Overdue Update

We received some complaints about not posting in a while, so here you go (thanks, Cassie). :)

These past few weeks have been a whirlwind. All of our belongings are either in a storage unit in Dallas or possibly on a ship somewhere in the Pacific. The movers were at our house from 8:30 am to 6:00 pm the day before we closed on our house. That night John had the brilliant idea of walking the steel charcoal BBQ grill down to our friends house, which is about a 1/2 mile down the road. The grill only had two wheels on one side, so he had to lift up one side and shuffle his way down the street. He had only gone about 100 yards and called me to say it was the dumbest idea he had ever had. He looked like he was training for the Ironman competition. A while later, I drove up behind him to check on him and he was drenched in sweat and requested water. Afterwards, we were dying laughing and realized we weren't really thinking too clearly. Although, my bright idea was opening up the hatch of my Envoy (which is for sale, by the way) and John sitting in the back dragging it with us. John feared he may lose a leg or two if I had to come to an abrupt stop, so we figured that wasn't the best option.

We closed on our house on July 30th, which only took 15 minutes. We stayed at the Hancocks and then the Tramontes for a while (John will still be staying with the Tramontes through Tuesday night while I'm in East Texas with my family). We have really appreciated staying with friends while we transition. We had a great party with our Dallas friends last weekend complete with Rice Crispie sushi and Sake Sangria. They went all out and it was a lot of fun. I even made it through without coming apart! Last week was full of meeting up with friends for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and even late night coffee. Friday, John and I came down to East Texas to spend some time with my side of the family. We had a great party on Saturday with family and friends. We also got to help a little with my sister's, Nicole, new house. It is a gorgeous home on 3 acres. She and her husband, Eddy, agreed to keep our dogs, Luke and Lizzie, for the next two years. We are SO appreciative and have so much peace of mind knowing they will be well taken care of and have a lot of land to run and play. Dad has built them a fence and little dog hotel...I'll have to post pics of it. Such a great family! Here's some pics of Luke and Lizzie...sweet babies!

John drove back to Dallas on Sunday night to work for two more days, and I'm getting to stay behind and spend more time with family. We fly out Thursday morning at 10:00 from DFW, so our families are going to come up to Dallas to stay the night and eat out on Wednesday. We are very excited about the adventure. We are praying for our emotions as we say goodbye and that the Lord will provide comfort for us and family and friends. The next update will be from Tokyo!