Well we're back home now, and back to our normal stuff of life. Except that it's really not so normal at all. We arrived home on Friday afternoon to our new housemates . . . Michelle's folks were here too. All of a sudden our pretty quiet existence of two people and two cats has turned into a full on zoo of four people, four cats, and three dogs. The house feels a lot smaller already.

We had a very good and relaxing time on our vacation. Much needed sleep, reading time, talking time, etc. The Napa Valley area is alive with different sets of colors at various times of the year, but none more beautiful than this season. The grape vines haven't been pruned back yet, but their leaves are in transition from green to gold to burgundy to brown. The trees in the area are also changing color, which makes it a really great place to enjoy God's goodness.

We got some good thinking and talking done about life in general. We dabbled with vocation, passion, vision, and other things. We tried not to think about the real estate mess we've been, and I think we were pretty successful.

Now that we're back to reality, it does look like a solution to our housing dilemma is close at hand. Our buyers seem to be willing to walk away . . . if they can walk away with some of our money in their pockets. Makes sense, really. Although we would never have chosen this particular detour in life (i.e. Michelle's parents' home burning down), we know that this has caused our buyers significant inconvenience and disappointment. We feel badly about that, and do think it's reasonable to compensate them for their lost opportunity. Now it's just a matter of negotiating a buyout price. Hopefully it'll be finished very soon.