What we've been up to….

I haven't got on here in a really long time. I can't believe that one of my last post's was in October, and here it is, the week before Christmas. Life has just been zooming by. I feel like a lot has happened. Harvest wrapped up, and we said goodbye to one of our close friends, not really goodbye, but they moved to Kansas. And so we won't be able to get together as often as we'd like too…..

Childhood friends are some of the best and the ones we look back on so fondly. We love this family so much!
It was then Thanksgiving, and we had a surprise birthday party for my wonderful mother-in-law…

She was totally surprised! It was great.
We got our tree and decorated for Christmas. It feels so much different then last year, trying to move in at this time. Much more relaxed and enjoyable.

And we received this from Compassion International….

It's our sponsor tour information box!!! It has our name tags, luggage tags, bubbles, stickers, and a tour book, explaining about our trip.
Yes, Nate and I are headed to  Haiti in February! We are so excited! For a few years now, I would get emails from Compassion about going on a sponsor tour, but we also had a tiny baby, still nursing infant, or I was expecting a child. This is the first time that it worked out.
So we are flying down, touring the Compassion facilities and seeing what they do down there, and we also get to meet our child and spend the day with him!
Friday we went to Tucson to get our shots for the trip. By the time we got home, we both had sore arms, and I had a fever and headache. Saturday and Sunday I was nauseous and Sunday evening I broke out in a rash. Today, Tuesday, the rash is almost gone and so are all the other side effects. And we haven't even taken the rare diseases (at least for the U.S.) yet. We have typhoid fever and malaria pills to take. But it will all be worth. We are so excited. I am hoping I will be able to blog about it either while we are there or at least take lots of pictures to blog about once we get back. The kids will be spending time with Nate's parents and their other cousins, so they are super excited about that.

But this is a little of what's been going on around here. I am looking forward to being stretched and grown by the Lord on our trip and just in general in the coming year. There are lots of changes coming to our life, some in good, but bittersweet ways. We will be losing another set of dear friends early in the coming year and that is always hard. Especially for our kids to understand. Moving is never easy, but we must be obedient and faithful to where God calls us to go. It's the "Great Adventure" and we get the privilege to come along!