Pilgrims at Oak Ridge

1. My iPhone is all the way upstairs so I cannot add any photos to this post. Sorry. 2. We did what I think is maybe our first real LA kind of thing tonight. The community right next to us - called Granada Hills - has food trucks in their little downtown every friday night. We went and enjoyed some mexi-terranean food (Jeff) and pork belly sliders with korean slaw (Aubrey). It was a bit too hot to stay and eat outside with the kids so we just brought it home. It was definitely fun though and there were so many different types of food it will be fun to go again. 3. I spent over 2 hours at the DMV earlier this week in an unsuccessful attempt to get a drivers license. Of course, I didn't seem to have the right papers with me. Although when I got home we decided that I did, in fact, have the right papers, but the DMV person didn't realize it. Double sigh. I'm working up the courage to go back this next week. But maybe try a different DMV a little further outside the city i...

Just a quick post to let everyone know we made it. We had a few long days after we left Colorado Springs in which I discovered that all four of us in the same hotel room is a disaster. But we got to our new house safely and it is really beautiful. The neighborhood is also quite nice. We are slowly starting to settle in. Our belongings arrived the day after we did and we are slowly emerging from the pile of boxes and packing paper. Unpacking I realized that we had a LOT of wall space in our old house judging by the huge stack of framed photos we unpacked. I'm not sure we'll actually have places to hang everything here.The first Sunday at church went really well and our church family has been bringing us meals this week which has been fantastic. I found the Whole Foods, shopped at Trader Joe's (about 2 miles away), found the closest library branch, and even did a bit of LA freeway driving. Now that our internet is set up, hopefully there will also be a little more p...

We are continuing our journey west tomorrow. We have really had a great time here in Colorado and hanging out with Jeff's parents. Just so you have an idea about how quickly the weather here can change, here are two shots of pikes peak. I took both of them on Sunday, one on the way to church around 10am, and one on the way home, just after noon. Later in the day we could even see that snow had fallen on top of the mountain, which as a Southern girl I still find a little mind boggling. Today we had even more unusual weather - after a fairly sunny morning, it has basically been storming and rainy all afternoon. (Afternoon thunderstorms are common, but not this much afternoon rain.) I actually wanted a sweatshirt this afternoon while we took Judah to play on a playground. But we are thankful for the cooler wet weather as it has really helped with the fire, which at last count was 75% contained. We are hoping Bill and Sue will at least be able to see their house in the next day o...

We have entered what I'll call "part b" of the road trip. After leaving Nashville, we stopped for a long lunch with a dear friend who used to live in Greenwood, then overnight at St. Louis with my campus minister from RUF who now lives there. It was great to catch up with him and see all his kids. Then it was just a short drive to Lawrence, KS to stay with Dave, Hannah, Jack and Ashlyn. We loved our cousin time. I have lots more photos, but on my regular camera that isn't downloaded yet. Jack and Ashlyn were especially sweet with Naomi. It was adorable. We left Lawrence for the long drive across the amber waves of grain that span Kansas. I actually loved this leg because I got to drive by myself in my Mother-in-law's car while she road shotgun with Jeff. I answered nary a single question about tractors, road signs, or windmills the whole way. It was delightful. About halfway to Colorado, we got word that Jeff's parent's house was being evacuated due ...

1. Our very first stop was for lunch at our favorite pizza place in Flat Rock, NC. I love goat cheese pizza. 2. I hate I-40 between Asheville and Knoxville. This time I discovered it's even worse in the pouring, blinding rain. 3. Judah loves tractors. Both big and small. 4. Swimming pool = lots of fun for a three year old. 5. The St. Louis Arch gives St. Louis one of the most distinctive skylines out there. I was glad we could see it again today.

The best, loudest laugh I have ever heard from Naomi came when she watched Judah howl. I love how much she loves him.  

1. Yesterday, on Judah's last day of preschool, I had to do what I call the "preschool walk of shame": I was so late taking him that I couldn't go in the normal door to enter, but actually had to ring the bell at a different entrance and have someone come and let me in. 2. On a related note: Naomi has slept all night the last 3 nights! Which is why we were late. She is normally my alarm clock but she gave me some extra hours of sleep, so I'll take the preschool walk of shame for an uninterrupted night's sleep any day. 3. Greenwood has its own version of craig's list on facebook since we are not a big enough city to warrant our own Craig's list page. I have tried Craig's list before with no success here, but this facebook page is something else. We posted Jeff's desk and had 4 offers within about 20 minutes. Score for making a big of extra cash for our road trip. 4. Today has been a real winner of a day. We had a house showing at 9:30, and...