Sweet Home

Alabama? Caleb said it was time for us to come home when Charis announced she wanted to move to Alabama after we live in Fallbrook. Needless to say, we had an amazing time. The kids played hard and long everyday. And it was almost a week's break for me. My cousins are 12,13,15,16, and 18. The oldest was at college, but the other 4 loved on and tired out my kids everyday. Their house is on 5 acres of land which has a creek and small forest in the back yard. Not to mention a tree house, trampoline, 4 wheeler, basketball hoop, toys, games, etc. But the thing that made my kids love Alabama so much was the play time with the cousins.





A big motivator for going on this trip was to see my precious 94 year old grandma. Its really special to me that my kids got to know and play with their "meemaw". It was fun to watch her pretend to be annoyed at Jonas. And just the smell of her house (corn bread and vegetable soup) and the "sameness" of her life was comforting to me.

Lauren, my 12 year old cousin, had a horrible accident while we were there. We were all at Cheehaw Park climbing rocks and enjoying the spectacular fall colors. Lauren was somewhat out of view climbing up a large rock, when a boy "harmlessly" threw a (big) rock over the side and hit her in the head. This caused her to fall backwards off the rock (a few feet) and also hit the back of her head on the rocks below. We thought for a second she was dead. It still makes my stomach turn to think about it. Her parents rushed her to the hospital where she spent the next 4 days. She recovered beautifully, and we got to spend our last 2 days with her. Since she ended up being okay, it was actually a cool bonding time for all us. There's nothing like a tragedy to bring people together and put immediate perspective on life. I think every church in Alabama was praying for Lauren (and sending us fried chicken). It was pretty awesome to see the support and love of all their church family.

There is so much more I could say about our trip, but this post is way too long already. So, I'll end with 2 of my favorite pictures. The first is of Paxton looking like a true farm boy. If there is one thing he's not, its a farm boy. Despite the forced smile for the camera, he hated the farm visit. Charis on the other hand, ran around like a crazy kid picking up goats and chasing the miniature horses. I love to see the differences in my kids.

And Jonas. He's 2 now. So tough and fun and loud and kissable. I love this picture of him.