I lied.

Almost immediately after posting last night, I unearthed the few pictures I had on my camera from our last couple days in Virginia.   


A final farewell at the park with families from K's work. Plenty of children to go around!

 This is what our garage looked like with all the boxes ready for our truck.  

K pulled up in this monster of a truck and my first thoughts were, "Take it back!  It's too big!"  I may or may not have let those words slip from my lips, because he replied that it was too late and it was time to load it up.

Basically, this is what the 26 foot truck looked like inside after aforementioned boxes and junk from the entire garage were loaded.  Uh oh.

One of our church friends M stopped by to help for the afternoon, which was more of a blessing than we could have ever imagined.  The guys were able to pack up tons of heavy furniture and lots of other items we didn't intend to move ourselves, which translated to more weight, which translated to more money toward our next adoption.  We won big time.  

Two nights before we drove off, a wife of K's coworker took us for horse rides on her beautiful horses Flash and Wish.  The stables were only minutes from our hotel so we met her there one evening after family night at Chick-fil-A.  Reference the scary face paint.  Buddy was overly happy to have his face painted like Spiderman.  The unfortunate part was 90 degree heat that made his face itchy and sweaty so his face ended up looking like something from Freddy.  (...and I just dated myself because Freddy movies were out when I was like 10 years old and many of you just googled to figure out who on earth I am referring to)

Peanut chose butterfly paint.  

...and then we were off on our way to Oklahoma.  I am so glad I found a few pictures of our time with K's family!  

K's sister K with the girls:

Buddy, K, Sweet P, K, K, C, K, Peanut and K

K with his sisters K and K (notice a trend?)

K's mom got in on the water gun fight.  She was in it to win!

We had the best time with family... and they are all invited out for the holidays so we can make more memories!  (yes, that's a hint)  Blessings, angela

my family.

While home my family scheduled pictures with one of my sweet friends from growing up: Amy of Amy Nickerson Design. I think you will agree she did a beautiful job of capturing our family on film...

 All the grandkids with Juju and Papa:

(Oh, and this may be our Christmas picture so pretend to be surprised in December...)

 My older sister and her family:

My older brother and his wife:

One more will be joining our family next year when my little brother gets married!  Yay!  

i'm back.

Hopefully I'm here to stay.  I have missed sitting down to discuss happenings and also share more of our adoption journey.  Life has just been a little busier than I like.  You know, packing up our entire belongings and moving from one coast almost to the other.  Not exactly my idea of fun when it's right about 100 degrees.  We survived, nonetheless, and had lots of fun along the way.  

Buddy was a huge help.  Kevin let him take over driving the truck occasionally so he could take a nap.  Who knew a little guy who dreams of driving an excavator would take to truck driving so quickly? 

We all made the 40-something hour drive from Virginia, including a two-week stop in Oklahoma to visit family.  Many of them hadn't met Sweet P yet!  She got to meet all but two of her older cousins on Kevin's side.  My sister's girls are below:

 Buddy with his favorite Uncle M:

I failed miserably to document our time with family in pictures.  Hopefully some of you can fill in the gaps, especially K's sisters.  My deepest apologies.  We had such a wonderful time home and I'm sad to have minimal pictures!

Along the drive, I had a lucky bag of new toys and books to give the kiddos.  Most were given by wonderful friends in Virginia, many who know how painful a drive that long can be with kids along for the ride.  It was a great blessing and I hope to pass on the favor when friends move.  

I still cannot figure out why all of a sudden one day in the car, Sweet P decides instead of asking for a snack, she'll eat the corners of a handful of books.  Delightful.  ...and it's all that more impressive since she's missing one front tooth and generally gnaws things with her chompers.  

Now we are all settling into life here in Nevada nicely.  Love it.  Despite the intense heat every single day since arrival, I don't know what it is about the desert landscape that has me.  Maybe it's the mountains.  I mean, the last time I was in Las Vegas I was plunked down on the Strip for a month while K was here for work.  I had no kids and had the luxury of tagging along for an entire month with no schedule and no obligations.  It was a blast!  My parents were in Vegas for a week convention - and might I add they were upgraded to a penthouse suite at the Mandalay Bay... but I digress.  


I had no idea there were mountains in Las Vegas!  It was a huge delight to drive into the city and see mountains surrounding the entire valley!  When you are down on the Strip, you are unaware of the incredible beauty that surrounds you.  Unfortunately, any great view is blocked by skyscrapers and billboards I'd rather my children not see.  

One of the best parts about our home here is the view out back.  We can sit out on our patio and have a gorgeous view of the sun setting over the mountains.  I can't wait for it to cool off so I can sit out there in the evenings and enjoy the Lord's handiwork.  It is meant to be relished.  


So, I will do my best now that the boxes are all unpacked to grab another cup of coffee and get back up to speed on things you'd overhear at our table.  Blessings, angela