Ankeny, again

after greg and david (kem's husband) played a little tennis and my good great friend kem and i got to walk around my mom's backyard and talk "uninterrupted" we returned to Ankeny again on saturday to see our kindred friend, Larissa who just got back from Africa and had many stories to share. this girl is hard core and even swims in the rivers with who knows what snakes! it is so refreshing to spend time with her again and to know that even though we hadn't seen or talked for awhile...we could still connect...an encouragement all in itself! our generous friends, KJ and Kelly were gone for the weekend and they let us stay in their house and now they are back so we got to hang out some yesterday (father's day) as well and have some good talks on parenting and watched a movie and ate at Fazoli's (this great little italian place that greg and i used to eat at regularly when we lived here). it's funny to hang with our 3 older boys who are talking all the time to each other and saying all sorts of funnies. hazel is even talking more and more...she said "poopy diaper" and "KJ" and maybe we heard a "Kelly"? but life seems to be fun in this house and we love it here! tonight, monday, we are giving a presentation at their house so that will be good to connect with people we do not necessarily know. we also get to hang out with bryce this afternoon and have supper with a childhood friend who has 2 boys herself! then the kids will be babysat by kindy's parents who have full-on adopted our kids as their own grandkids while we talk at our presentation. that is our day.

we return to audubon for tuesday and wednesday. thursday we will go to a water park in Omaha for josh's (my nephews birthday) from there we are leaving for colorado springs on thursday night to drive through the night one last time! time is moving right along and soon we will be transitioning again but for a longer stay :D it will be good to not live out of suitcases. we look forward to getting some healthy outlook on life as well as prepare to go in August. this may be a little "iffy" as our last 20% is coming very slowly so please pray that we can remain peaceful about "the when" we leave and focused on "the why" we are leaving. we have been given a green light to buy our tickets but then there is hesitation as to "what date" we should aim for. grace, wisdom, humor, flexibility and creativity are at the top of our list these days for prayer.

i really have to go cuz paul needs to be "held and rocked like a baby" and one quick quote he says now cuz of Kelly is "is anyone ready to rock and roll?"