A few lessons learned while hiking with our kids...

Today we checked out Rock Bridge Trail with the kids and along the way, we learned a few  important lessons.

(Creation Falls)

 

First, Isabella learned when you have to potty off-trail, do not keep your hoodie tied to your waist or you will, in fact, potty all over your hoodie.  And then you will have to wear it the rest of the hike.  Nice. 

Second, when locals warn you about the snakes but say they've never really seen them - that doesn't mean you won't see them.  We had a nice little meeting with a 6 foot snake today.  YIKES!  Luckily, he was not interested in us and just slithered across the path and kept going.  We had just told the kids that they needed to stay close to us while hiking incase we came across anything like a snake or something worse like a bear.  Lesson learned, the rest of the hike they stayed pretty close by.  But, about 20 feet down the path the kids were complaining that I didn't take a picture of the snake so they could show all their friends.  Surprisingly, getting out the camera didn't come to mind at the time since I really, really, really don't like snakes and I may or may not have temporarily froze when I saw it.  Like, don't move, don't talk, and maybe it won't see you - froze. 

 

Third, oh man God is so unbelievably amazing!  The things he created, just wow!  Here are a few pictures.  And yes, I've got two kids who would climb on anything and luckily they are not as clumsy as their mother!    

 (The trees are amazing!)

 

(Creation Falls)

 

(Anna on Rock Bridge)

 

(Sophia on Rock Bridge)

 

Three weeks and counting...

We've officially been in Kentucky for three weeks now and we're really loving it!  We are completely unpacked (although we still need to hang everything on our walls).  The kids are settled into their schools and we're meeting a ton of people - though Chris is much better than me at remembering everyone's names! 

We live in a nice little 3 bedroom parsonage that is across from the church. 

 

 

And it is so awesome to just walk to church with the kids and even nicer for Chris just to walk across the street to work each day.  It's also a great place for the kids to ride their bikes!  The kids' school is only a 1/2 mile away so I walk to pick them up most afternoons which is really nice. 

The kids are adapting well to their new school. Anna is still struggling a bit with the change still, but we expected that.  The kids miss having a music class and only have PE one day a week, so that's pretty different, but otherwise there are a lot of similarities.  They miss their friends A LOT, but are starting to make new friends. 

Each Saturday we try to go hiking somewhere nearby.  So far we've checked out Sky Bridge, Natural Bridge twice, Angels' Windows, and Whistling Arch.  God made some spectacular places to visit!  Our kids won't stop posing in front of rock and tree formations.  I'm sure the novelty of that will wear off eventually. 

 

 



 

I have a huge fascination with all the horse farms I've driven by. The black fencing and matching black barns are just so cool!  I'm going to have to take a day to drive around and take some pictures for my Kansas friends.  They're gorgeous.  And someday I'll figure out why the barns are black.  So different from back in Kansas!

That's a little bit of what we've been up to in the last three weeks.  I really LOVE Facebook right now because seeing all your pictures and updates makes me not feel so far from everyone!

 

We made it!

Hello everyone!  I just wanted to post an update now that we've gotten moved and are starting to get settled in.  I've got lots of pictures to share too! 

We loaded up the moving truck Friday and Saturday, said our goodbyes to all of our friends, family, friends, and church family, and were ready to leave around 2pm Sunday afternoon.  After many trips to Goodwill, a couple to the dump, and selling what seemed like half of what we owned on Craigslist, we fit all of our stuff on a 26 ft. truck.  After 13 years of marriage and 4 kids, I'd say that's pretty good! 

Chris and his best friend, Adam, decided they were going to relieve their youth as they planned an all night road trip in the moving truck.  They drove all night and got to Stanton around 6am.  They had to stop a lot to fill up the truck with gas and practically had to push the truck up hills, but they made it!!  They slept about 3 hours on the floor of the house with a couple of old moving blankets and rolls of paper towels as their pillows. Seriously, folks.  Ridiculous right?  Then they got up and started unloading the truck with lots of help from our new church family. 

I took the four kids and the dog in the suburban with me.  We made it as far as Columbia, MO before stopping for the night (in the world's crumbiest hotel -- I'm now officially boycotting Days Inn...but that's a whole other story).  I'm head over heels in love with the inventor of the DVD player with wireless headphones.  Beautiful technology!  The kids watched movies for 14 hours and I was able to listen to the radio.  Must have been a pretty good movie! 

Poor Max rode in his crate (see him in the back, right). He's a travelling rock star and did great sleeping most all of the way.  Cozy right?

We pulled into Stanton around dinner time Monday night and the truck was already unloaded and someone brought us dinner.  Good timing! 

The rest of the week we've been unpacking and eating a lot!  Members of our new church have been bringing us delicious meals and even stocked our fridge and pantry for us before we arrived.  Completely unexpected and awesome!! 

Chris' parents drove his car over for us and stayed a few days.  They were able to watch the kiddos while we did some serious unpacking.  Today we were able to show them a little of the area.  This place is gorgeous!  Here are a few pictures from Red River Gorge and Daniel Boone National Forest which is only about 15 minutes from our house.  The kids loved it, though they acted like it was their own personal photo shoot wanting their picture in front of every rock and tree.  So funny! 

Sky Bridge - a natural stone bridge

 

 

Can you believe how beautiful it is?  There are so many different trails, Chris thinks every Saturday we'll just go explore a different one. 

 

Tomorrow we'll enroll the kids in the local elementary school and they'll start classes on Monday.  They're excited and nervous, but ready to get started.  The kids here missed about a month of school due to snow so our kids are bummed they're going to be in school until June 6th.  But I think it will just give them more time to make friends before summer starts. 

 

A giant thank you to all of our Kansas friends and family for all the help moving and then all your warm goodbyes.  We will forever miss and love you!  And to our new friends here in Stanton, you've blessed and welcomed us beyond our wildest imagination!   We are so excited to be here!