From the monthly archives:
Took a break from the boxes to go welcome this complete family at the airport. FUN!
Came home to BBQ with all the Landers…
We were actually missing Gabe…we’ll photoshop him in later…
Dawson and cousin Jett. Such handsome boys.
Papa and Max
And cuteness–
The day was filled with all sorts of “family.”
Actually, it was mostly packing and carrying boxes and dreadful stuff.
But I’m choosing to forget that and focus on the fun family stuff.
My sister and brother-in-law are here for a couple days as they move across the country too. (Pennsylvania to Arizona for them). So that’s fun.
Me and Joanna. I’m number 2 of 4. She’s the baby.
And Uncle Taylor…playing backyard baseball.
And I don’t know but judging from this picture, it appears as though Uncle Taylor was sharing his beverage…
I’m going to have to watch him.
We are not doing any of this this week.
These are from last week.
This week, we are mostly barking at the children. And packing boxes. And taking apart beds. And sorting through drawers and cupboards.
Hopefully it all balances out in the end…
Well, this has been a highly entertaining day.
And it simply involved cleaning out cupboards and under beds and in closets.
Listed below are some of today’s favorite discoveries:
1. The message written on Max’s bunk bed–
“I love Sofia but I love God more.”
Good to know, Max. Good to know.
2. In the far recesses of a bathroom cabinet I found a little jar with about 8 kidney stones in it.
Not kidding. Not even a little.
Bet you don’t have one of those in your house.
3. And this is what we found under Quincy’s mattress:
Things that should clearly be under every 5 year old’s mattress: a guitar pic, a lighter (!!), and a petrified cupcake.
If this continues, this may be a daily feature for a while.
Andy and Randie…
Ayla and Zeke…
This was hard for him.
And I was really proud of him.
The middle one I’m taking with me to Colorado…or so I think. He’s struggling…he has some really, really good buddies in Iowa.
This one was obviously following the camera around all night…
And so apparently, I talk with my hands…
I love this little girl. Love her.
And goodness gracious, we love these people. Love them all.
Thank you. To everyone. Truly. Truly.
So Satan hates us.
If I didn’t realize that before, I certainly recognize it with clarity now.
And we sometimes feel like he has just begun his attacks on our family.
Hours before heading to the celebration, we opened a piece of mail.
I was almost literally looking for a dishes to throw.
I haven’t thrown dishes yet.
And I actually just got rid of all my dishes.
But if there had been some here…I might. I might of thrown them.
Ugh. Impeccable timing.
Andy calmed me down.
We worked hard to gather ourselves.
To claim truth.
To find the place of grace and restraint that we are committed to…which momentarily became very, very blurry.
And then resolve to stay there.
That was hard work.
And I do get so weary of it.
But we regrouped.
And headed here.
To one of the most amazing times.
It will be a defining moment in our lives forever.
And it was FUN!
Precious.
Awesome.
And Larry. Oh, Larry. We made it to Africa and back.
And he says he loves me almost more than his own daughter.
So that’s totally fun.
(Kidding, Cassie! Of course, kidding. ).
More pictures coming…
I have lots to say.
We cried a number of tears last night as we head full force through transition time.
We laughed and worshipped and celebrated with several hundred of our closest friends and family.
I can’t articulate yet just how much it meant to us, how it completed a step in our healing. How very much we appreciate those who believed and demanded (when we couldn’t believe it ourselves) that we were worth celebrating.
No words. Yet. Maybe I will find them.
Right now…just gratitude. We will never forget it.
And Cassie wanted you to see this. It’s a canvas that everyone signed.
What a precious treasure.
Apparently, some questioned her photography…but she had a plan.
And we love it. Love it.
What’s family vacation anyway without a trip to the ER?
It was Max who landed himself there with second and third degree burns on his hand from the go-cart engine.
Ouch.
And complete chaos for a couple hours on our little getaway.
In the end…we are all still alive.
And still married. (Which if you had seen the last 12 hours, you would be very proud of this accomplishment).
And actually, I think everyone is smiling and remembering the day fondly.
We pretended to be very, very serious “golfers”…
Look at the form on these players…
IN the end, I’m thinking we should stick with the drums and the guitars….
Zeke sticks pretty close to his brothers.
He has a number to choose from.
