Visitors!

Something that has really blessed Joshua and I in these first (almost) five months of marriage are the visitors that have traveled to see us. In some ways being so far away from where we grew up and have such an extensive support system has been really great in our marriage. The distance has helped teach us to really lean on one another and has helped us build our identity as 'Joshua and Erin' instead of 'Joshua' and 'Erin' mushed together. From the very moment we arrived in Baton Rouge we have embarked on our journey with a clean slate as a combined 'us' instead of retaining independent elements of our pre-marriage lives and figuring out how they can fit together.

In other ways, though, we deeply miss our families and the intimate relationships that we have invested so much of our lives in. Especially as I have struggled to fit into my new position at BASF, doubt sometimes creeps into my heart about whether it was even worth it to leave everything familiar and come all the way out here.

So when these three drove all through the night to arrive at our doorstep on a Saturday morning over the Christmas break you cannot even begin to imagine how overjoyed we were to be reunited with some good friends!

The two days that we got to spend with Rob, Drew, and Alexa were like a glass of cool water on a summer day in Louisiana. It was wonderfully refreshing to see their smiling (and sleepy) faces and to hear all of the wonderful and challenging things that God is doing in their lives. It was also so great to share our new lives in Louisiana with them: to show them our town, our home, our church, and to tell them about work. God has been moving and teaching us so much as we have sprung from our comfortable nests and flown into the great beyond that it was relieving to be able to put words to all of the revelations and changes that have happened to friends who know our hearts and our background so well.

We are so thankful for Rob, Drew, and Alexa for making the long journey to Baton Rouge to bring Joshua and I a little bit of the home we have been missing so much! We love you guys!

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Our other visitor we had over the Christmas break was my favorite little sister in the whole world. Ashton rode back with us when we returned home after Christmas and flew out of New Orleans on New Years Eve a few days later.

We took Ashton to do all of the 'tourist' things that we could think of and afford. We went and saw mike the tiger and LSU's campus, visited the French Quarter in New Orleans, ate Beignets at Cafe Du Monde, had dinner at the infamous Camellia Grill, saw the Capitol building, and drove over the Mississippi River.

It would have been nice if the weather had cooperated with us more, but I loved getting to share our life with Ashton and to experience some new things with her as well (yes, we had not managed to get beignets before that weekend). It was also really great to hear more about her college life after the completion of her first semester. I love my sister's heart so much and watching her learn and grow warms me because college is such a special season of life to discover more about yourself. I think I can finally identify all of her friends by name from pictures and I'm all up to date about who's dating who so I don't make a fool out of myself when Joshua and I finally get to meet all of these wonderful people that have become incredibly dear to Ashton.

So basically you should come visit us.