{"id":11920,"date":"2026-08-17T12:12:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T18:12:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/?p=11920"},"modified":"2026-08-17T12:12:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T18:12:48","slug":"settling-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/2026\/settling-in.html","title":{"rendered":"Settling In?"},"content":{"rendered":"<!-- wp:themify-builder\/canvas \/-->\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I&#8217;ve heard that you should never actually ask someone who recently moved if they&#8217;re &#8220;settled in&#8221;, because the answer will almost always be in the negative!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>In our case, it&#8217;s been quite an unusual year.<\/strong> We moved suddenly and unexpectedly in January. Then there was a rush to get things kind of in working order in the midst of a busy ministry season &#8211; and in time for Nathanael and his friends to arrive a month later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nathanael left \ud83d\ude41 and just over a month later we were on the airplane to Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Now we&#8217;re back, and we quickly discovered two things. <\/strong>First, we have a lot of unpacking to do! And second, with everything else that has been going on there were a lot of things that we &#8220;put off&#8221; doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, once again in a busy ministry time, we&#8217;re trying to get the house in order and to catch up on a whole lot of other things. Several van repairs, a major appliance repair . . . some household repairs are upcoming . . . Shari has had some success in unpacking . . . I&#8217;m hoping to get to that point soon!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A busy time, yes &#8211; at times overwhelming &#8211; but that&#8217;s not to say that it&#8217;s been a bad time! It&#8217;s been great to be back and to be back in ministry. I&#8217;ve been able to dive deeply back into Deuteronomy as we continue our teaching series &#8211; what a blessing! Shari has enjoyed the women&#8217;s Bible study, and we&#8217;re hoping to start up the men&#8217;s study soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Our pastor Ezequiel organized a day retreat for the men, which was excellent. Some of the men are newer to the church, so it was a great help for everyone to get to know everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here are some of the men packing up at the end of the day . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;6a844aa138281&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core\/image\" data-wp-key=\"6a844aa138281\" class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized wp-lightbox-container\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"425\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--pointerdown=\"actions.preloadImage\" data-wp-on--pointerenter=\"actions.preloadImageWithDelay\" data-wp-on--pointerleave=\"actions.cancelPreload\" data-wp-on-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" src=\"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/mensretreat2026.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11921\" style=\"width:500px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/mensretreat2026.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/mensretreat2026-300x128.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/mensretreat2026-768x326.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><button\n\t\t\tclass=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\taria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-bind--aria-label=\"state.thisImage.triggerButtonAriaLabel\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--right=\"state.thisImage.buttonRight\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--top=\"state.thisImage.buttonTop\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n\t\t\t\t<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>(click image for a larger version)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That&#8217;s just a bit of what&#8217;s been going on! It&#8217;s been good, but I really need to unpack some things . . . I really need this item, and I&#8217;m constantly reaching for that item, and . . . well, if you&#8217;ve ever moved, you know how it is! \ud83d\ude42 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve heard that you should never actually ask someone who recently moved if they&#8217;re &#8220;settled in&#8221;, because the answer will almost always be in the negative! In our case, it&#8217;s been quite an unusual year. We moved suddenly and unexpectedly in January. Then there was a rush to get things kind of in working order [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,16,18,1413],"tags":[598,2212,1763,400,2720,1409,2804,300,303,2803],"class_list":["post-11920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ministry-glimpses","category-practical-matters","category-prayer-and-praise","category-st-highlight","tag-bible-study","tag-ezequiel","tag-iglesia-biblica-sendero-de-vida-las-palmas","tag-mens-retreat","tag-moving","tag-preaching","tag-unpacking","tag-van","tag-van-repairs","tag-womens-bible-study","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Settling In? - Finding direction<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/2026\/settling-in.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Settling In? - Finding direction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I&#8217;ve heard that you should never actually ask someone who recently moved if they&#8217;re &#8220;settled in&#8221;, because the answer will almost always be in the negative! 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