Road Trip

The longest goodbye finished with a road trip transporting a trailer for friends to Kentucky. Why in the world? With our littles. Our sanity is usually in question. Well, for good friends of course. My pastor growing up said if you have as many friends as you have fingers on one hand then you are blessed. Good friends are hard to come by. Derek and I have been blessed in so many seasons of our lives and we have a wide stretch of friends, near and far, old and new. We treasure all of them. But these friends are something...mostly they've taught us so much about life... to be faithful and constant. How to be ever prayerful and steadfast in walking with the Lord. How to be a good friends. How to enjoy each day. I hope one day I can be a friend as they have been. They've been iron for us and watched as we've been chiseled and changed. It's been a sweet journey together. The tears home weren't fun, but all the miles and laughs were worth it in the end. We are praying now for new peeps in their lives. Someone needs to enjoy the Kentucky Fudge with them. Yum! And we know that whoever they are they are in for a real treat! 

1100 miles from door to door. 

Awesome scary bridge! 

Road trips are exhausting. 

Blue Grass country...

The long road home. 

St. Louis arch and a drive by the Jones head office. 

It's always a welcome site that welcome to Texas sign! 

My Fabulous 4!

Kai, Super spellers and the cutest scarecrow ever! 

October...

October was full of pumpkins and sweets as it should be. 

A lost tooth.

A Balloon release. 

A slumber party in the safe room.

A mom and daughter date.

Halloween fun. 

A farewell dinner we had been dreading for months.

Kai's 7th month full.

And a day sewing with my Mom. 

Harper worked on this tooth for a month. I'm thinking Mrs. Starks suggested the ol' apple trick because when she came home from school she was determined to lose this tooth. It was a success. She was so excited and brave. 

The kiddos were not unnerved about the tornado sirens...mom on the other hand is not a fan of severe weather. Kai slept through the whole thing. 

Nana came and enjoyed the pumpkin patch with me and Harpie. 

Gunnar was sick on his field trip day so dad made up for it with a visit to the patch on the last day of the season. 

Miss Tin posing with Nancy Drew. A date with my oldest was a treat. It doesn't happen often enough but we enjoyed every minute. Who is this girl? They grow up way too fast. 

Kai cheesing for her 7month pic! 

A little more football...too hot for October. 

I just love this pic of mr. Elf with the China dolls 

Big brother needed to pose too. 

Our Super pastor and his wife, King Candy And the Queen. A fun little treating spot. 

My finished project from working with mom. Learned a few things from her and taught her a few too. 

Farewell Ferris/Brown Dinner...it was so good...I think I can still taste dessert. 

October is Infant and Pregnancy Loss Awareness month. What a downer I say. A friend reminded me that their ectopic baby had never been celebrated. I of course had not thought of it this way. So Derek came home with 20 balloons and we sat and celebrated each baby waiting for us in glory. It has touched too many of our friends and family but the Word reminds us that, This hope will not disappoint us, because Gods love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us Romans 5:5. We do have hope and for that I'm grateful. This part of October reminded me that it could be a lot quieter at my house, less chaotic and hectic on a day to day basis. But my busy is a reminder of how very blessed I am. Our lives are FULL of love, noise, hurt, sadness, joy, learning and growing. It's a good good thing! 

Where does the time go?

January 1st and 3 months behind on blogging so I thought I'd wrap up the year in an effort to do better in the coming months....

Good news is we've been living and too busy to blog!

I've been quilting like a crazy person, who knew it would take over my life. 

I had a birthday in September and celebrated some of my favorite peeps also with September birthdays! We have to stick together 😉. 

We spent a weekend in angelfire which was so nice and needed after the chaos that we call life. 

I started reading Interrupted by Jen Hatmaker which did Interrupt my life! 

The big kids kept us busy with flag football and volleyball. The little girls they just keep us busy- no need to elaborate. 

We had our 6 month home study, woohoo. 

Had Kai's pics taken in a sunflower field-

Things learned

Bees love sunflowers

Kai thinks we are crazy

And she looks adorable even with a frown. 

And we rolled into October with the hustle and bustle of Fall! 

First Quilt Complete...

Hold on- it's a wild ride.

Mountain choo choo train 

Sweet card from my best girl Tinlee! 

Sweet Sister love! 

Happy Happy Birthday!

We got to celebrate my most favorite person this week! Shhh...we keep the numbers in our heads ;) It's a pleasure growing older with this guy. 

He's so easy to take for granted. But I hope his children know how big he loves. So often when I am unloveable, he is so patient with me and I'm so grateful for the journey we are on. He is such a wonderful expression of Gods love for me and I'm so blessed to have him. Birthday wishes for many many more candles blown out together! 

Holly Hobby

I've had a sewing machine hiding away for a while. I have used it from time to time, but haven't ever had a project to complete. So I'm learning to quilt. It is tedious and time consuming, but as my teacher has said- a quilt last forever! Miss Tinlee wants to learn too, so I'm looking forward to learning together. Can't wait to see quilt 1 complete!!! 

5 months!

I

This squirt was home 5 months the end of August. We celebrated with pics in a beautiful sunflower field. I'll post those one day ;). 

I often wish I could hear what Kai thinks. We clearly gush over her as a regular occurrence. She's a delight. She keeps us laughing. She adores her siblings! She is wildly independent and needy from moment to moment. She is so wonderful and we are thankful she's home.