A Beautiful Welcome!

Jamie drove us to the home we would be staying in for the next 6 months, and it was such a sight for sore eyes! 

(Did you SEE Keira's eyes in the last post?)

We arrived around 1am, and I think we stayed up until 3:30am just looking around, unpacking, and taking it all in.

After that long flight, I was SO glad to see this bed!

June 24, 2020, 1am

A couple of fellowships and some friends chipped in to make our stay so enjoyable!

Keira opened her closet and found new toys all for her.

That morning, when the sun came up, we were able to see the backyard, and I have no words to tell you what all of the grass and trees did for our souls.

June 24, 2020, 9am

It was good to be here, but we were still waiting on the rest of our family, and we knew we were not complete yet.

As a matter of fact, our luggage wasn't complete either.  That must have been a rough flight on everyone and everything.

One suitcase arrived with only ONE wheel, and another was missing TWO!

Covid affected our stay in America, as expected. There were some people we couldn't see. There were some people who didn't feel comfortable seeing us. And all-in-all, it was kind of weird.  But you know all of that, because you experience the same thing, right?

Back in April, when we were quarantining, numbers looked small for our country.

April 13, 2020

But the day we landed in America, the numbers looked different back where the rest of our family was.

June 24, 2020

The numbers were so small compared to America's, but the fear was very real for a lot of people, and it actually still is. The fear of death has paralyzed a lot of people, and they still aren't traveling outside of their homes much. Here it is, a year later, and our numbers are up again. We were put on a "restricted" list August 8, 2020, which means other countries do not want citizens traveling out of this country coming their way.

Hasten the day...

(Shout out to Kylie who turned 19 yesterday!!)

Acceptance Letter

Kylie's college acceptance letter came in November.

The trick is that the letter was mailed to my parents' house, and so my dad scanned it and forwarded it to us by email.

What I didn't know is that he also forwarded it to Kylie.

Nevertheless, Doug and I wanted to make a big deal out of it, so we sealed it in a beautifully scripted envelope (writing creds to Karis), and we told the kids we were going out for a special lunch (Keira was at school).

We took them to a fancy steak house, and they kept asking, "What's up?"  

(Note: There is actually a "gold" menu in this restaurant where you can get your steak, coffee, dessert, etc. covered in edible gold. Don't worry, we didn't try it, but a few of us did try some of their beef.  Good, but nothing compared to Doug's steaks or those I've had in America.)

Back to Kylie.  We gave her the letter, and of course she had seen it already, but we still wanted to make the day memorable for her.

Ta-da!!💗

Since everyone was looking so cute, when we got home, we decided to have a small, silly photo shoot.

It started small.

And got sillier and sillier.

I convinced Caleb to jump in,

and then he got silly.

After the "smolder," I knew it wasn't going to get any better than that, and I love it!

Kylie calls this one: Dreamy, Smolder, and "Fashun"

November 6, 2019

Texas and More

I had the opportunity to take the girls back this summer so they could attend ballet camp in Mississippi again.  This camp is so instrumental to their spiritual life and dancing skills, so we try to make it a priority for them to be able to attend. 

This year, we went a month ahead of time so Kylie and I could visit colleges.  

But first, "Hamilton."

Kylie had a doctor's appointment for her knee in Austin, so we took advantage of the fact, and ordered tickets for the musical we had all been dying to see for quite some time.

June 9, 2019

We educated my mother on the musical on the ride there.  It was nice to share this experience with her.

Second need, a driving permit.

Kylie had completed the necessary hours online to apply for a permit, so off we headed to the county seat.

And wouldn't you know it, Texas had a gift waiting for us beside the road in true Texas fashion.

The rest of the ride was beautiful, though.

Mission Accomplished!

 June 11, 2019

Next, Karis reunited with her oldest friend and stayed with her for a few weeks while Kylie and I visited campuses.

June 13, 2019 

 June 14, 2019

Kylie and I headed off through northeast Texas, across Arkansas, and on to Nashville, with Kylie driving!

In Nashville, we stayed with a friend we met at our training 10 years ago preparing to go to Africa.

Since Kylie has decided to go to school in Nashville, it makes me happy to know our friend is there if Kylie needs anything.

After touring the school in Tennessee, we traveled ALL the next day back to Flower Mound to stay with my brother and sister-in-law for one night before touring North Texas (my sister-in-law's alma mater) the next day.

After one more night, we traveled to West Texas, where we were met with this stunning sunset driving into Canyon, Texas.

The next morning, they were expecting us for our tour.

After the tour, we headed down to Waco where Karis met us, and we spent a couple of nights with Doug's parents.


Then, we drove back to my hometown for two nights.

The girls finishing an afternoon run/stroll.

Seeing friends one last time.

Seeing some cousins one last time.

Then back to the airport so the girls could fly to Mississippi for ballet camp.



I stayed with my parents four more days before heading back over to the Middle East.

It was the fastest month of my life!