September Whirlwind

Whew! September has been such a blur. On the 6th, we celebrated miss Emma's birthday! I cannot believe a year has come and gone already! I have commented so many times that her first year seemed to go SO much faster than it did with Collin. Collin's went fast, but wow!! It feels like life keeps speeding up and I can't catch up!

Emma is such a little sweetie...and a fireball. :) She has added so very much to our family!! I love the way her personality continues to come out. She is even more strong-willed than Collin is and I certainly feel like I'm losing my mind most of the time trying to keep up with her and Collin, but wow I love her!! I pray everyday that we can mold that strong-will into a God fearing and God loving little girl who grows up to use that very will to impact eternity!

I also adore the friendship that these two continue to grow! I never really thought about this until Emma came along but I pray that our children will truly be friends and love spending time together. They already know how to push each others buttons, but boy do they fiercly love each other, too!! I hope their love continues to grow!

After Emma's birthday, we switched into packing mode. We accepted an offer on our house about a week before Emma's birthday but didn't want to start thinking about all that entailed until after we celebrated her. Wow, I had no idea how huge of a project it is to move...especially with little ones! While we'd had our home on the market, I had started to purge...sell things, give things away, throw things away...but it is amazing how much stuff we have! Yikes!! As the end of the month and our closing date approached, we quickly realized that we needed to be totally out of the house about a week before the closing date. Our calendar was so very full this month that we just had to get out then. The thing is, we haven't found another house yet. My parents have graciously opened their home to us as we continue to house hunt. They have rearranged their house, garage, lives to make room for us. And they have encouraged us to take our time and not rush into the wrong house. We are very thankful for their generosity!

We closed on our house this past Friday and are now settling in to our new "normal"....even if it is a temporary normal. We are excited about what the future holds and are diligantly praying for God to lead us exactly where He wants us...and we KNOW that He will!

Alaskan Adventures

Alaska is absolutely beautiful! Unfortunately, the pictures you'll see in this post DO NOT do it justice...hence my new hobby. ;) But, I'll tell you about our trip and share them anyway.

Robert's college roommate, Dan, lives in Alaska which is who we were staying with once we got there. There were some other friends, Brent & Carrie, who were visiting the same time. I didn't get to know Brent and Carrie too well until after college, mostly during this trip. They are a great couple!

The plan for much of the week was to go backpacking. While I do enjoy camping, I'm not such a great backpacker. The last backpacking trip I went on was before I had Collin. It was with a friend of ours from Wichita and we headed to the Buffalo River in Arkansas. For the most part I enjoyed the trip until we had to walk through waist deep, cold water and when I nearly got bit by a snake while taking a bathroom. That pretty much did me in that trip and then Robert just went with his buddies. But, it's Alaska, right. That's a fun way to see the back country.

It really wasn't that bad and I did enjoy the backpacking portions but I also enjoyed showering. :) Since there were now 2 girls on the trip, the boys graciously agreed to break up the backpacking portions. So one night we were able to stay in Seward, which was my favorite Alaskan town this visit. The hotel we stayed in wasn't my favorite but we were able to go on this awesome glacier cruise and see humpback whales, dall's porpoise, bald eagles, stellar sea lions, puffins and other incredible wildlife! Robert and I also took a trip up to Denali and went on a bus tour through Denali and saw a couple Grizzly bears, lots of caribou and some Moose.

I'm so very glad I went along. Before we left, we talked about all the things we want to do next time we come...but who knows when that may be. :) Hope you enjoy a few pictures.

Amazing Alaska!

Well, we made it home last night from our trip to Alaska. I'm SO happy I went!! Alaska is quite beautiful....so beautiful that we already started talking about our next trip there. Who knows when that will be, though. I had a couple "revelations", I guess, while we were there. Robert's company has an office there and the possibility of moving there at some point is actually a possibility. Up until our visit, I was completely against it. Now, however, the only thing that would stop me is how far from family it is...which is an important factor for me. So who knows what may or may not happen. The other thing I discovered is that I'd really like to explore the world of photography. There were so many moments and places I wished I had captured better. I was talking with a friend about my new found hobby and learned she has an interest in it as well! So, we're gonna look into taking an introductory photography class to learn more about it, save up for a camera and enjoy our new hobby. :) I'm excited!!