Choose Joy

One of the things that I haven't been writing about as much lately {other than this post about friends} is being an expatriate.  Since there are some newer readers visiting my blog these days, here are the bullet points:

• We moved overseas to the Netherlands in October 2010. 
• My daughter was born February 2011 in the Netherlands.  
• We learned about that time that we would likely be moving to Scotland. 
• We finally moved to Scotland in October 2011. 
• We will likely move back to the U.S. October 2013. 

Obviously I miss the people that we are far away from, especially with my son's 3rd birthday approaching.  And then I've also been missing the comforts of home, knowing people {babysitters!}, knowing the stores, not needing a GPS for every drive.  

 And the spaces that we had worked on to make our own just before we moved.

But then I come across inspirational stories, like Ashley's. See that "Choose Joy" button on the right hand side of my blog? That is a new addition that will be staying around for awhile. Click on it (or below) to read more about her story. In short, during the last year she has: lost her father to a sudden heart attack (he was only 64!), had a miscarriage, a traumatic emergency hysterectomy, and she is now facing cancer with chemotherapy.  

Crazy difficult, right?  But she has made "Choose Joy" her motto in life.  And thru it all, she is doing that. Amazing. Even with all that, she is spreading the joy by passing out bracelets with the "choose joy" motto on them to random strangers.  

And so, even if I might be feeling homesick, contemplating if I should put the effort into make new friends in Scotland and not exactly enjoying this continuous cloudy, rainy weather...my plan is to "Choose Joy".  

We went one of our first sightseeing trips on Saturday {very short, about 20 minutes away} to the Falkirk Wheel.

It was raining, windy and the Wheel was actually not working.  But I decided to enjoy it anyways.  And be happy because I know it is so close we can go again.

 Even if J#3 was a bit crabby about being there.  Or just about having his photo taken.

 Because its never long before he is smiling again.

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