catching up

Straddling the state line. This pretty much sums up our last few months. We have been on the road, soaking up this time with our families and so many we love, sharing about life and work in Bangkok, doing home life and school. The pace has been intense, and full of so many good things! Any attempt to catch up here will be in vain, so I think I'll do just a brief flyover for posterity's sake.

We had the chance to visit our dear cousins in India on the way home to the States this summer. We had an incredible time enjoying them and enjoying the little bit of this country we were able to experience. A few glimpses of that...





Em celebrated her birthday in 3 different countries this year, and had the fun of celebrating with her cousin in India!

On to the U.S....

just a bit of summer- my very favorite picture from the lake in NC

Celebrating our birthday boy as September rolled around...

We had a party filled with family and friends just after his big day, and spent his actual birthday indulging in a bit of culture at an art museum followed by a visit to one of Atlanta's finest eateries...

Travels have taken us to Washington, D.C., where it poured rain the majority of our stay but we managed to wring ourselves out and see lots of great things, anyway...


Then on to visit dear friends in Virginia, which just blows you away with its loveliness...

Fall has seen little ones jumping into some new endeavors...


And most recently, Mountain Day at Berry, which was lovely and slightly chilly and warm with old friends. Our oldest children expressed their desire to go to Berry, and Asa expressed it perfectly, "Mountain Day is the funnest!"

We began a new tradition this year- a Mountain Day hymn sing after the main festivities; I don't think it gets much better than old hymns and good friends, a guitar, a banjo and a fire...



And that's that. These past months have been full of good gifts, and we are grateful. And the cold weather's coming! And the holidays!

One Down

We began our home schooling endeavors today. I'm happy to report that these bright faces stayed bright all morning long, and my favorite comment of the day was, "This is the most fun school ever!" I'm well aware that we're experiencing initial excitement and that the shine will inevitably dim to some degree, but today was an unequivocal success, and for that we are thankful.




As an aside, isn't the alphabet wall amazingly fun? A lot of dear hands made those letters prior to our arrival, and they make an excellent backdrop for a school/play room!

saturday play

Just a walk down the city street to the woods...we love Atlanta...

Our resident artist is busy beaver-ing, building...

...a dam (and uncovering a cottonmouth snake in the process!)

Loving the gift of being outside together. And coming back inside to central air conditioning. Wow.

And our littlest man is all concentration as he throws his very first pot- it's good to have hands in clay again!

summer

It's summer in Georgia. And we have the wrinkly pool fingers and popsicle stains to prove it. We're settling in well here, feeling at home. It's a time of deep feeling for us, of settling, enjoying, gratitude. We departed Thailand one month ago today, and I am amazed to think of all that month has held. Good, good time with all of our family. Moving to our Atlanta house, which was beautifully and lovingly prepared by able hands to be a home for us. The fun and big wow! of Vacation Bible School for Em and Asa. Enjoying this amazing piece of wizardry known as the dishwasher (you know all of that effort expended three times a day? It takes care of it all overnight!) Friends- the joy of our loved ones here. And before that, India! But I think that will have to have its own little spotlight, as the sheer volume of content would turn all away in exhaustion, I think. So, to catch up a bit...

We had a sweet send off from our church in Thailand; although we'll return, we'll be moving to a new place and a new work, so this was a bittersweet time for us and for our faithful team leader's family, who also departed for the U.S. in June. Our friend Ling did a beautiful dance for us...


And one last lunch at the market- our little man with his little buddy who is just about the same age.

A loving welcome at the airport

bedtime stories with big sister

Enjoying the company of loved ones...





The 4th of July was all I had hoped it would be. I dearly love this holiday and had greatly anticipated spending it in Georgia again. We started the day with a 10k 'Peach Stand Road Race' through Locust Grove, which echoes Atlanta's famous Peachtree Road Race, without the crowd and with the nostalgia of the Gardner Farms peach stand. Then we moved on to a day of family and food- we boiled peanuts and fried pickles and made peach ice cream and pie- and that was all before the cookout and fireworks in the evening. Hence the need for the run.

shucks

Second

My favorite little girl finished second grade today. We rejoiced in celebrating her all day long. We had a purple cupcake party for summer birthdays, said LOTS of goodbyes to people at school we love, had lunch with friends, went for a swim with other friends, and now we are tired and most of us are sleeping. A few pictures from today...








Oh my goodness we have a third grader!