Recap of the last few weeks...

Well, I am sorry not to have posted in a while. We have been busy at times, climbing the walls at others. I took the kids to Arkansas and we had a great trip. Cristy summarized it well on her blog - http://thefarleyfamily.blogspot.com/2007/07/castleman-time-last-tuesday-one-of-anna.html - so you can check hers out - she even got pictures posted. The drive was long but manageable. We only stopped 3 times in the 11 hours going there, if you count the FOUR service stations I went into at the same exit in Atlanta, trying to find a bathroom that wasn't out of order, as one stop. After the first 3 hours, which were the longest, I think the kids resigned themselves to getting old and grey in their seats and quit whining, so the last 8 hours were fine.

I think this was the hardest trip to Searcy that I've taken, not because I did it solo. It is just that the 3 years we have been gone have gone by fast for me, so it doesn't feel like that long. But 3 years is really a long time and although we invested 12 years of our lives there, we are officially now "someone who used to live here", as in "Meet my friend Teresa - she used to live here."

That makes me want to scream. Of course, it is technically correct. We did use to live there and we did move away. But we also left our blood, sweat and tears in that town, and especially at Downtown Church, so it is hard to feel thrown into the same category as everyone else that has passed through Searcy at one point or another. I guess that, because of our investment into the town, part of us still lives there anyway. I know it's just words but for whatever reason, they just bit me a little hard on this trip.

The other hard part was on Sunday. There was a baby dedication at church and Katie asked what was going on. I told her that the elders were praying for the new baby and it's family and I told her that they had prayed for her in just the same way when she was born. She said, "They prayed for me at THIS church?" I told her yes, that we used to go to this church and that dad was the worship minister here. She didn't believe me because she doesn't remember it at all.

Sob.

But this Thursday officially marks our 3 year anniversary here and she was nearly 3 when we moved so I guess she has now lived in SC longer than she lived in AR. Wow.

The trip overall was great - don't mean to dwell on the negative. We are looking forward to all 4 of us going back in September for a reunion concert with the guys Rick sang with.

And we celebrate the 3 years we have been here - they have been good years and we feel so blessed that "The boundary lines have fallen for us in pleasant places." (Psalm 16)

If I can get my act together, I'll post some pics that I took on our trip.

Just a few pictures from this week. It has been so hot here that we decided to bring the scooters and riding things in and we moved the furntiture to accomodate a riding area on the wood floor. It was fun and hopefully didn't do too much damage to the floor! There were only a few minor wrecks and we only saw blood once!

The sailor outfit on Micah was a fun hand-me-down. Rick wasn't too hip on it until he saw everyone loving it at church. I think I sold him on it a little. The hat was hilarious and Micah kept it on all morning!

Funny kids. Good times!