From our archived blog:
August has been a busy month, full of family! We headed to Huntsville, AL, on July 29th to visit with my aunt, uncle, several cousins, their children, and other extended family. We loved getting to spend time with everyone! As is typical in my family, we played lots of games. My cousin Elijah had his Eagle Court of Honor while we were there, too. I am so proud of him! He is the 7th (and last) in his family to achieve that rank in Boy Scouts. One of the biggest highlights for us was getting to know Elena (2), Samuel (8 months), and Eisley (5 months), my cousins' children. All three are MK's, so it was our first time to meet Samuel and Eisley, and we hadn't seen Elena in awhile.
The next generation!
August 9th - 13th, the kids and I joined my mom, two aunts, and grandparents at two family reunions in MI. It was a long (long, long!) drive, but it was fun! I hadn't been to MI since I was about Nehemiah's age, so it was long overdue.
My mom and the older 4 kids at our spur-of-the-moment visit to Lake Michigan
We got back to Tupelo on August 13th, and hit the ground running to get things ready for Isaiah's 5th birthday party on August 16th. I made sure we got lots of cousin pictures, especially since my nephew Aaron (who lives out-of-state) was able to join us! The 17th we were able to celebrate my niece Lily's first birthday party, which was a huge blessing as well.
The Smith cousins - plus my sister-in-law, Jen, since my niece needed mama ;)
Isaiah with his rocket cake - FIVE!
Isaiah and his best friend, Colbie. They are getting married when they grow up. Which is soon. Just ask Isaiah!
I'm so incredibly thankful for all the sweet family time that we crammed into the last few weeks. It is yet another reminder of God's sovereignty and goodness. Our original training dates would have had us in NC for our cross-cultural training course during this time. While we are sad to be delayed for our departure to PNG, there is so much joy in the memories we were able to make with our family the last few weeks!