Weekend Wrap Up

It was a good weekend and I am ready for this new week!

Friday was inauguration day for the USA. I reflected on our trip to Washington DC when we were given a behind the scene tour of the capital and were able to stand on the balcony where inaugurations have taken place since Reagan in 1981.  Prior to that year, they were done on a different side of the capital.

After watching the ceremony, we went to a walk through of our new home.  Have I said we are ready??  If not, we are soooo ready!!!  I feel like my days are full of shopping trips to Lowes, Target, Walmart, Bed Bath and Beyond and other places as the little things are constantly coming to mind of what we need and don't have.  Think of all the random little things in your house.  We are starting over with those things.  Which is exciting, but the little things do add up quickly. 

We did Friday night pizza at Garibaldis, a Memphis favorite. 

Saturday, we went mattress shopping and looked at kitchen things at Lowe's.  The girls entertained themselves :). We met the family for lunch, then had a few other things for the rest of our Saturday. 

Sunday was church, potluck lunch, then trips to the church for small groups for the girls.

Hopefully I'll be in our new house a week from tonight.  Won't have internet those first few days, but that's okay!!

Happy Monday!

Friday Re-cap

Our week was pretty simple, with some fun things in the mix.

The simple things were our new routine, such as the girls school schedule and the bible study I've joined.  I was able to have two Panera dates with people to talk about our time in Colombia.  I was blown away one morning when I was able to go to 4 stores in an hour and a half.  Those are things I am still enjoying here living back in the USA!

Last Sunday, we had some of our Mission to the World friends in town and we were able to go to dinner with them.  These ladies work in the home office in Atlanta and have become friends of ours these past 4 years.

After dinner in Overton Square, we went next door where there was live music playing.  We played for about 2 songs, then I had to leave.  Not an ideal place for someone who had been diagnosed with some hearing loss recently!!

While we were with them, Brook went to a birthday party where she went ice skating for the first time!

The funnest part of the week was seeing this lady below.   Julie is one of the few people other than family that has known me since birth that I have kept in touch with over the years.  Julie lived across the street from us growing up and is my sister's lifelong best friend.  Julie currently lives in Minnesota and it has been 11 years since she has been down south.  We actually saw her either 8 or 9 years ago when we visited Minnesota.  Either way, it had been too long and we were all so happy to see her again.  I've always considered Julie like my adopted big sister.

Lynn, Julie and I

Julie and Lynn

Today is our walk through on the house and Lord willing, closing is a week from today!  Can't wait, even though it will be crazy that first week and lingering crazy with work to be done on the house.

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

Slow Start

The theme to my blogging for 2017 is a slow start!  I am hopeful that even though I will be busier at first after moving into a new house, I will also establish better routines, so I hope to do better with the blog.  It seems like I had more blogging time in Bogota, but I will get back to it here because I do enjoy it.  Today I am going back to last week when the girls and I made a quick day trip to Franklin, TN.  Franklin is outside of Nashville and we enjoyed the drive.  We went to visit some of our Bogota teammates who had brought some bags of ours back from Bogota.

The girls and I with Becky and Joe

Their family home within walking distance to downtown Franklin

Part of my slow start to blogging has been some health struggles this year, mainly an ear infection, which led me to taking steroids, which led to shortness of breath, which led to a stay in the emergency room Saturday night.  Here I am smiling while hooked up to a few gadgets.

I end the medication Saturday, so I am hopeful by next week I will feel "normal" again with hearing and breathing!!

MLK Day 2017

Happy Monday!  Today is the MLK holiday in the United States.  Just knowing it is a holiday is always a nice feeling :).  I will share this that I read in an email this morning. Hope you enjoy your day whether it be "normal" or a little more relaxing for you.

Dr. King didn’t bring about racial reconciliation in America single-handedly, but he was a leader in articulating two powerful truths: that all people have worth and that social change must be advocated nonviolently. He said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” He counseled his followers to be willing to bear abuse and suffer injustice, even imprisonment, rather than retaliate.

Those ideas came from the Bible. Those ideas were taught and modeled by Jesus Christ himself and continue to inspire and guide our lives today. Perhaps you will enjoy a day off work or school on this day. Whether you are working or not, take a little time to reflect on the important role Christians can play in bringing about reconciliation in our country: “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God” (Romans 15:7).

Where in your life is there the unfinished business of hatred, separation, and anger? Where and how can you be a reconciler?

Crawford & Campbell

My niece, Nicole, and her husband welcomed a baby girl into their family last Thursday.

That morning, I was able to get some cuddle time with "big brother",

Brook and Campbell playing while waiting at the hospital for little sister.

He was so good and is the sweetest. 

Here is miss Crawford! 

I am thrilled to be a great aunt again! 

Sibling photo :) 

Family photo 

Little miss Crawford waiting to go home on Saturday

Workin' It Wednesdays ~ Goals

I am linking up with a new series this year called Workin' It Wednesdays!

Today's topic is New Year's Goals....something about that sounds better than resolutions :)

In no particular order, here are a few goals:

I would love to get into a regular exercise habit this year, whether that be this athletic club or something else.  Let's just say it hasn't happened yet and in reality, won't probably start until March.  My exercise routine prior to March will take place here....

This is a photo of our new house!  We still have a few weeks until we close, but I plan on spending February getting our house set up and unpacking all of our bags.  My goal for the house is to first unpack (we won't even have all of our bags from Bogota until the end of February), organize, and decorate.  In the midst of that, Avery will re-do our kitchen and I hope to paint some bedrooms.  I would like to spend the year getting our house updated and just organized at this point would feel great.  We are feeling a little disorganized.

This is my new bible.  Yes, it is large print and I still use my glasses.  I am reading this through with several other ladies in our church and am excited about it already.

Other goals would of course be to improve on who am I as a person because I pretty much fail every day.  Oh, and to have my hearing back would be a bonus.  

January Week Wrap Up

Happy New Year!  

Well, I am already behind on blogging in 2017.  I hope that's not an indicator of my year to come :).

Basically, I don't feel like I am settled into any normal yet (almost 2 months later) and I have been battling ear pain for 2 weeks now. 

I wasn't in NYC for New Years Eve, but these are my ball pictures from my visit there last fall.

We started our New Year's celebration with these friends.  We missed our second party stop due to this girl was delayed getting home from her ski trip in Colorado.

Isabella on the slopes with her friends. 

Brook was with us to pick up our new car! So, so thankful for this.  

Brook and I spent a day learning about her new school program, Classical Conversations.

We watched the Bachelor premiere with friends and had rose cookies for dessert. 

I saw snow fall for the first time in 3 years on Friday.  It was quite exciting.  I took the photo above at 4am in the morning.  

The kids who live in the main house where we are staying (we are staying in a guest house for a few weeks) brought us some snow cream.

Our new year so far has been filled with work, planning for a house, the girls started school classes last week and basically just hoping I can hear again normally.  Ear pain is real y'all!

Oh, and something else really great happened I will share about tomorrow.