We’re here!

We are HOME!!  After way too long away, we were glad to start our cross-country travels to get home.  We did enjoy every bit of this summer – Ed’s trip to Senegal, taking classes in Colorado and connecting with great friends, the carnival that Cru throws their employees, our US staff conference hearing from amazing speakers, bands, and the Lord, and traveling across country.  But, I think Dorothy had it right when she says “There is no place like home.”

Kinsley has been asking for the last few weeks to go home, but it is hard to explain time to a 3 year old.  So, we did it in terms she would understand – Dora terms.  If you have watched any Dora at all (if you haven’t, you are missing out 😉 ), you will know that Dora goes through one place to get to another place to go to another place to reach her final destination.  So, we explained to Kinsley that we would go to one hotel, to another hotel, to Mr. Scott and Mrs. Lindsey’s house, to Nona’s (Ed’s mom) house, and then home.  She definitely understood that and it made the questions of “Are we going home tomorrow?” a little easier to answer.

So, the first day we traveled to Kansas.  This day was pretty boring – wheatfields, wind tunnels, and pastures as far as the eye can see.  We made sure to get there in time for Kinsley to get some energy out in the hotel pool.  Here is a pic of the girls starting out.

Then, the next day, we traveled to St. Louis.  We started out extra early this day so we could get there in time to visit the Magic House children’s museum.  The Magic House is 3 floors of fun things for kids to do and Kinsley loved every minute of it.  Her favorite part has to have been the castle room with pretend castle’s of Rapunzel, Belle from Beauty in the Beast, and Cinderella.  We literally had to pry her away from this room as they were closing.  Emerson’s favorite part was the ball pit.  The girl LOVES balls.

The next day, we traveled the short distance to Scott and Lyndsay’s house.  Scott and Ed were good friends in high school and have remained so throughout the years.  They live in Nashville, TN and have a boy, Matthew, and a girl on the way.  We so enjoy connecting with them and take the chance to do so when we can.  We hosted a dessert at their house for a few ministry partners who support our ministry and it was great to hear what the Lord has been doing in their life, get to know them better, and share about our year in ENC.  The girls had a blast playing with Matthew and always enjoy discovering “new” toys.

Then, we traveled to Greenville to Ed’s parents where we stayed for one night.  I don’t think you could have payed us money (ok, well maybe you could have for a considerable amount) to stay another night, given that we were one day’s drive away from home and SO ready to get there.  I do think the drive home the next day was the LONGEST day so far – not that it actually was, but boy did it feel like it – especially given traffic backed up from construction and an accident.

Either way, we MADE IT!  Praise the Lord that we made it safely with no accidents, no speeding tickets, and our house is in good shape (flower beds not so much with the mountain of weeds that have grown in them).  In the time we were gone, our neighbors put a contract on a new house, sold their house, and moved out.  We are so sad about this and have yet to get over the shock of new people living in their house.  And we can’t believe we were gone long enough to miss it all!  Here’s to getting back to a normal life!!

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