Back at last!

Well, it's been six months since I last wrote here. There are a lot of reasons why I stopped: I ran out of time in the evenings due to work, going to the gym, working on my family tree, and housework! I also started questioning the point of writing, but I spent some time today reading some other blogs and decided there is a lot of merit in making note of the things one does.

I also realized that it isn't necessary to write every day, which I could never keep up with, so I'm going to try to put something here each week, or as things of significance happen.

We had a great summer, and ended off with a trip to Virginia. A highlight for me was September 1st. We spent my birthday hiking and driving along Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park. What a beautiful demonstration of God's creativity and the delight He takes in amazing mankind. We couldn't get enough of the breathtaking scenery.

We all enjoyed the history of the area, and reading the signs that were posted at some of the overlooks. Reading about Stonewall Jackson and his army made all of us want to learn more about the stories of the Civil War, so we're going to do some research before we go back next time.

The kids were just as thrilled with the views as Steve and I were. It was fun to see them looking out the windows of the van and marvelling at how far they could see.

I love these two pictures of them!

In the top one, they are at the bottom of a waterfall which was the destination of our hike. As it turned out, a bear walked past me on the path while I was taking the picture.

In the other picture, the children are standing on a stone wall which ran the length of the road (left).

I will post more pictures of our trip another time, but I wanted to get to some more current news.

Tonight we are doing a massive clean-out! Steve's parents have wonderfully offered to hold a garage sale for us this Saturday. At their house! We still have a lot of stuff in a storage unit, left over from our planned move last September, and it's time to get rid of it. Steve's parents are renting a cube van tonight and unloading the storage unit. They are taking the items we don't need to their house, and bringing the things we do need here tomorrow. After they unload the van here, they are filling it with all the things we have found in the house that we are not using, and taking it home tomorrow. Then, they are going to have a garage sale! I am so excited to be clearing out my house of so many things that we really do not need.

So... that's a brief update on us. I will do my best to post more regularly! So much to write about... school, our upcoming cruise, the kids, my basement project (old news), Steve's schooling, and so on.

Hope to be back next week. Or later this week.

Mommy