Journey Home...the Great-Grandma Smith edition

After leaving NM we finished our westward drive landing in Bakersfield, CA, where we spent the late morning hours visiting Allen's Grandma Smith and Uncle Jesse. It was a short visit, but so nice to see them both again and to finally see their lovely home that we have been hearing about for years.

Here are some family photos:

Yes, Allen is closing his eyes, but his family will understand, since it is a family trait

Thanks Grandma and Jesse for a great visit. We all enjoyed it, and the cookies were an added bonus. :-)

#4 is a....

GIRL! Still due around November 20th and seems healthy from the ultrasound, though we will be having a precautionary Fetal Echo-cardiogram to be sure that this little girl doesn't have to go through what Lizzie did.

Thanks for the guesses from those that participated. It was fun to see how many people were sure we were having a boy. It was even more fun when the ultrasound tech confirmed that there was no doubt that this was indeed a little girl.

Now, to come up with another girl name that is just as impacting and significant to us as this baby girls older sisters' names have been. Any ideas?

Journey Home...the Donis edition

From AR we continued west to Albuquerque, NM, where we got the chance to spend a day seeing some of the areas of Albuquerque with our good friends, the Donis family. Again no pictures, but trust me when I tell you that the area is beautiful and the Donis' aren't bad either. :-)
We got to do some shopping, eat some wonderful Mexican food and later some amazing pizza, and of course get caught up a bit on the Donis' last year, post Scott Donis graduating from GCTS. It was a wonderful time and a perfect day out in the sunshine. The girls loved to "get caught up" with their friends, by running around endlessly, and we loved sitting at chatting like old times.
Thanks Donis' for showing us your home town and spending the day making us feel so welcome.

Journey home...the Brock edition

From GA we began a two day drive to Siloam Springs, AR. It took some planning and forethought, since we had to get through quite a bit of INTENSE rain. In fact in Mississippi we had to stop at an Olive Garden for a lengthy dinner, because the roads had flooded so bad that we could not keep driving. God was gracious and kept us safe, and Allen alert as he drove.

Once in Siloam Springs we were able to spend the day with the Brock family. Far too short a visit, but as they were preparing to move back to the Northwest shortly after we left them, we knew that there would be many more times for us to get together again. It was great to catch up a bit, meet the two Brock kiddos (that have been born since we last saw our dear Northwest friends), and have a true John Brown University dorm experience. In fact I even took a shower in the guys dorms , which I am told is an extremely rare privilege (don't worry, the guys were all gone for the summer by this time).
Of course, no pics of my own once again, so I was only able to "steal" pics of my kids from Carolyn Brock's Facebook account. But here are the girls playing at their home.

Thanks guys for the hospitality and the visit amidst your preparing to move.

Journey Home...the Thompson Edition

So back to our regularly scheduled updating (following a brief break due to HOT weather that kept me from the computer).

Once we left NC, we continued southward to Brunswick, GA where we got to spend a couple of days with Drew and Mandy Thompson. It was such a pleasure to see their home, their church (where they both minister), and to enjoy meals with them (especially the delicious BBQ). We were also able to go to a local beach on our own (while Drew and Mandy were hard at work at their church).

It was so encouraging to see our GCTS friends ministering with the gifts that they have been given by God and the skills they acquired while at seminary.

Drew and Mandy you are such a blessing.
Thanks for letting us taking over your home for a couple days!

Journey Home...fiction made into non-fiction

Those that have viewed my collection of movie favs know that I really enjoy the film, "Win a Date with Tad Hamilton". In the movie 3 of the main characters work at a grocery store known as "The Piggly Wiggly". I had heard that they existed, but honestly, I just could not picture it. Well:

Journey interrupted

So, I wanted to take break from sharing our journey home with you, in order to let you all know that hopefully, in a couple of weeks, we will find out whether this new little one is a boy or girl. So, anyone care to guess??? You have until the morning of July 14th to get your guesses in.

The Journey home...the Parham edition

After leaving the Hansen's in VA we headed even further south stopping in NC for lunch, where I was able to reunite with my beautiful cousin, Amber, after roughly 20 years of having no contact (due to family issues beyond us, that I need not get into here). We met at her church, Manna Church in Fayetteville, NC. It was only about an hour or so, but it felt strangely as though we had never been apart. She told me in brief what life had looked like for her the past 20 years and I marveled at what God brought her through to bring her to today. Now she is a born-again Christian, on fire for the LORD despite her past. And though she still faces obstacles, she relies on God in a way that is humbling and pushes me to seek God more. Of course, once again, I didn't get my camera out, so you will just have to be pictureless for this post.

The Journey home...the Hansen edition

Our first day of our over 2 week road trip was a long day. It began with the final cleaning of the apartment, packing the car up, taking multiple boxes to a neighbor to mail for us (since we physically could not get them into the car), stopping by the UPS store to mail 2 more very large boxes that would not fit in the very full car, and then beginning our trek southward almost 4 hours later than we had planned. Needless to say, when we did eventually make it to VA it was very late and we were VERY exhausted.

The next day we spent visiting the Hansen's, an amazing couple we were blessed to form a great friendship with while at GCTS. They now reside in Charlottesville, VA where they are extremely involved in the church plant that they are members of, while Missy attends school and Evan works as a College Outreach guy to those attending colleges in the area (namely the University of Virginia).

As you can see we had a great time and the girls are still talking about the bunny rabbits they got to see at Evan and Missy's. And we were also able to attend church with them, which was very exciting, since it gave us a glimpse into their lives and gave us the opportunity to meet some of our brothers and sisters on the other side of the country.




Thanks Evan and Missy for an amazing visit (that was just too short) and for taking pictures so that we had something to remember our visit by.

Catching up...Saying Goodbye

Well in 3 years time we made a ton of great friends both at GCTS and at our church (First Congregational Church of Hamilton). Needless to say there were MANY goodbyes to be had, but being the forgetful photo taker that I am, I only have a handful of pictures to share with you.

My church Bible study group and Lizzie and Ellie's teacher, "Teacher Jeanie"

Me and my sweet friend Jessica, who I miss so much already

My Bible study ladies with the girls

I cannot begin to explain just how much we have been impacted, changed, encouraged and loved on by our dear friends at GCTS and FCCH. We will miss you all more than you may ever know.