continues to grow me, teach me, cause me pain, and cause me to reflect. But I remain healed and hopeful, and needless to say, we are thrilled about this second chance.

Beyond this, for the past couple of months, life has been quite simply life. We have moved forward, learned some more Portuguese, and made new friends. We have been living life with our friends and through our faith. With a family we met through a local church, we have started an English group that meets once a week in their home, during which we eat, play games, and help those who come practice and learn English. I started a crafts group at a local coffee shop that also meets once a week. Never have I ever been on Pinterest so much.

A couple weeks ago, we officially started using heat again in our apartment, and as we move from room to room, we close doors behind us in order to keep warm those rooms that we've deemed worthy of heat. And since the time change, we still get freaked out when the sun sets at 5, and 7 o'clock then consequently feels like 10 o'clock.

We've stayed busy but have also managed to get some Lego DC and Marvel gaming in at times. Hodge continues to hang out with guys by shooting them during Airsoft games, my stick-shift driving skills have improved significantly, and Leeloo has enjoyed having an empty beach to run on again.

At Halloween, we taught some friends how to carve pumpkins. For Thanksgiving, we celebrated with food and games with our little Northern Portugal team. And to prepare for Christmas, we put up a tree and have turned up the Christmas songs and hymns.

We are anticipating the arrival of Hodge's parents next week, and then after that, the arrival of my sister in the first days of January. We are a little more than excited to see family and show them around our new life. We're also looking forward to indulging ourselves in some American goodies.

We are grateful for those who keep up with us and love on us from afar (and if you are reading this, that includes you).

Whew. Now that that is done, time to start the next post...