Going Home....

I am so excited cause tomorrow we are going to Arkansas. I cannot believe we live within driving distance of where I spent the fist 21 years of my life! I grew up in Fayetteville/Springdale, Arkansas and it is where all my roots are from childhood etc...All of my family still lives there except for my parents. I try not to think about how nice it would be if they were within you know a 6 hour drive. Mike has some vacation days to use before January and this is the only weekend between now and Christmas that worked out. Our main reason for going is to visit my grandma and grandpa. My "Meme" is not doing very well and I really want her to meet Anna. She is now on hospice care and we don't know how long she has until she goes home to Heaven. She's a fun lady... I actually think Ellie has some of her spunk and strawberry blonde hair. I lived in the same town as my grandparents for 13 years of my life. My high school, church, dad's job, etc... were all across the street from their house. I went shopping with my meme all the time. She loved her "Dillards" Card. She gave me a love for books and laughter. They attended all my ball games, track meets, etc... I spent so many nights at their house I had my own room! I have so many good memories that I will never forget so I am really glad we are not in Carolina and we have this opportunity to go see them.
I also cannot wait to be in cool weather. Fayetteville is in the Ozark Mountains and it really is a beautiful place. I am so excited to be in a forecast that is not 84 degrees like it was here today. I hope to go to just one of my favorite restaurants and maybe take the girls to the Univ. of Arkansas campus. (I will always be a hog fan!) We are staying with our good friends Kim and John Hurley. We've known them all of seminary and this past year in Raleigh we lived in the same neighborhood. They just recently moved to Arkansas for a job transfer. We hope to maybe go on a double date with them. We don't really desire to go out with our four kids. There would be little opportunity for adult conversation. Anyways, we will come home on Sunday and I look forward to sharing some fun pictures. These are a few random ones I've taken the past couple of weeks. You can tell Anna is totally into snacks these days and is pulling up on everything. She also loves to find Ellie's sippy cup even though Ellie does not like it. Anna has already enjoyed juice, chocolate milk, and sprite. She's very sneaky.
Ellie's vocabulary is growing everyday. I plan on getting the video camera out soon. She loves to sing in the car and we have real conversations that are quite funny sometimes. Ellie has to say "sorry" quite often it seems like during the day. When she says "sorry" I always say I forgive you. Tonight, we are riding in the car and I told Ellie sorry about something and she said "I forgive you". It was so great and funny! She's very into having good manners lately and loves to say excuse me, sorry, please mommy (I hear this at least 50 times a day). Anyways, she's very fun right now and at the same time I'd say it is the most challenging time with Miss Ellie. Are any other mom's out there with 27 month olds going through some of the battles I'm going through everyday? However, I love her so much and thank God she's here with us everyday. Have a blessed day!