This holy body swells with change, 

my surroundings fly by,
clouds cushion our landing

back. Home.

Warm.

As my body changes and accommodates a growing little one, I continually find myself interested in matching that physical growth with growth in my spirituality and community as well as an inverse desire to shrink our budget and our typical lifestyle radius - because we're committed to not owning a car and minimizing our scooter riding to non-rush hours, it makes the most sense to shrink the bubble we live day-to-day in. We're also committed to simplifying our eating and habits, putting healthy, simple ingredients in our bodies, paring down our possessions so we're not weighed down by caring for them when caring for our baby becomes our main priority, and lowering our spending to a more reasonable Thailand lifestyle. 

We hadn't planned to make a visit back just 7 months after we left, but it ended up an amazing opportunity to regain perspective. When we landed in Chiang Mai it was pretty overwhelming to completely start over and we began just reacting as things came our way. Leaving that context and going back to MN was a chance to understand where we came from, reconnect with those we love, and re-establish some of the goals and hopes for our time in Thailand that we felt so deeply when we left last spring. I also just re-read my Prayer for 2015, and I'm so glad I took the time to chronicle my fears at that time as well as my hopes. 2015 is over, but a few weeks into 2016 and 5 months into a beautiful, dynamic thing called pregnancy, I can feel how "gratefulness without fear" will be an ongoing prayer for me.