An Anniversary and 3 States in 3 Days

Blog Post About July 2021

After the trips to see grandparents, we returned to our Texas base for two days before moving on. 

While there, on the morning of my 25th anniversary, I headed over to a friend's house. 

When my time with my friend was coming to a close, I got a message from Doug (late at night back in the Middle East) saying that I should go to a certain parking lot in the city where I was.

I texted him when I got there, and he told me to go to James Avery and pick up an order for Doug Taylor.

When I went in, there were two pairs of silver earrings for me to pick up, bought and paid for.

Happy Silver Anniversary to us!

That night, Doug also had three friends take me out to dinner. 

It was fun, but it would have been a lot more fun if Doug had been there.

Thanks Doug!

The day after our anniversary, Keira and I flew to Nashville. 

The first airport we went to cancelled our flight because of lightening. A sweet friend picked us up and drove us an hour and a half to another airport so we could catch another flight. We were constantly blessed by amazing friends!

We arrived late at night, but Kylie was still happy to come get us.

The next day, we looked at some possible houses for Kylie to move into, and then when Kylie had classes, Keira and I did a little sightseeing at the Opryland Hotel and Mall.

Covid made it kind of empty

A large Hungry Hippos game

Riding a ride with a new friend.

When Kylie got out of class at 5pm, we headed to Jackson, Mississippi, with a 6 hour drive in front of us!

The next morning, in Mississippi, Kylie had a follow up appointment with the doctor that did surgery on her knee. Later that night, we went to see Karis dance in her first ballet performance of the summer (she's in the front row, on the right)

Again, kneeling in the front, right.

It was good for all of us girls to be together.

Karis always has a good time at dance camp. 

This year, she stayed for four weeks with a fun roommate.

So many girls got Covid, and many were sent home, but thankfully, Karis made it all summer without being sent home.

Timon and Pumba at camp, ready to do some calisthenics.

Independence and a Zoo, Too

Blog Post About June 2021

The day we arrived back at our base, some of my sweet friends had planned a dinner party for me. These ladies still connect with me every other week over zoom to study the Word together.

One funny thing about that night is that I was having trouble finding out why one of my flights had been cancelled, and before the party I had been on hold with United for TWO HOURS and FIFTEEN MINUTES!  

I really do not like United, but that's a discussion for another day. 

When one of my friends saw me and hugged me, her cheek hit my earbud and disconnected my call. It was actually a blessing because it allowed me to enjoy my friends and stop being concerned with my flight for a little while.

The next day, I got a ride to meet my parents an hour away because they were bringing me a car to use for the rest of my time in America. Some sweet friends had already let me use their car for the first week I was in the States.

Two days later, we took off for Mississippi with Karis driving the whole seven hours.

The next day, we checked her into dance camp where she would stay for the next four weeks, and after one more night of sleep, we headed to a river camp with some friends to spend the Fourth of July. 

We had the best time!

Kylie had a week off as well, and she went to Ohio see a friend she had met at ballet camp years earlier.

Keira and I drove back to Texas to my parents' house on the 5th of July, but instead of taking us 7 hours, it took TEN.  Traffic and weather slowed us down considerably.  It's a good thing Keira is such a good traveler.  She talked to me the WHOLE ten hours ;)

We spent three nights with my parents again, and then headed to Doug's parents for three more nights with them. On the 9th, the weather was amazing, and we decided to go to the zoo.  

Keira has "Kenya" on her birth certificate, but she never got to experience the beauty of the wildlife there because she was so young when we left, so she was soaking it in (AND we got to see the big 5).

The giraffe with her giraffe shirt.

Happy birthday to Caleb today!

 

Life is a Highway

Blog Post about Summer 2020

The house where we stayed while we were in America was a little removed from city life, and we loved it. I don't know if Keira missed all the busyness of the city or what, but a couple of times I saw her perched on the fence at the end of the driveway either reading a book or looking like she was waiting for visitors.

Back in July, when we arrived back in America, Kylie took a trip to Florida to see some ballet friends, and while she was gone, Doug did some car shopping.

On July 8th, we bought her a car, but she didn't see it until July 25th when we arrived back in Texas, and then she had to learn how to get in it with her leg brace.  She had four days to figure out how to get in comfortably because we had already scheduled her driving test before we knew about her surgery. 

In case you didn't know, it was difficult for many people trying to get driver's licenses or car tags during the early days of Covid. DMV offices were sometimes booked two months in advance!

On Monday, July 27th, Kylie started physical therapy back in Texas.

On Tuesday, July 28th, we drove to my hometown to see some of my side of the family, and then

On Wednesday, July 29th, Kylie took her driving test and Karis got her driving permit!

Another thing we try to squeeze in when we go to America is haircuts.

The first night we arrived (the 28th), we stayed outside and social distanced. We (my family and my brother's family) were also all staying at hotels or guest houses to make sure we were Covid-safe.

My sister and her family couldn't come in because the numbers in Texas were a little too scary at the time, but we surely missed having them there; however, we were finally reunited with Caleb after he had spent one month in Dallas with his cousins.

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One thing that happens when you live overseas is that sometimes you order things that you want but that can't be or you don't want shipped overseas. That was the case with Caleb.

He had saved his money and bought a specially designed light saber, but he didn't get to see it for over six months until we got to Texas. His cousin already had one and they had grand battles planned together.

While we were at my parents' house, these boys wrote, filmed, and edited a small movie about Siths and the Dark Side. We were all pretty impressed. These are some still-shots from the video.

We also sat around while my brother read us a funny story. It took him forever to get through it because he kept cracking himself up, and I think all of us ended up crying we were laughing so hard. 

We were missing three cousins, but for the seven present, these birth order heights seem to have changed a bit over the last couple of years.

July 30, 2020

Unfortunately, we couldn't stay with my family long, because Kylie had physical therapy on the 31st, so we had to get back.