oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy

Our new couches were delivered today. (Shhh, don't tell Andy! We were going to pick them up ourselves but I decided that it was worth the delivery charge to not inflict that on either Andy or my dad, who arrives tomorrow.) Oh wow. That is about all I can say. We have never bought a new, nice couch before and it feels kind of extravagant. Of course, now I have no idea how to arrange the room--we actually got a couch and a loveseat and, for some reason, they need a significant amount of real estate. That is something I feel comfortable making the guys do--move everything around for me until I am satisfied!

Do you think I can spend the day doing nothing but sitting on them? We haven't had a couch since last summer and wow, do I miss it. Thanks to Karen and Debbie for talking me into the ones we picked!

overheard in Fort Myers

Caroline: "Elanor, you are stup ... endous!" (ed. note: we've had issues with calling each other stupid)
Elanor: "I'm not stupid .. endous. Wait - what does stupendous mean?
Michael (interjecting): "Nice word, Caroline ...
Caroline: "it means really super awesome, um, big and wonderful I think ...
Elanor (pouting): "Well, I'm not stupendous. I don't want you to call me stupendous.
Caroline: "Stupendous! Stupendous!"

Just some snippets of conversation to share with you. In other news, I (Andy) am off to Mexico tonight with a group of 40 High Schoolers and leaders from Covenant. It's a repeat (albeit larger) of last year's trip, and I'm very ecstatic to have these next seven days with them as a kind of "immersion" back in their lives and this ministry. We'll be building house through SonServants with Faith Ministry - an excellent mission trip. I would appreciate your prayers for me and for my family as I'm away. Strength and courage all around!

grace and peace - Andy

boxes, boxes, everywhere

Well, we are back online (it's amazing how critical that seems to be to my health and well being!), Andy is back at work, and there are still boxes everywhere. Their numbers are dwindling, thank goodness, but woof. We found a couch that I really really like--Andy likes it too, but we can't quite bring ourselves to pull the trigger on it. It's kind of an intimidating purchase, you know?

Update: the garbage disposal is not dead; it was merely frozen and a turn with an allen wrench brought it back to the land of the living (thank you, Dad). Bathroom faucets: still only half functional; they are waiting for my dad to arrive in person to wrestle them into submission.

Apparently I drove across the entire country with a bad wheel bearing, which was fixed by our local Nissan dealer yesterday. Let me tell you, it is like having a whole new car. I could drive another 3000 miles just to listen to it purr. The purring was overshadowed by the thrumming of the wheel bearing. I never did love the dealer out in Alhambra... seems to me they should have caught this when they were doing that expensive 30,000 mile checkup (when I specifically mentioned the long cross country drive coming up). Glad to be back home with my own dealer's service department, which I am still surprised by my satisfaction with. If that sentence didn't make sense, I apologize. I think I could use a day of sleeping in.

home again

Y'all, we are back in Florida, home again, and reunited with Emma. So glad to be home! There are boxes everywhere and we are discovering things that need attention soon (bathroom faucets frozen up or something, nonfunctioning garbage disposal, ant swarms), but it is nice to be back! The phone is working but no internet yet (don't ask me right now what I think of Embarq) so I am just checking in quickly from church. If you called before we set up the answering machine, I'm sorry, I don't know how to check the voicemail which I apparently have, so please call again. I know someone did because it sounds like I have messages which I don't know how to check.

Things to do this week... unpack, unpack, unpack. Look for a couch. Go to the pool. Get back on the internet.

Total: 44 hours, 49 minutes in the van with three children; 2673.6 miles between Pasadena and home. Blessings to you all and stop by to see us anytime!

over halfway home

Tonight it's Houston, Texas (two nights in a row in this very large state, which we are crossing at just about the widest part we can). We officially have over 1500 miles under our belts now. We're losing our third driver, Andy's dad, who is flying home to Burbank tomorrow--having him along has made the journey much easier so far! Tomorrow we finish up Texas (we've driven about 785 miles of Texas and still have about 100 more, believe it or not) and knock out Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama in one fell swoop.

The kids continue to travel exceptionally well--very little squabbling and they are entertaining themselves pretty well. We met the Walmers for dinner tonight and Rachel gave them all goody bags, which they are excited about diving into tomorrow!

Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers on our behalf--

tucson, arizona

That's where we are tonight, for those of you who are keeping track. A nice hotel with free wifi so I can keep in touch with you. Loading up the truck and leaving the apartment went very smoothly and so far the drive has gone just fine. Andy's dad is helping us with just over half of the drive; he will fly home from Houston and leave us with just about 1000 miles to go (out of 2650 total).

drawing to a close

Boxes are everywhere. The children are downstairs packing bags for the trip (they will be carefully checked, trust me). Onions are caramelizing on the stove (one last BBQ pizza). The computer is dutifully backing up files. We are getting ready to move again!

It's been a busy week as Andy has been writing two major papers and taking a final exam. I have been packing and finishing up two photo shoots (ooh fun!) and working on a website for my new business (check it out here!). We're picking the truck up on Sunday and heading for home as soon as it's loaded. We hope to take about a week. This is your reminder to officially send all mail to our old "new" address. Our phone number has changed, although emails have not. If you would like the new phone number and haven't gotten it yet, please email me (there is a link somewhere on this page).

I have been meaning to make a post of the things I'll miss about Pasadena, and that will come soon, but not today. The other project I'm working on today is an evening out with Andy... for his birthday, my dad gave Andy two tickets to see a live taping of A Prairie Home Companion, which has been a dream of ours for several years. We are excited!