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.

Catching up...Graduation Day

He did it! Allen graduated from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary with both a Master's in Old Testament, as well as another Master's in New Testament. Here are some pictures to remember the big day.

walking to receive his diplomas

Me, Allen and his big sister Maria

It is done! Yeah!!!

Catching up...Graduation Bears

So the girls got to put up the 99 bears counting up to the day of Graduation. Daddy of course got to do 100 after the commencement ceremony.

This was a picture we took at day 50 when they no longer were going to all fit on the door anymore.

Daddy (with his martinelli's apple cider) placing the final bear

Our two very proud little girls by the final bear

catching up...Gracie Turns 1

Here are some fabulous birthday photos from Gracie's first birthday:

Catching up...Easter 2010

So I am WAY behind, but here are some pictures from Easter this year!

She is 5

It is tough to believe that this little girl is now 5. Happy Birthday Lizzie!

We are Back

So we are in our newly rented home and are starting to "settle in", whatever that means. I am putting together an update letter complete with our new address and hopefully a picture or two. If you would like one, please let me know, and if need be email me your address!

Hopefully, I will be posting quite a bit in the next few weeks, to get you caught up on what we have been up to during our time away from blogging!

Too Much

So I haven't been a good blogger. It always seem like when I have the most things to post about, I have the least amount of time to sit at the computer to post. That has been the case as of late.

There will be many posts to come, though I can't guarantee how long it will be before they appear. Here is a glimpse:
New job
New baby
New home town (and old)
New friends (and old)