On Our Way

Well, due to a heavy schedule of activity, I have failed to keep up with blogging about our crazy and fun filled summer. Perhaps the updates may begin filling the screen in September. Today, I am up packing and organizing suitcases for the beginnings of our journey back to Mexico. As I often do, I have mixed emotions...that sad feeling of leaving the comfort of family time and being with those here we love so much and yet the readiness to return to routine and no more suitcases. Our kids have been through their fair share of sleeping arrangements and travels...and have done quite well. We have good boys if I do say so myself :) We have had such a good time reconnecting with family, friends, and our partnering church in Louisville. "Good-byes" have had to become a regular part of our lives...and aren't always easy...but we are thankful for the time spent with everyone along the way. So the drive back through Texas, across the border, and south to Mexico City will be filled with lots of different feelings. I am thankful for my life and am interested to see how God will work in and around us this year. It is exciting to think about settling back into life, and routine, and school, and relationships, and ministry. The boys return to school this next week - Reece his first day of 1st grade on Monday. Chase his first day of Kindergarten on Tuesday. We will be moving to a new apartment by the end of the month so there will be a few busy days ahead before all this "settling" truly begins. We are looking forward to meeting our new baby - that time will be here sooner than we realize. And, so there surely is no shortage in the things that can occupy my mind and heart in these next days as we are "on the road again"! If this trip is going to happen I guess I had better get back to packing....

Bear & Honey

We had a really fun time with Gary & Robin (Bear & Honey)! Here are a few pictures (I decided that a slideshow would be the most effective way for me to get caught up quickly to all the pics I have snapped!) to capture our new memories at their house, at the baseball game, and on our trip to New Mexico to ride the train (a huge highlight for all of us!) Thank you so much for your hospitality and to introducing us to the town of Chama, NM and its wonderful train ride. We had a super great time....

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Loving the Feeling of Life

I have been to this stage of pregnancy three times before - and the memories simply cannot do justice to the reality of experiencing it live! I love, love, love feeling this little life moving around. I look forward to it all day - he is most active late at night and in the morning - his kicks and jabs getting stronger day by day. I love the gentle reminders that he sends me that he is doing well and growing.... Reece has had the patience to wait around long enough to feel him move and his eyes lit up. Chase can't hold out long enough and rather just says "cool" and runs off even though he has felt nothing. And Pierce...we haven't caught him long enough to give it a try. But this little baby brother has become one of the family - he is included in conversations and is already regularly chosen for which "team" he is going to be on (a true advantage to having 4)! I am so very thankful to have this day and this baby!

Father, I praise You and thank You today for the gift of this precious little boy. Thank You for blessing me with quiet and private moments with him to enjoy his development and cherish this miracle. Please continue to form and shape him and prepare us to welcome him into our family. Thank You Father for creating and for giving and providing. We are aware of Your goodness and proclaim it today - through the blessing of family. Amen.

Connecting.....

These last weeks have been about connecting or re-connecting for me.

We are doing well - have enjoyed lots and lots of time with friends and family.  In the last few weeks I have been blessed to see the majority of my girlfriends that have played a significant role in my life in various stops along our travels.  It has been so good for me - lots of trips down memory lane, lots of laughing, lots of sharing, lots of dreaming and questioning and wondering. Good for me to remember and just be. Simply put: there is just nothing quite like friends with history.  Thanks girls.

We have also treasured time with family.  Nearly a week with Benjy's Dad, Gary and Robin.  And nearly 2 weeks with all of my family in Canada.  So good to be with both sides.  The kids reconnected easily with grandparents and aunts/uncles and especially cousins.  Lots of late nights and playtime and good food and just plain old connecting. Another simply put: there is just nothing quite like being with family (ha! interpret that as you may)

But I think one of the types of connecting I want to write about too is the reconnecting I have done with God through reading.  No, not through a dynamic Bible reading plan...  I hope I can reconnect to the Word of God again - I want to and need to.  But what has really fed my spiritual life as of late are novels by Francine Rivers.  It has been a long time since I have made time in my life to read - just to read for me - not parenting books, or devotional or self-helpey kind of things.  And I am kind of not the most girley of girls so I had this idea in my head that a woman Christian author would be about really feminine things - like flowers and butterflies and rainbows.  So I avoided them even though many recommended them.  I stand corrected and proclaim it.  In the past 2 months I have read 4 of her novels: the Mark of the Lion series (ya remember these books? Hadassah?) and then just yesterday finished Redeeming Love.  So I have been changed and reminded of how good God is and how much He loves me and how I need to be more like Jesus in so many ways.  The themes of love, forgiveness, grace, service, etc.. have made me think and desire change in my own life.  So...thank you Francine!

If you have not taken the opportunity to read these books - please accept my recommendation to do just that - it will connect you again to our great and awesome God!