Thankful Thursday, for Weeks 32 (somehow missed, and I just noticed!), 74 , 75, 79, and 80

There has been so much going on lately!!!! After Andrew and Tori's birthdays, three days apart, we spent the day after Tori's special day cleaning the car, packing for our trip to see family, and listing our items for the Hidden Treasures auction. The next day, everybody but Daddy headed for SC. Daddy had a business meeting (our reason for leaving for a week, haha), so he was staying home until he flew to TN the next Sunday. We were in SC for a week, got to visit some friends, and all our family in the area. Aunt Donna took us to Chuck E. Cheese (a first for the youngest three), we spent an afternoon at Gramma's, an afternoon at Granny's, and stayed with Mommy's family (got in some geo-caching, too ;)!).

We got back Thursday night (as did Daddy), and the next day Andrew, Abbi, and Peter fell down with the stomach virus that Bethi apparently had on Wednesday, that we thought was just due to breakfast not settling well with her stomach, apparently not :(. They are doing "better" now, but last night was, umm... "fun", to say the least ;), and they are still feeling fairly under the weather. To top it all off, Tori caught it this afternoon, and Emmi took the blow during supper tonight :(.. I'm dreadfully behind in my bible reading, but catching up better than I expected to, for which I am thankful, and hopefully next week will start to settle down. Haha! Busyness, busyness, which is why I have probably appeared to have vanished for a time!... But most of it has been fun :). Not so much the sickness, but I'm so glad it appears to be short lived.

Now, I was really here to work on Thankful Thursdays, remember ;)?! So, these first few are ones that I wrote down but never posted early last month...

Early last month, I was especially thankful for ...

~Hearing from friends whom I hadn't heard from since we moved :).
~New outfits in the attic for growing people.
~And Emmi's love to "match" me.
~The flower centerpieces that Miss Doris gave Tori and I several years ago.
~Time to read to the little ones.
~Our new Skype account, that I used to talk to a dear friend in NE... that was such a blessing!
~That plans are coming together well for a bible study that a friend and I are trying to coordinate with several other friends :). 
~My family's showering me with love, they put so much time and thought into making my birthday special :)...
~Watching a distant lightning show with Daddy while walking some of the trails around our house :).
~Photography lessons :).
~Yummy brownies! Tori made them for my birthday, and then told me "You know, that was the first time I've ever made brownies from a mix. I've always made them from scratch...". Is she talented, or what ;)?!
~The deer we saw in the thin strip of woods in between our house and the house behind us. That was neat :).
~Free video downloads from Answers in Genesis
~Dish soap.
~Paisley print... Tori ;)...
~The book, "A is for Almighty" that Bethi is writing... so precious :)...
~Bethi's love to help with Peter :).
And here are some thankful thoughts for the past two weeks, with some extra stuck in to make up for missing week thirty-two (?), somehow, and just finding out when I made my Thankful Thursdays page a couple weeks ago...

~Andrew, who is now 7!
~Tori, who is now 12!
~That Tori and Mommy finished their Bible reading plan right on time :).
~Tori's current enjoyment of the "Lord of the Ring" books.
~The cute little "yarn" rock Tori and Daddy got me while at the rock shop celebrating Tori's birthday :). I'll try to remember to get a picture...
~Peter's new clothes (that make him look like such a big boy :( :)!).
~Sitting beside a sweet Peter in the car on our trip to SC to visit family :).
~Coffee treats :).
~Memories brought back from a cd, haha :).
~Laundry baskets.
~Suit cases, pillows, and blankets.
~That we only left two hours later than we had hoped the day we left for SC ;). Not bad for us!
~Coolers.
~Special Twizzler snacks on the road- of course ;)! Tradition, tradition!
 ~My brown sandals.
~Time to crochet in the car.
~Hymns playing in the car.
~Abbi's excitement at finding a watch while geo-caching :). 
~"Stonehenge"- the geo-cache, that is ;)!
~(And that nobody was hurt by the ax head holding it up.. ahem... no details, to protect the guilty ;)! But we were laughing about that for hours!)
~Little ones excitement over using glitter :).
~A table full of art.
~Fold out chairs.
~Potato chips.
~Bethi's new "horsie" bank.
~And Tori's new journal.
~Little boys matching Grandpa.
~Laughing with my family. :)!
~Aunt Donna's generosity and love. When she took everybody to Chuck E. Cheese for a joint birthday party, we had a blast (and maybe just a bit too much cake ;).) :)! 600 tokens and five hours... ya, we were tired by the time we were done, but it was fun :).
~Gramma's surprising us by being there, as well :).
~Note cards from Granny.
~Peter's enjoyment playing ball :).
~Visits with old friends.
~And their offer to check on the house for us so that we don't have to :), so sweet!
~Two more girls joining our plan to read through Mark.
~And words of encouragement.
~Frog tanks.
~Fish.
~Visits with family.
~Basket balls (that, incidentally, we have next to no clue how to use... but that just makes it more fun, ya know? ;)!)
~Emmi's baby doll, Melody.
~The "popcorn bowl" that Mommy grew up with, now ours :).
~Crushed ice.
~Time spent visiting Granny.
~Risa, our old kitty cat (but now Aunt Tessa's- but living with Grandpa and Grandma. have fun figuring that one out,. heeheehee ;)!), and Peter's love for "kikkies" :).
~Peter's speech explosion last week!
~Little ones piled on me as I read to them.
~Octopus claws.
~Wall decorations.
~Lollipops enjoyed on the road.
~Being able to go back to SC,
~And yet knowing that the Lord has a plan for us here.
~That Chad's auction went well- next we're helping bring home Tony :)!
~Emails and letters to be answered.
~My special coffee cup.
~That Miss Maureen was able to visit Penny and Julie this week :)...
~And that we saw a picture of Penny wearing BETHI'S hair things from the Hidden Treasures auction :)!!!! Bethi is so excited! (And so am I for that matter... haha :). Penny is a doll, and I helped a bit making the hair clips... My Aunt Tessa may find this very exciting, as well, as she showed us how to make them :)!)
~The slight color changes of the trees.
~And the leaves in the yard.
~Cooler weather.
~And long sleeves.
~Little ones helping in the kitchen..
~And snitching chocolate together while we bake ;). Chef's honors ;)!
~A "Kings Blooming Rose" magazine, waiting to be read :). (As soon as I catch up in my bible reading!)
~That BRENDON HAS A FAMILY!!! :)!
~And that it sounds like another little one has a family coming for her, as well :)!!!
~Reading through a couple of Thankful Thursday posts Thursday night, realizing again how important they are in my life :)!
~A love for writing.
~A pen that writes smoothly across a page of paper.
~Pictures to capture memories.
~Extra camera batteries.
~Efficient pencil sharpeners.
~New puzzles.
~Little people all over the house :).
~Cleaners and rags,
~Towels and soap,
~And that so far most of the older ones (except poor Tori :(.) haven't gotten sick, as we are taking care of several little ones who are feeling awful, poor things :(. 
~Emmi's little hand in mine.
~Peter's big brown eyes.
~And that his hair is growing longer again after Daddy chopped it, hahaha :).
~The new Answers magazine we got today.
~Leftover meals.
~That the extra fridge is plugged in again!Now we can start shopping for more than three days at a time ;)!
~Chubby baby hands rubbing tired eyes :)...
~To be writing a Thankful Thursday again-
~And to have so much to be thankful for :).
~All the rejoicing verses in Psalms...
~Especially in my favorite chapter...

Praise the Lord!

for it is good to sing praises to our God;

for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.

2 The Lord builds up Jerusalem;

he gathers the outcasts of Israel.

3 He heals the brokenhearted

and binds up their wounds.

4 He determines the number of the stars;

he gives to all of them their names.

5 Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;

his understanding is beyond measure.

6 The Lord lifts up the humble;

he casts the wicked to the ground.

7 Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;

make melody to our God on the lyre!

8 He covers the heavens with clouds;

he prepares rain for the earth;

he makes grass grow on the hills.

9 He gives to the beasts their food,

and to the young ravens that cry.

10 His delight is not in the strength of the horse,

nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,

11 but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,

in those who hope in his steadfast love.

12 Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem!

Praise your God, O Zion!

13 For he strengthens the bars of your gates;

he blesses your children within you.

14 He makes peace in your borders;

he fills you with the finest of the wheat.

15 He sends out his command to the earth;

his word runs swiftly.

16 He gives snow like wool;

he scatters frost like ashes.

17 He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs;

who can stand before his cold?

18 He sends out his word, and melts them;

he makes his wind blow and the waters flow.

19 He declares his word to Jacob,

his statutes and rules to Israel.

20 He has not dealt thus with any other nation;

they do not know his rules.

Praise the Lord!

                                                   ~Psalm 147 

And now, I shall be going. We're not sure what this night is going to hold, it could be worse than last night, but we're hoping for better! We'll see! I'll try to write about our trip as soon as possible, it will just depend on how quickly everybody recovers, and if I catch the illness, haha :). Goodnight!

Nearing the End of the Journey...

We woke up on the third, delighted to hear that our furniture was, indeed, going to be delivered that day! The driver had even called and said that he just needed the last directions to our house before he got there :)! We were so excited to be getting ready to leave and see the house filled up with the stuff that would make it "our" home!!! Unfortunately, several of us had obviously come down with colds, so things went rather slowly getting ready to get to the house, although we were all living in denial for the first couple hours. It is like everybody assumed that if they said something about it, there was no stopping it, because you could tell everybody was miserable (except Daddy, he never gets sick! Okay, well, rarely ever ;).), but nobody said anything until Andrew stated his throat hurt. After that, nobody seemed afraid to complain about anything, haha ;).

Daddy took Tori and the little girls to the house so he could be there so that the unloading process could start, while Mommy took the rest of us to the store to get some breakfast items. Amidst Andrew's falling over in the store, and accidentally supplying a group of ants some banana for breakfast, we were able to get all that we needed, and headed for the house :)! Tori had the little girls already on the swing set :). Andrew and Bethi quickly joined them, while Mommy and I started to try to make breakfast, which couldn't be fixed fast enough for Emmi, who was in a grumpy mood due to needing food, and is slightly possessive over the swing set, haha ;).

We got breakfast plates made, and sat the little ones down on a sheet to have picnic breakfast, inside ;). Daddy worked on making the first pot of coffee in our new house. You know it wouldn't take him long ;). Tori enjoyed some to celebrate being so close to moved in (after being assured that just one cup would not stunt her growth significantly. She has a self-imposed rule that she will not, repeat, will not, drink coffee regularly until she is at least half an inch taller than me ;)...).

After breakfast, we cleaned out the big fifteen passenger van, and Daddy's smaller van. Daddy's van seems really big after his old van, but the fifteen passenger van is still the hands-on winner in size without a shadow of a doubt! We call it "Van-illa", a mix of "Van" and "Godzilla", heeheehee! We ended up replacing the back seat in Van-illa (which we had thought to take out of the car before the moving van left our SC house, thank the Lord! We could never have fit everything in with it!), and piling several boxes of items that became unpacked and never repacked during the trip, in the living room before collapsing on the couch determining  to sort through and put it away later ;). Daddy was able to help a bit with moving boxes into the house from the truck, but the rest of us pretty much just kept babies occupied. Tori finished her Rubik's cube, totally flabbergasting one of the men helping unload the furniture :)! It was so funny :). 

They were done unloading early in the afternoon, and we set to work getting a few small things done. Nothing much happened the rest of the day... we took care of some house stuff, had supper. and flopped at the end of the day ;).

The next morning, Daddy had to get back to work, and the rest of us were making headway to get out of the hotel for the last time! We were so excited :)! I checked Facebook while Mommy and Tori took some of the bags down to the car, and was shocked to find many "Happy Fourth" posts, heeheehee. I got so lost as to what date it was during the move! It was kind of funny :).

We stopped at the grocery store on our way, and we also stopped to see Daddy at his store for the first time since moving :). Then we were on our way home.

We set up the beds and washed loads and loads of clothes, before making the aforementioned beds with freshly washed sheets :). We completed some more cleaning, and some of the little ones accomplished some much needed activities...

 Like sleep...

 ...more sleep...

 ...and helping clean :P.

The house needed such a cleaning before we settled! There was - no kidding- dog hair in the oven door. Just a wee bit disturbing. Haha!

Since then, we have been settling into our new life here in Virginia. We recovered from our colds, got the house cleaned, and got most of the big unpacking projects done. Mommy found out that she was expecting baby blessing number eight, little Seaweed :)!!! Miss Kathy at Daddy's store blessed us with a couple of meals, and all of his employees got together and blessed us with a welcome basket. Tori threw a big tea party that she invited me to (took six hours if you count cooking, cleaning, and enjoying- now that is dedication for you ;)!), that was absolutely beautiful. We took the little ones to Daddy's store for his store's "Kid's Day" one day, and have stopped various other times while out and about, we have greatly enjoyed being able to do that again!!! The neighbor on one side of us helped us get our lawn mower put together, the ones on the other side just moved in like us, and the lady from across the the street blessed us with some fresh corn :). Daddy has been taking us to the church that he has been attending for the past several months, and the people there have really welcomed us :). I was able to make and sell a couple of crocheted kittens, which, although they didn't get to their destination when we had hoped, was a fun experience :). Our family was able to set up a ministry table at Daddy's store's 5th anniversary a couple weeks ago, that was a wonderful blessing! Daddy gets back from his meeting tonight, and we finished unpacking this week. 

I'm going to go help give the house one more thoroughly cleaning, and then we will be done with this moving adventure. It has been a long, sometimes stressful, process. But by tonight, we will be officially settled in "home", and together.

The Lord has richly blessed us.

And I am so thankful!!!

Sunday at Granny's, and Reaching Our New Home State!

We had stayed the night over in upper SC, because we were going to visit Daddy's family that day, since we had a couple days to spare before our furniture and boxes were delivered :)!

We were originally planning on surprising Granny, but after we woke up a little later than planned, we decided to call Granny and let her know we were on our way.

A few pictures from that morning...

 *Love* him!!!

 Traditional picture...

 This seat wasn't discovered until the 

last few minutes, yay! Haha ;).

 

 Pretty Tori :)...

We got there early that afternoon. After some lunch, Mommy and Tori went to the laundry mat to do some clothes (Cousin Mellisa invited us to use her washer and dryer, but with the fact that we had four large loads, we knew that it would be better to do all loads at once if we wanted to fold them before we left ;).), and Daddy and I shifted items in the van so that there would be no "dumpster diving" that night ;).

Gramma, after planning to be there, called us early that morning and told us she couldn't make it... and than showed up that afternoon, haha. I take it that Daddy isn't the only one in the family who likes to pull off surprises- and Aunt Donna knew about this one and said nothing to us, haha! Gramma brought with her some of the biggest stuffed animal pillows you have ever seen. They got good use in the car :). (And since then :)...)

These pillows...

We had a wonderful time visiting :). We shared some watermelon that a friend had blessed us with and we hadn't had time to cut yet, due to the move, and everybody enjoyed talking and playing outside :). We got to hear about the mission trip that Granny had just taken, getting back the day before, coming home just in time for our visit, haha :). We had to leave too soon for our liking, but knowing that we would have to give baths before bed, and be up at a decent time the next morning to get the keys to our new house, with a five+ hour drive ahead of us, we knew we needed to leave earlier than usual. But we did not leave without getting a few promises that, after we got settled, several members of the family would try to make it up here for a visit :).

Aunt Donna gave us each a little some thing 

out of her and Uncle Jerry's collection. 

Emmi loves her Goofy toy :).

Once we were "on the road", the greatest example of what the efficiency is like when you drive in two separate cars came into the story ;). We handed out a few trip treats before we left Granny's, sending Tori back and forth between the vans several times, haha. (Since she had helped Mommy do the shopping for those in Daddy's car, she wanted to see their reaction.) But then we found that we had forgotten to give those in Daddy's car their snacks, haha! We were able to hand those out when we stopped at a gas station so that Daddy could fill up the vans, per plan, although the trip to the restrooms that also occurred at this stop was NOT planned ;). We started again, but then we couldn't for the life of us find "the manila envelope" with "I can't tell you what" in it, which turned out to be in Daddy's car. So, we made yet another stop, just minutes after starting yet again, because Mommy all but refused to go any farther without finding it ;), because "It's Bri's main trip treat, and it's going to be dark before we stop again!", haha. I was thoroughly confused, haha! It turned out to be the book "Will Our Generation Speak?" (a wonderful book, by the way :)!!!). We finally left Blacksburg... A town that takes only five short minutes to drive through. As long as you don't stop to do five thousand "odd jobs" along the way. Haha :)!

But, as we were leaving Blacksburg, we realized that Bethi was also missing one of her trip treats. Thankfully, that was in our car, and quick to find, although not exactly easy with all that it was under ;).

 Mag-na-doodles :)!

 Some *very special friends* sent us a special gift

 to be opened during our trip up here :)...

 Chocolate kisses, to go with the hugs they 

gave us when we said goodbye :)...

And it was so funny... Daddy and Mommy went to go get some supper, and they ran in while I stayed with the little ones in Mommy's car, and Tori stayed with those in Daddy's. While we were sitting there, I heard this beeping... beeping... beeping... and it wouldn't stop! I couldn't figure out who's car it was. It was going off for the longest time! Finally, Daddy and Mommy made it to the car, and it became obvious that it had been Daddy's car! Tori wasn't sure how it had happened, but the car's panic alarm had gone off, and she didn't know how to turn it off! She was so funny, telling us about it later, because she said "And I could see the police car right across the parking lot, and I was just waiting for the police officer to come up and ask me why in the world the car was on panic, and I would have to tell him I didn't even know!"... Haha :)!

Most of the little ones fell asleep fairly quickly, even though they were excited to have some new items to play with. They wore themselves out at Granny's ;). Mommy and Daddy of course were driving, and I tried to read my book, but about every ten minutes, Tori would ask me "Bri, I can't figure this out. Would you figure it out and then teach me?", as she handed me her Rubik's cube, haha. I think her main goal was not to be a quitter, but to get my book, because that is what she did every time I put it down to figure out the next step of the cube ;). Finally it got too dark to read even using my book light, which gets fainter the longer it is on, haha, so I decided to just go to sleep along with the little ones ;). Tori decided that she would have none of it, she was going to stay up the whole way to Virginia! I'm not sure how long I slept before I was hit by a seat. I woke up rather suddenly, and very squished, I will say, haha. After piecing together what bits I could make out between Mommy and Tori's howls of laughter, it turns out that the only light Tori was getting to do her Rubik's cube was behind her, so Mommy told her to lay her seat back so that she wouldn't have to do gymnastics while doing her cube. But Tori but didn't know how to lay the seat down, so when it did finally go, it really went. After I woke up with it on top of me, Tori tried to sit it back up, but that went even worse than laying it down... worse as in, the movement was non-existent ;). I think I only sat that way for about 45 minutes... haha!

We finally got to the hotel in Virginia... and Tori, with very bloodshot eyes, made it awake the whole way, hahaha! Andrew's nap seemed to have given him some good energy for a little bit. We got in the elevator, most of us looking like we were about to fall over asleep, but Andrew felt the elevator start moving and decided to pretend he was scared, or something... He made several gasping, shrieking, yipping noises and started pretending to try to scale the elevator walls. Daddy's face while watching him was priceless. Hahaha! We finished unloading, did bathes, and got everybody generally ready for bed before crashing ;). We were all looking forward to getting to see our new house the next day :)...

Posting From Virgina...

Finally!

The sound of Canon being played on the piano is filling our new house, thanks to Tori. Peter is roaming the house trying to find something, I'm not sure what, but he seems a bit frantic for a toddler- I think it may be his mag-na-doodle pen, haha :). Bethi, Andrew, Abbi and Emmi are upstairs playing in all the new space we have. They have never experienced having two full floors before :) (plus, we still have the additional attic room that we had in the old house- this house is much bigger!). I'm here trying to give an update that covers the past two weeks as we take a short break from "setting up house", and I'm getting writer's block wondering where to start!

Hence, I am changing my writing tactics just a bit for the posts for our trip up here and the moving in process. I'm just going to give you a few details right now, and then over the next couple weeks (or months, lol... I'll do my best to do it quickly ;).), I'm going to take all the posts that I have stored in my head, all the half written posts that I have on paper, and all the pictures, and write them systematically out, and then post them when I am done. It will turn out better, I assure you :). Usually I would write each day out as a post and post it right away, but it has been so long since I updated, I want to make sure that I do each post justice (and fill it with enough laughs to satisfy one certain special Gramma's love to to hear about all the ridiculous moment's ;).). Anyway, now that you know what to expect....

The house is gorgeous, the yard is adorable, and the drive to our house is beautiful :)! We were packed on the 28th, and we were moved in on the 4th. Since then we have been cleaning (and cleaning...), and unpacking :). The swing set outside has already gotten a good bit of use, and the whole family is very eager to be eating homemade meals again ;). We have all the bathrooms, most of the girl's room, and about 3/4ths of the kitchen unpacked, and the dining room and both living rooms are close to done, as well :). Slowly, but still surely, "this house" is becoming "our home". It would be a lot faster if we hadn't woken up with a cold the day before we moved in. One or the other of us has been so sick all we wanted to do was take a nap, forget unpacking, everyday since then, but I think that today may be the turning point, we still have some congestion, but nobody seems wiped out today, yay!

I'll try to get back in a shorter time frame than this last time :). I have several Thankful Thursday posts that I am looking forward to writing :), several trip posts, daily life that will continue to happen.... but at the moment, I should be going :). Blessings!

Sharing A Little Bit From Our Weekend

We got out of the house last Friday late, not unusual for us, haha :). Partly because we were told that there would be another house showing the next day, and so we ended up doing our best to get it show-ready before we left. There actually ended up being two showings Saturday! That was really neat, we have never got two showings in one day before...

We got to Mommy's parents in the late afternoon, and had a great time catching up :).Aunt Tessa and Aunt Amber slept over at Grandpa and Grandma's, as well, that first night, and on into the next day. I'm sure Grandma was grateful for their help when we left all the little ones Bethi and down with her the next day ;). I know Andrew and Bethani enjoyed going with Aunt Amber to feed the ducks :).

The memorial service for Uncle Jerry was beautiful. Uncle Jerry, or Jericho, as I used to call him (and nobody will let me forget it, it stuck throughout the family ;).) will definitely be missed, but we know that he is waiting for us with the Lord. I think he became such a big part of our lives over the past two years, even though we lived about two hours away. I am thankful for that time with him :). There were some very thought provoking things shared, and it was very special to be able to be there to remember him that way, although it had it's share of tears.

After the service we went "home' (we always call Grandpa and Grandma's home while we're up there :).) to have lunch and pick up the little ones. We then headed for Aunt Donna's for the afternoon. Cousin Melissa had brought bubbles and balls, and ended up passing out popsicles, as well, the little ones were thrilled, although Andrew's favorite part was the tire swing, haha :). He loved that thing! Tori says that Parker also tried to teach him how to play checkers, I hear that was quite the cute and humorous story ;). Peter was adorable, he is usually quite the stinker when others want to hold him, he nestles into Mommy or I and won't even look at anybody else if they so much as touch him, heehee, but he actually went up to several people and asked to be picked up, it was amazing! There were several family members and friends who dropped by over the course of the day. I was told a dozen times that Tori was just about as tall as me (ya, she's catching up fast...), and asked almost as many times when I was going to drive (nope, no desire, haha!) ;). Just add that to trivia about me... I'm short, don't like the thought of driving, and don't care if that is known ;). We also went over to Aunt Donna's Sunday afternoon. Aunt Donna gave Bethi one of the elephants from Uncle Jerry's elephant collection. Bethi and Uncle Jerry shared a love for all things elephants, and Bethi told Mommy that she'll never look at an elephant without thinking of Uncle Jerry from now on. Aunt Donna heard that and knew Bethi would be blessed by one of his elephant figurines, a very special, thoughtful, gift :)! It was raining that second day, but it wasn't bad and the porch is covered, so we ended up out there a lot both days, I love a porch-full of loved ones, babies, and rocking chairs :)... bubbles don't hurt either, heehee... the bubbles where a big hit ;). We didn't take pictures, we either forgot our camera or didn't take the time to find it most of the time we were at both family's houses. I wish I had thought more about it while we were there, it may be awhile before we make it back after we get to VA, we're not sure how long it will take to settle down there. I am thankful for this time we had with both sides of the family though :)!

Monday morning we stayed at Grandpa and Grandma's, and Aunt Tessa was also there. I was beading some hairpins and got to listen in on quite the game of "Memory", haha! Aunt Tessa then asked me to show her how I was making the pins, but we didn't make it very far, haha :P. She blessed us with some beads she had, thanks Aunt Tessa :)!

That afternoon Grandpa took us geocaching. It had rained off and on all morning, we were afraid we wouldn't be able to make it, and with it being our last visit before we move, that was a sad thought! But the sun finally showed up, and we had a great time :)! We found three caches... it's always an adventure :). The first one was at a beautiful covered bridge, the last one in SC :). Grandma has told us about it for two years now, I wish I had brought my camera, it was as pretty as she said it was :). That cache was more difficult, Aunt Tessa finally found it :).

Aunt Amber was able to join us for supper, and when we left to head home we swung by our Aunts' new home. It is adorable, and very cozy :). The only bad part is they can't bring their cats, Grandma is stuck with those, heehee ;). Grandma says Penny (one of the cats) is awful... she did throw some fits while we were there, but on the whole she is really lovable. She is rather a cat after Abbi's own heart ;)... I won't mention what hour it was when we got home... I will say that Grandma, who is a very early riser, wasn't too far from from waking up when we finally got to sleep after baths and unpacking, haha... I feel bad for the rest of the family, I ended up crashing right before supper last night and being of absolutely no help to all the other sleepy family members, haha. I think I rather made things more difficult when I did wake up and try to help, heehee ;).

This trip was such a blessing :). It will most likely be the last one we take until we leave for VA here in a couple weeks... such a neat thought that we are actually going :). Although I am a person who hates change when it comes, I always see that the change was always for the better afterwards (which makes the next change just as difficult... haha!), so I am really excited to see what the Lord has in store for us :)!!! I am just so thankful that Daddy has finally found a house that the owners will rent to us even with seven children in our family, in fact, they were looking for someone who was a fellow believer, how special is that :)? I can't wait to see what it looks like, haha! It sounds like it is really large, and wonderful in many ways, and I am sure that we will see that these past few months have been worth the wait and lessons learned, and I am so thankful that this time is ending and we will be together again! O my soul, forget not HIS benefits :)...