Catching up...

(I have been working on this post for several days now....so happy to finish it....such great memories!)

It has been so long since I last posted. There are several reasons for that:
1. We were so busy this summer with several, amazing volunteer teams
2. We have been traveling in America for the past two months and spent a lot of time visiting with family and friends and much less time on the internet
3. There has been so much going on in my mind and heart that it has been hard to process it all and put it into words. I am going to attempt to put some of my thoughts into words and catch you up on the last few months.

It is 9 pm in Nepal and we just arrived here in our apartment about 5 hours ago. I am tired from jet-lag (and should go to sleep) but again my mind is racing. It feels really great to be back here and I know this is where we are supposed to be but I have to admit that I am really missing my family and friends in America already. What an absolute blessing we had being able to spend 2 solid months of quality time with family and friends. I definitely don't take it for granted. Throughout our two months we spent one month in AR with Ryan's family and one month in CT with my family. We didn't just stay in those 2 states though. We also went to AL and TN while we were with Ryan's parents and we went to Disney, the beach in Tampa and NC with my family. I honestly don't think we could have packed more into the two months than we did. God gave us such grace and so many good gifts. We did more in 2 months with our extended families than many families do in a year....we have been blessed and it is important for me to remember that as my heart is heavy and we adjust to life back in Nepal so far away from those we love.
Here is a little glimpse into some of the things we were able to do these past 2 months:
- Spend good, quality time with people we love so dearly and long to share life with

- Had some wonderful conversations with our family and friends
- Visit with almost all of our grandparents (we would have loved to see you Mamma)

- Visit with some of our best friends

- Spend good, quality time with our parents and brothers and their families

- Spent good quality time with our nieces

- Get an AR drivers license (and pass the written exam) and driving (not to mention going to AR for the first time ever!)
- Shop and shop some more! (I don't have pictures of this one but I do have the bills to prove it!)
- Went to the very first Wal-mart store (have pictures but can't get them to load)
- Roadtrips to Florida, Tennesse and Alabama (which were long but we truly enjoyed them!)
- Eat at some of our very favorite restaurants; (Moes, 5 Guys, Cracker Barrell, Chic-fil-a....)

- Go on walks and runs in the woods and neighborhoods surrounding our parents homes

- Ryan got to go fishing, golfing and four wheeling

- Explore caves with our family

- Bootcamp exercise class with my sister-in-law (this was not taken at bootcamp...that wouldn't have been a pretty picture...it was SO hard!)

- Go to a neat little mountain town in the Ozarks

- Go to an old barn, fly fish, eat good southern food

- Go to the best petting zoo and drive thru safari EVER (got to pet kangaroos, pigs, etc.)

- Have a photo shoot with a professional photographer

- Watch American sports (football and baseball), including some of the World Series!
- Watch HGTV and FOOD networks shows (and got hooked on Storage Wars)
- Speak at several churches and small groups (and was blown away by all of the people who are praying for us and the people we work with!)
- Disney and Hollywood Studios

- Swim at the beach and play in the sand

- Pick out pumpkins and hayrides at the pumpkin patch

- Large dinner and lunch with my extended family (aunts, uncles and grandmother)

- Carve pumpkins (well actually "Papa" (my dad) carved them with K and G and we had fun watching and cooking pumpkin seeds.

- Have a snow day in October, built snowmen and went sledding

- Trick or treating

- Go to NYC and to spend the day with Tibetan people there

- Date nights/days while grandparents watch Keane and Gracie

- Keane and Gracie got to go to Chucke Cheese's and the aquarium

- Shop at a beautiful Christmas shop with my mom and "pretend" we were together for Christmas (wish I had a picture but I don't)
- See fireworks

- Celebrate Scott's (Ryan's brother) 35th birthday and Keane and Gracie's 3 year 8 months and 11 days birthday with cake, singing and candles

- And many more amazing things......

Of course there were still other things we would have loved to do, other people that we love that we didn't get a chance to see but ultimately we are just SOOOOO thankful for the amazing time we did have and all of the many, many blessings along the way. It will probably be another year and a half before we are in the states again and these memories will be precious treasures until we are there again!