Sweet Girls and Sweet Fellowship

One of the things that is wonderful about being on the farm is the freedoms that you can allow your children. Melissa and I turned our sweet girls loose one of the days we were there asking them if they wanted to go on a solo adventure to pick wild flowers in the Ranger. Abigail has been learning how to drive it and was anxious to show her friend what she had learned. With wide eyes they said a most definite "Yes!" and before we knew it they were off. We both gulped and agreed that this was a small taste of what it will be like to send them off in a car together someday...yikes!! All was well and they had a wonderful time and brought back some gorgeous Queen Anne's Lace which they arranged in a beautiful bouquet for us! I know just yesterday they were four and in dance class together...my how the time does fly.

Off on their grand adventure
Sweet Emma
Sweet Abigail

The Heart of Our Journey

Our original reason for making this incredible journey was to visit our dear friends Brent and Melissa's farm in Virginia. They have been farming on the most amazing God created piece of land this summer and fall and we were privileged to get a glimpse of their life during our trip. They have been raising broiler chickens, some happy cows and laying hens and are having a marvelous time doing it. How amazing to see their three children, who are dear friends of our kiddos, Abigail, Samuel and Ethan working this farm right along side their parents. What a gift Brent and Melissa have given them to be involved in this lifestyle. So much slower paced and the bonus of being in some of the prettiest country I have ever been in. This Arizona girl was smitten with all the green rolling hills and beautiful flowers growing everywhere.

Robert was able to help Brent with morning chores (way too early for me to even think about helping). Then we all took our turns gathering, washing, weighing and cartoning eggs. All of the children loved pitching in. But our Sweet Ana was definitely the most eager to get down and dirty with the chickens. I was amazed at her fearlessness, pulling chickens off their nests and scooping up as many eggs as her basket would hold. I think we have a future farmer in our family!!

Here is the amazing view from near one of the egg mobiles truly breathtaking. How fun to wiz to the top of the hill in the Ranger and see this amazing view. Melissa was even brave enough to let me drive the Ranger one time, I almost made her regret it by going just a tad too fast down a hill!
Here is our sweet farm girl doing her thing in the egg mobile. It was her favorite time of the day.
Sweet friends Peter and Samuel. They had missed each other so much. Samuel was wonderful about showing the boys all the ins and outs of farm life. What a blessing to be able to turn the kids loose and let them ride bikes and just explore without fear. Something definitely not possible in the city.
Here are Mr. Brent's happy cows. One of the most amazing sites to behold. Each day around 3:00 Brent goes to move the cows to a new area of grass. They are surrounded by electric fence, and feast on a diet of yummy grass. Each day when Brent goes to move them they frolic and can't wait to follow him to the new pasture. It is quite a site to see 500 cows following a man as if he were the pied piper. Robert got to call them, one of the days that we were there and he loved every minute of it.

Blessing my Husband's Heart

Our next day of travel took us through the beautiful state of Tennessee where we landed in Pigeon Forge for the night. It was a very long day of travel and we were all exhausted when we finally reached our destination. The one conciliation for all of us was that Pigeon Forge just happens to have a Johnny Carino's Restaurant. For those of you that know us well you know how much this means to us. For those who don't it is just about our favorite restaurant for so many reasons...Italian Nachos, Chicken Pasta, Chocolate cake...and the list goes on. We used to have one of these wonderful places in Prescott Valley, but alas it went out of business, so any time we visit a place that has one it is definitely on our list of stops. The next day we slept in a bit and then headed for Virginia and our wonderful friend's farm. On the way we just so happened to pass through the town of Bristol, Tennessee home to one of NASCAR's famous tracks. If you know Robert you know that NASCAR is one of his favorite things in life. And since we gave up television a few years ago he has only been able to get updates online and catch an occasional race when we are at a hotel. So when we saw the signs for the race track his face lit up. We ended up stopping there for lunch in the trailer and taking a look around the track. It is actually a very small track, and shaped very much like a paper clip according to my beloved! It blessed him to see it, perhaps someday we can even attend the actual race...smile!!

Bristol
Had to get a shot from out the window...Robert says it turned out great.
Robert sneaked a quick peak inside to get this photo.

Compared to the Phoenix track which we visited earlier this year, this is tiny!

Sweet Fellowship in Little Rock

We made it through the winds and the rain of Ike and safely landed in Little Rock at the house of our sweet friends the Buchers. We had met them when we first started the process with Family Life at the Ministry Preview that we attended. They are very dear to us and we were thrilled that they were willing to host us for our short stay in Little Rock. Their four children graciously allowed us to sleep in their beds for two nights as well as making fast friends with our five. We attended church with them on Sunday morning and then Sunday afternoon they had a get together for all of the people that we had met through Family Life. Complete with wonderful food, lots of laughter, and even some singing, it was a very special day for all of us. A bit bittersweet as we realized once again that we will not be a part of this community. Fun none the less to see what the Lord has been doing in all of their lives and to finally get to meet all of their sweet children. All of our kiddos made fast friends that they hope to keep in touch with. Fun fellowship for all and difficult to say goodbye to as well. There will always be a piece of us in Little Rock and we hope to visit there again very soon.

Sweet new friends

Lance, Hope, Anna, Seth, Ethan and Joshua made our time in LR so special

Sweet Girls...Anna, Ana and Emma really hit it off...kindred spirits!

The Wonderful Cross

Our second day of travel took us through the panhandle of Texas and past the Largest Cross in the World. Because of Hurricane Ike, Amarillo was blanketed with fog the morning we were leaving there. We decided to hit the road early and stop for breakfast at this huge cross which was also surrounded in a blanket of fog. We were the only ones there, so after a light breakfast in the trailer we walked around and explored the amazing exhibits surrounding this gigantic cross. Around the outside of the cross are bronze statues depicting the stations of the cross. There is a station for Calvary with the three crosses and next to it is a tomb with a giant angel statue inside. The children loved looking around and reading all the plaques at each station. It was a wonderful way to start our long day of travel.

Home again in Arizona

We have returned safely from our journey east to Virginia. What a trip it was for all of us. A truly wonderful experience with some interesting adventures along the way. It was difficult to leave the beautiful green of the Virginia farm where our dear friends are dwelling this summer. It was a balm to my spirit to dwell there if only for a few days. I have so much to share and many pictures to post, but my computer is not feeling well and I think may have a virus so not sure how that is going to work. I will work today to try and get my old computer up and running and see if I can get some of the photos posted over there. In the mean time I have piles of laundry to sort through and children to get back on track. We are all overwhelmingly tired and a bit sick. Miss Emma got a cold along about the time we were in DC and then by the time we were headed home I had contracted it. The Lord was merciful and it has not been horrible for any of us, but we do need to take it easy I think for a couple more days. Hard to re-enter your life when you have been gone for such a period of time. But alas we must try. Robert is headed back to work and I will have the task of getting us back to school. What a blessing our time was to all of us, treasured memories we will have for a lifetime!! Stay tuned for more about our journey...

Our Big Adventure

We have been having an amazing time on our journey across the country. We have not had email or web access for most of the trip so I have not had a chance to blog...but I am going to tell all about our adventure when we get home. Right now we are still in Virginia and having a blast on the farm!! What a blessing this has been for our whole family. I'm looking forward to sharing all about it when we get home at the end of the week.