Hello, Alabama!

It was the girls first visit to Alabama and I must say, the state left a good impression!

We had beautiful warm weather (80 degrees in October? Yes, please!) and plenty of fun activities to keep us busy!

We started off with Owl-o-ween, an event held at a local natural park where the girls decorated cookies, had their sweet faces painted, played games and saw screech owls.

The highlight of the day was when they got to tear apart owl pellets and pick out bird bones. (Actually, they didn’t like that part at all. Ew.)

Elena decorates her “Owl-o-ween” cookie

Abbie was determined to have her face painted, no matter how long the wait was.

Worth every second of waiting!

Miss Crafty McCrafterson.

Our favorite thing about Alabama was the southern hospitality. We visited the Church at Chelsea-Westover and were welcomed warmly and shown lots of love! Several people knew we were taking the girls Trunk or Treating (their first time!) and the people of that church rallied around us to get us ready.

Miss Amy loaned us costumes, Miss Rosemarie did their hair and makeup, Miss Susan loaned us blue eyeshadow (Cinderella without blue eyeshadow? Perish the thought!), Miss June fixed the moccassins of one Pocahontas, and Miss Deidra provided candy buckets and escorted us to the event. It takes a village, people!

Before Miss Rosemarie got her hands on them…

In the talented hands of Miss Rosemarie

Meet my creepy friend…and see my awkward photobomb.

Good thing Daddy didn’t see all the makeup. He would have flipped.

Thank you, Miss Rosemarie! Cleopatra, Pocahontas, and Cinderella have never looked lovelier.

The first haul of candy came from Mr. Ival!

Yes, Alabama has been fun! We’re so thankful for the love we’ve been shown and we want to come back some day. Now, we’re on to Tennessee to see more friends and visit another new church. Let the adventuring continue!

                                               We met Gru from Despicable Me!

What do our days look like?

What do we do when we’re in the USA? Our days do look very different from the happy chaos that is found in Hogar El Camino.

When we’re in our home base of Nashua, New Hampshire we’re doing homeschool, visiting with family nearby, and enjoying being able to “just go to church.”  I’ve been on church staff or leadership in some capacity since I was a teenager, and I while I wouldn’t change that for the world, it’s nice to take a break. I can go to church without wondering who set up the seats first! No scrambling to find nursery workers! I have no idea who put the Power Point together! I don’t know what the Sunday School lesson is! For now, it’s nice. (But that antsy “shouldn’t-I-be-in-charge-of-something?” feeling is always lurking)

This was taken on the 4th of July in Paraguay…we left for the USA shortly after that!

The girls are adapting well, they’re homesick as all get out, but in good spirits and enjoying the fun times that we are having.

Hide all the things! Baby is on the move!

One thing is for sure, they are getting spoiled (the good kind of spoiling) from all the love and attention they are getting from family and friends.

Currently, we are on our way to a meeting in Alabama, where a friend has already planned a weekend full of activities (movies! museums! parks! trunk or treating!) then on to Tennessee for another meeting where another friend asked for a long list of snacks and fun items to purchase.

We are feeling the love!

“I’m proud to be a coal miner’s niece!”

Furlough fun!

As one t-shirt put it, “Hahvahd! Making people smahtah!”

Riding bumper boats. Elena thought she would die.

That moment when all of Lexi’s dreams came true.

Spending time in the sun, on the lake. (Still very pale.)

Riding four wheelers. Brian thought he would die.

It’s been fun! A lot of fun! And it’s been restful and I feel refreshed and energized and excited about the future! But in the midst of all this fun, there are people I miss so much I can barely breathe.

We’re ready to go home and get back to work!