Home!!

We are safely home from our travels. I have traveled 20 or the last 30 days and have counted my blessings along the way. Here are some summer highlights:

June:
~A great week at VBS. Brandon and I got to be a part of two of the skits. We had a blast with so many special children. Two sweet boys joined us for 2 nights of great fun and memories. They also enjoyed VBS and it was fun to share that with them.

~A great week at Camp! I attended camp with the G-town youth group. It was a huge blessing and gift. I so enjoyed connecting in LATE night conversations with many students and eating fun meals with great leader friends. The joy of going to a place where "everybody knows your name" is like no other. We experienced a tornado warning, power outage, and bus break down. So many faith stretching experiences I think it was a mix of camp and mission trip prep of sorts. Sometime I plan to blog on the faith lessons learned, but here are some silly things I learned: the great fun of Bananagrams, the Ironman crawl, the drawbacks of flax, the joy "The Freddy" brings to CDYC judges and so much more!

July:
~Solo roadtrip! I was able to spend time with a couple of great friends from high school, college, F/M after college life, and family. The time went way too quickly, but a highlight was eating at THREE Mexican Village's in 4 days. I discovered simply fruit roll-ups, and Hy-Vee brand kettle chips and should have invested in stock for the amount I consumed! I also learned more than I thought possible about Spam.

~While on the roadtrip I was overwhelmed with the ways God has weaved adoption stories into my life. Check this out: One of my greatest friends from SE and her hubby are adopting an infant. We had GREAT conversations about adoption and the joys of paper vs. tummy pregnancy. A super college friend, floormate, and sister in Christ and her hubby are also adopting from ET! We were able to talk and pray for our little ones. We are so blessed to walk this journey together. The first family I nannied for had 3 boys while I cared for them. They now have adopted a sweet little sister. I was able to stay in their home and make new memories with them. So there you have it: Friends from pre-school to current life stage with adoption stories!

August:
~Family roadtrip! We spend the first half with Brandon's family. Great family time, great memories made. Baby A is so big and so busy and so lovely! We spent a super fun day at the lake where I, after a six year skiing break decided to try it... and I got up on the FIRST TIME!! I was so shocked that I did it! The second half of the trip was with my family and extended family. Our trip ended with a 2 day family reunion where I was able to see cousins and their kids who I have not seen in years. What a blessing! I learned that I am a pathetic Farkle player, but I manage OK with ladder golf. I also learned that black bean brownies taste delightfully like Grandpas fudge to me, but my family was MUCH less impressed.

~Now: We are home, giving our wonderful car a rest after all that travel. It is hard to get motivated to get back into a routine... such is life. Since we are going to be around and we have plenty of room: family and friends this is your chance to come and visit soon!

Photos to follow eventually... I must get them from family, friends, facebook etc (read: you might enjoy them by October).