Where in the world do I begin?

Ok, I spent 10 days in VA and don't have any pictures to show for it because #1. I had Sam's camera and he forgot to get all his barn pictures off his camera before I left and I didn't want to delete any. And #2, well, I just didn't have much time to take pictures. I did take some of Mom's yard to show Sam, but they've since been swallowed up in the abyss of Sam's art pictures, so there you have it.

But what a great visit home. I thought I could go and help Mom and Dad, but it always switches on me - and they did an amazing job of taking care of me!!! I suppose you never stop being a parent.... They are great though. Just got back from their cruise to Alaska and had a ball! Wish I could have been there. Mom is visiting the Dr. today with her choice on what she is doing for treatments... Her options: well, she can do chemo, radiation, and hormone therapy OR she can skip chemo and just do radiation and hormone therapy. She's just waiting to hear from one more genetic Dr. But she's doing great, she looks great and I know that she make just the right decision for her. Isn't it great that we serve such a great God and that He cares about us so much and He loves us so much??? He's really been teaching me a lot about that lately!

Well, my precious, precious friends from home threw me a baby shower when I was home and it was such a special time. Just all the special ladies in my life were there. I even got a huge surprise! Brenda Huggins (who was helping throw the shower) said that she saw an old friend in town today and told her to stop by if she got a chance and do you want to know who walked in???? My AUNT GAYLE!!!!! I haven't seen her in forever - she flew up just for the shower and it's so happened that we had a family reunion the next day - but how special is that??? So seriously, the Lord worked it out so that so many special people could be there. Another dear friend, Noreen, changed her family visit and drove all the way down from DC just to be there too - I could go on and on... Got to visit with my three best friends from high school - they came all the way from Texas, Lynchburg and Fredericksburg!!!! Let me tell you what - I am one special gal!

The next day we had our family reunion, where I got to see a bunch of family from the DC/FL area and also my cousins from AUSTRALIA! Look at me, people are coming from all over the world just to see me! (Well, maybe not exactly! But still....)

It was definitely hard not being able to see or even talk to Sam for those 10 days while he was in Guatemala, but it turns out that he had the best mission trip ever! He's got tons and tons of pictures to share - I'm not sure if you'll be able to see his pictures posted here because they are on his facebook, but if you can, Have a look at a little of the trip to Guatemala with Charity Youth! I can't wait to go myself sometime!!! To tell you the truth - I'm a little jealous - but everyone tells me that once the little guy Coleman arrives, all my sacrifices of the summer will have been worth it - I'm sure that's the case!But did you see these pictures?

Anyway, getting up to the pictorial journal of my life - Sam and I were reunited on August 5th - and made the big drive back from Minneapolis on the 6th only to find this....



And that's kind of weird, because we DON'T park our car like that in the driveway. We thought, what the heck was Johnny doing with our car? So then we got out of the van and walked AROUND the car to find this....



And guess what? We knew exactly who'd been to visit us! Let me tell you - it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see Erik, Bridget, Tiffany, and Brittany's hands all over this little project.... Please follow me as I take you on a little tour of the rest of our yard...



Oh, and I couldn't resist - how could you not love THIS waiting for you??? After 12 days, I think he thought we were just a dream that he wouldn't let himself believe...



Anyway, continuing on...



Even some new visitors made their way to our yard....





And finally, 340 plastic forks later....



Needless to say, we felt very cherished! How special are we?? Anyway, we have such a great group of kids and it was great to come home to see this - Shhh....I think we may turn it into a fundraiser - anyone out there willing to pay to have someone else's yard forked???? If so, let me know!

Well, I still have our next week left to blog about, but I'm not going to include it in this post for fear it will get too long! So I'll save this and start another one! Hope you enjoyed!!!!

Feeling loved in the Tundra,

Sarah