WHOA, I Got Way Behind !!!

Just had a wonderful visit with family and friends in Tennessee!  It is always an odd jumble of emotions when you live in two different cultures.  We know we will always live in a state of conflict because of it.  We are so happy to be in one place but we miss the other terribly.  We feel the same about the people in both places.  We love you all!!!

Dennis is out working on the Bronco. (Real shocker there...)  And I am just realizing that my last blog entry was in October.  Not good.  So for the next few days I am going to load up on blog entries.  Most will be pictures but those are usually the best anyways.

This one will be just a few pictures from some happy times at home with the kids and church family.

Night time as we are flying out of Atlanta and into Nashville.

Air plane wing looked sturdy, always a good thing.

Hoping to get actual people in the picture but the best we could do is the cars.

Us girls decorating a gingerbread village.

Keira in the morning!!

We were able to visit with Molly before she went home for Christmas!

The old barn in the back yard.

Cold morning in Tennessee.

Keira's first year in pre-school.  Kind of like a pre-pre-school.  They sang some great Christmas songs for the parents!

Me, Amy, Keir's cool plate, Keira, Sam and Dennis

Shane had knee surgery and Keira wanted to master the crutches.  She refers to Shane as The Giant.

Although she had a lot of help she never quite mastered the crutches of the Giant.

We delivered a package from Renely, one of the young girls in the village, to Mary and Gary.  They really connected to each other when they met over a year ago in Buena Vista.

Renely had quite an awesome collection of items to give to Mary and Gary.

Greater Life Church received a giant Christmas card from Buena Vista School.  We had almost all the kids sign it!

This is our Benaiah.  He wasn't feeling so good here.  Later we found out that he and Aela were sick.  We didn't get to spend as much time with them as we wanted to.  It was more than a little disappointing.  But we will make up for it later!!  I do have a whole nother son and daughter in law that are not pictured here yet.  We were able to spend some time with Ben and Memory a little later during our visit.

This is Aela our littlest grandchild.  You want to squeeze her don't you??!!!!

Almost a year had passed since the last time we saw the family.  Little Aela was just born when we left last year.  It was such a blessing to get to know them again.  We really look forward to the day when we are just down the road from them and they can come and play whenever they want!!

When we went to church on that first Wednesday back it felt like we never left.  An odd feeling of family and being out of the loop all at the same time.  When it comes to family and friends the "loop" doesn't matter as much as you would think.  We have history and love, and that along with the presence of the Holy Spirit makes the time together all the more  sweeter.

Love you guys!