Seasons Greetings,

I can’t believe that winter is already here and I have hardly even brought out my jacket. I’ve been trying to keep up with the weather for most of our loved ones and while I’ve always loved winter it is so amazing to be in a desert climate. All my life around this time of the year I’ve had to worry about shoveling snow, scraping ice off the windshield of a car, driving on ice and snow, expensive heating bills and as many of you know, cold hands, LOL. Now being in the desert its barely gotten below 40 degrees. Simply Amazing. 

I don’t pretend to brag about being in a warmer climate because I do really miss the snow and the Christmas tree farms but it is such a different feel to the Holiday season than I have ever been a part of.  

The one thing I’ve enjoyed a lot of this year is being in a house. Since our marriage, Traci and I have only ever been able to decorate for Christmas with a tree and the Christmas village my mother loved so dearly. While we still have those, living in a house has given me the chance to HANG CHRISTMAS LIGHTS. Very few people know this is actually one of my favorite things to do around the holidays. 

As far as life in general, we  are still slowly adapting to the culture here in Tucson. We’ve become more aware of what is around us for entertainment, shopping, groceries and in the wonderful outdoors. There is still so much more to Tucson that we need to get around to visiting but its been a great adventure for the most part. 

Leyla is growing and growing and so is our love for her, as well as our patience. We have really enjoyed seeing the progress that she is making. I’ll save most of that update for Traci’s  corner but let me just say she surprises us more and more each day. 

 Blessings to you all,

Matt, Traci & Leyla

August Update

Hey Everyone,

We thought we would take another opportunity to update those of you who like to hear from us occasionally.

Many days I feel like we’ve been in Arizona so much longer than 5 months, but we are still enjoying this adventure with Christ. It seems that every day we get a little more acquainted with the little bit of Tucson that we see every day. We are learning more and more each day a little more of the reason why we have been placed here for this season of our lives and it is encouraging to see even the smallest glimpse of God’s plan for our time here. 

Life here is a bit more fast paced than it is in Bartlesville and while we miss that, we are adapting to a faster pace of doing things. Culture here in Tucson is vastly different as it is a big melting pot of different cultures. It seems that finding a balance between them all is going to  take more time than we would like, but all in all I think we are doing well.

One cultural aspect that comes to mind is the way people drive here compared to Bartlesville. It is actually quite funny, let me explain. Back in B’ville, Traci would often ask me to slow down when I'm driving so we wouldn’t get a speeding ticket. 

Here, there is an unspoken rule that many of the drivers follow that says you can drive up to 10 miles over the speed limit with out getting pulled over. Let me tell you, people really take advantage of this unspoken rule. Don’t get me wrong, Traci still tells me to slow down sometimes but there are times when if we don’t speed up at least a few miles we will get dirty looks from fellow drivers. Even though Tucson has over 1 million people that live here, there are no interstates in city limits, making driving a bit more difficult.

Well,  that’s all for now :-)

 Blessings to you all,

Matt, Traci & Leyla