Living It Up!

We've been absent from the blog for quite a while, but it's for a good reason: For the last eight months, we've been busy spending face-to-face time with many of you! We traveled to the U.S. last May, and spent the summer and fall making memories, visiting people and places that we love, and re-connecting with lots and lots of friends and family! I'm not even going to try to blog about all of the amazing experiences that we had, but here are just a few highlights:

We soaked in some gorgeous sights, like this one...

this one...

this one...

and this one!

We ate our favorite American foods, like Blue Bell ice cream 

(even better when you can eat it with your cousins!)...

corn dogs (a new discovery for Sarah Claire this year!)...

and lots of Chick-fil-A!

(not to mention all the other foods we enjoyed, like steak, seafood, Tex-Mex, barbecue, and so much more...)

We enjoyed sweet reunions with friends...

and family...

and made some fun memories with them, like a color run...

and a visit to Disneyworld!

We enjoyed American sports like baseball...

and FSU football!

We had a blast celebrating U.S. holidays like Halloween...

 and getting to be with extended family for Thanksgiving and Christmas!

We even got to make an exciting announcement while we were still in the U.S.!

It was an incredible year, and we are so grateful for the opportunities we had. We're back on the other side of the ocean now, but still treasuring the sweet memories we made, new friendships we started, and the encouragement we got from so many of you. Check back soon for an update on our adventures on this side of the world!

An Educational Adventure

Last week, we had some special visitors and got to take a fun vacation educational field trip to an area that the kids and I have been learning about all year. Mimi and Papaw joined us at our home for a day, and then we all flew together to Luxor, Egypt, where we could see firsthand some of the temples and monuments that were built during the Ancient Egyptian periods we've been studying since September.

But first, before we began our vaca...er...field trip, the kids had a special concert to present to Mimi and Papaw. We called it the "Twinkling Stars Program," since all three of the kids performed Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star in one form or another. Lee Anna played it on her violin (after only 3 lessons-not bad if you ask me!), Sawyer played three variations of it on the piano, and Sarah Claire sang it for them. If you'd like to see the videos, they both have the entire concert recorded on their respective recording devices, and I'm sure they would be more than happy to share it with you!

After a full day of unpacking their suitcases and playing with the goodies they brought us, we headed to the airport and made the trip to Luxor. We decided not to use tour guides at any of the sites we visited, since 3-year-olds typically aren't quite as interested in historical details as tour guides would like them to be. Instead, we had a great time walking around and seeing things for ourselves, recognizing shapes and symbols and statues that we've read about during the year, and trying our hand at being ancient Egyptian statues (can't imagine where they got that idea!).

How did we do?

I took this one (above) because Lee Anna knew that the object behind her is the combined crown representing Upper and Lower Egypt. Imagine how big the original statue was for just the crown to be that huge!

After all those silly poses, we didn't do so well at getting a good regular family shot. But you can see the size of the columns inside the Karnak complex. I promise that is not Sawyer's regular face! (click on the photo to enlarge)

Here we're on the tram getting ready to ride out to the Valley of the Kings. We had to leave our cameras behind once we got out there, so I don't have any pictures of what we saw inside.

Sarah Claire and Mimi did a quick study of the guidebook so they would be prepared.

In addition to all of the historical education we got on our trip, we also got a little lesson in aeronautics! We arranged to do the sunrise hot air balloon ride that flies over many of the ancient sites. It was beautiful and a highlight of our trip.

However, to our great horror, just days after our return, we heard the news that a balloon on the same tour we took had crashed, killing nineteen people. We are so grieved at the tragic accident and have very heavy hearts for those who lost loved ones or were in any way involved with the crash.

By God's grace, our trip five days earlier was beautiful and peaceful. Here are some photos that we took while sailing through the sky.

See the balloon's shadow?

There were small holes in the side of the basket--made as steps for climbing in but also perfect for the kids to look out of!

Here we are safely back on the ground at the end of our ride. If only I had known then how grateful we should be! We have been sobered this week by the fresh reminder that we are not promised tomorrow. Every single day is a precious gift for us to enjoy!

While the trip did have its educational moments, we also did a good bit of relaxing. The swimming pools were way too cold for any of the adults to enjoy, but the kids stayed in until their lips were blue! Then they got out only long enough to warm up and jump back in! Our hotel was beautiful, with lots of green grass that was a special treat for us to see (and walk in!), and it even had a small petting zoo with rabbits and donkeys and camels and pelicans. The kids were thrilled with that!

We had a wonderful time and came home refreshed and relaxed and ready to get back to work. Thanks, Mimi and Papaw, for coming to see us and taking us on our educational adventure! It was a treat!

Sweet Reunions

When they weren't smiling sweetly or making silly faces for family photos (see previous post), our kids were soaking up all the precious time with friends and family. Uncle Andy got to hang around a few days longer than the other aunts and uncles, so he got in some extra niece-and-nephew time. 

They loved story time...

and ride down the hill on the skateboard time!

After a few more days at Mimi and Papaw's, we headed to Mississippi, where we got to see even more friends and family. We visited Gran one day and spent some time at her house.

Lee Anna was so excited to give her the vase that she had hand painted for her!

Here are the kids, ready for their meal at Gran's. As usual, she fixed way more food than we could possibly eat. And as usual, it was delicious!

Gran gave us our Christmas presents while we were there, and Sawyer's gift included a frisbee. It got a good workout that afternoon in the yard, as did we!

We also got to visit Grandmother and spend some time catching up with her. It was wonderful to see her!

Here she is with three of her many great-grandchildren. 

And the kids got lots of good playtime with these sweet friends!

It was such a blessing to get to go so many places and see so many special people. We are grateful!

Say Cheese!

Our first weekend in the states was a big family weekend. Everyone was in town to celebrate Papaw's retirement. Since the whole crew was there, we seized the chance to take some family photos. The whole tie-wearing thing sort of started out as a joke, when I told Jason (who wanted to wear one) that there was no way either of my brothers would be wearing a tie for the pictures. Well, the next thing I knew, both of my brothers came in wearing their ties (having been prompted by my silly husband, of course). By the end of the day, even poor Jesse the dog had his tie on.

We took lots...some serious and some, well, not-so-serious.

I love this crazy family!