One Minute You're Hot, The Next You're Not

Before we left the Philippines, we were able to go on a family vacation with Jason's parents. They had been planning on coming over this November for almost a year so we took advantage of the opportunity to go do something touristy before we left to come back to the States. It was the perfect break after a couple of crazy weeks and helped us unwind and slow down a bit.

The place was unbelievable! Beautiful white sand beaches that were almost the color of sugar except the sand was even softer. The water was beautiful, all shades of green and blue. It was a wonderful break from reality.

Now we are enjoying the end of fall and are getting a jump on winter. Today a storm is moving into Salt Lake and the snow flurries have already begun to fall. It is so wonderful to walk out the door and have that cold dry air slap me in the face. I love it! Last night I went out on the steps and just sat there until I got really cold, just trying to enjoy being cold to the bone!

Thanks for all of your prayers in getting us home. It was a mostly uneventful trip aside from trying to eat those yummy airline meals with the tray down and a 25 lb toddler in your lap and almost missing our connection to Salt Lake after getting hung up in customs and then being reprimanded for trying to sneak a jar of baby food through in my backpack. Naughty naughty!

We were able to sit together on our flights for which we were very grateful. Our last connection to Salt Lake was on a regional jet with only 2 seats on each side. Jason sat in one row with the kids (yes, he is my hero!) and I was supposed to be in the last row of the airplane. The guy in the row behind Jason jumped right up as soon as he saw we were not together and offered me his seat. So I sat right behind Jason and the kids and next to a lady and her baby. Our family fell asleep right away, but the baby next to me screamed half the flight. I was very grateful that it wasn't one of my children that was the screamer, but I did wonder if that guy traded me seats on purpose to get away from that baby!

We've been slowly adjusting to the time change. It is a 15 hour difference so we've basically had to convince the kids that day is night and night is day (the sun helps with this!). We finally just had our first night sleeping all the way through although we are still pretty exhausted.

Some of you have asked, and yes I did get my pumpkin latte. Although I've only had one so far. So if any of you want to meet to visit, I will be available to go out for coffee - frequently - while we are home :-)

We've been trying to pin down a day to drive down to Arizona. Jason has been helping his dad with their house remodel (right now we are confined to jumping around boxes in the upstairs rooms as the downstairs is completely torn apart or going over to the empty neighbor's house). Jason and his dad are in the process of putting in a wood floor. We are also trying to coordinate seeing Jason's sister on our drive down. We thought we would leave this weekend, but last night Jason, Mirielle and Kellan ended up with the stomach flu so I'm not sure when we will be up and running again. We're also not sure if we should try and beat a storm that is supposed to come through on Monday or wait till it passes. Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we travel.

Well, we are almost on our way. We leave on Sunday and fly ALL day long before we land in the US. Our flight leaves first thing in the morning which means we will be kid wrestling for more hours than I care to think about right now. We've always done night time flights back to the US, but were unable to this time so it should be an interesting adventure. We've stocked up on movies and some toys for Mirielle, but Kellan still only has a 3 minute attention span and is all about moving now - so pray hard!

We will be staying with Jason's parents for a few days in Utah before heading down to Phoenix. We're hoping to see some snow and can't wait for some cool weather!

Thanks so much for all of your notes of support after our last update. God has really used them to encourage us. Plans have been continuing to fall into place for us to come back. We feel so blessed to have such a large extended family waiting to welcome us home!

This last week has been torture as we have been waiting to pack up the last of our stuff. The days have been SO slow! Jason has been keeping busy putting up motion lights outside the house and getting the car fixed up before we park it. I've been going through cupboards trying to get rid of anything that might make a good meal for any unwanted critters. We've been sorting through kids clothes that probably won't fit by the time we return. I just can't grasp that it is November and we are going back to winter, and that means no more shorts and sandles. Even an Arizona winter will probably seem freezing to us! I am always stuck thinking that it is July becuase of the weather here.

Mirielle can't wait to go play in the snow. She keeps saying that she wants a sled for Christmas and has been practicing making snow angels on the tile floor at home. We are going to fly to Utah to spend Thanksgiving with Jason's parents so we should be able to see some snow then.

I am looking forward to a pumpkin latte from Starbucks!! I think that will have to be my first priority once we land in the US :-) That will make it feel like fall!

We can't wait to see many of you soon!