Tiger Lily

So this happened upon our return from Annual Conference! 

One of Eva's classmates announced surprise kittens on June 3rd, and all four of the kittens were ''adopted'' by classmates within a day!!!  We were thrilled to receive one once she was old enough to be ours.  The kids named her Tiger Lily.

Eva found the following picture in my childhood family album and was so excited that I also had a kitten like Tiger Lily!

GEM Annual Conference 2020

GEM's Annual Conference (AC) this year had to be held virtually.  The AC team did a great job putting together something with flexibility and intentionality.  Our family really really really missed being with friends.  That was really hard to give up.  And I personally really missed the experience of having others grocery shop, cook and clean for me!  Haha!

We as a family tried to make the most of the five days and decided to drive to the mountains for a more retreat-like experience.  We had amazing family hikes, enjoyed some intentional time in nature to experience God in a different place, ate an amazing meal out one day, and played a lot together.  The weather was warm the day we arrived but really chilly and rainy the rest of the time.  Not ideal, but we still had some fun and lots of silliness.  And we had lots of opportunities to talk about walking in disappointments.

15 Years!

Gregory and I went out for steak for our 15 year anniversary!  It was such a blessing that the one week this summer during which the kids had a summer program was our anniversary week!  We took advantage of the opportunity to celebrate with a big lunch one day.  It was special to have that time together.  Kid-free time has been almost non-existent since March 13th!

We actually did something big for our 15th anniversary this year.  Luckily we did it in February, not knowing how timely that would actually be!  My parents took care of our kids for five days, and we flew to Spain for some time to decompress on the beach and meet with some incredible missionaries who put together an individualized marriage retreat for us.  It was wonderful to have that intentional time together.  What a gift!

7th Birthday Party, Take Two

You may recall that Eva's birthday party in June had to be cancelled when she woke with a fever in the middle of the night.  She simply couldn't handle the excitement, sweet girl.  Well, we managed to pull together a last minute party for her at the end of July when we realized all of her friends were available on the same afternoon!  So, Sunday night, we decided to throw her a party on Monday!  How is that for spontaneous?!  Eva awoke Monday morning to a birthday cake on the counter, decorations, and the news that we were throwing her a party!  What a special time it was to celebrate Eva and play with classmates!

It was also nice to have leftover cake the next day!

Vacation in Austria

Last year we decided to try something different for our annual family vacation this year, and we booked an extended week on a farm and horse ranch in Corinthia, Austria.  We normally go to Turkey to the beach for a week.  Last summer we missed out on that trip in needing to go to the States for a few weeks.  Little did we know how timely this Austria vacation would be in the midst of a global pandemic and restricted travel.  Our only travel difficulty was upon picking up the rental car, arriving at the rental car office to a notice on the door that the branch was closed due to Corona.  A little bit of stress and some phone calls later, we had a rental car and got on the road only a couple hours later than expected.

We have so many amazing pictures, and the pictures do not even due justice to the beauty of nature, the incredible time together as a family both relaxing and engaging in activities, the new friends made, the delicious food, the enjoyment of new and known sports, the new discoveries, etc.

We are so thankful to God for the wisdom we received during training ten years ago, in which they encouraged and pleaded with us to prioritize an annual family vacation, to save for it every year, to book it early so it doesn't get put off and then cancelled, etc.  We are grateful to God that He led us to book in Austria for this summer!

We shed tears when it was time to say goodbye and drive away.  We are all four talking about when we can go back next year!