Commissioning Day in VA

As many of you know, my (Miriam's) parents are moving to do full time mission work. They have been in training for the past 8 weeks in Virginia and were finally commissioned this past Wednesday. Our whole family, my brother and sisters and their husbands, were able to be together for the event.

The kids and spouses all came to our house on Tuesday night and then we travelled up to Richmond on Wednesday morning for the afternoon service and back to our house that evening. We were able to spend time together as a family which we don't take for granted anymore. Mom and Dad will be leaving at the end of April to move to Costa Rica for language school for one year and then move to Guatemala permanently. They will have furlough after a couple of years to come back to the States.

We as kids are SO excited for them but yet are sad because we will not get to spend as much time as we are used to together. Mike and I are planning on taking at least one trip a year down to CR and Guatemala but that is a lot fewer than we were taking to GA in the past. We know this is just part of the deal and will cope through Skype, Vonage, Blogs, and the other host of technology that helps people keep in touch. We are thankful that these things have been invented for us. Many families in the past had to rely on SLOW mail communication and expensive phone calls, if any!

To keep up with the Millers, visit their blog. Their link is under our Favorite Links section.

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Slacker updates

So, as you can tell, I have been a slacker on updating the blog! I hate to pull up other people's blogs day after day and not see updates...well, guess I shouldn't get so anxious to read other people's if I can't update my own!

So, here's what's been going on.

Yes, we are keeping Blue. We still haven't decided on an official name so we still call him "Blue." He responds to it and seems to know it is his name so we may just keep it. After being called that for 12 weeks, I hate to change it but we'll see! He continues to get bigger but is definitely a snuggle bug. He loves to cuddle up when he sleeps if we are around. I am not sure how we can accommodate when he gets to 90+ lbs though.

We were finally able to sell our last little girl (Yellow) at the beginning of March. Her name is Lily. Her new parents are actually in the process of moving to Raleigh so we are keeping her for a little while longer so they can get settled.

They have a 12 week vet visit this week to get shots updated and all so I'll try to post the weight updates then. At 8 weeks, Blue was 23+ lbs. and Lily was 18 lbs.

This weekend we were able to go up to Virginia to spend time with Miriam's Mom and Dad. They only have 2 more weeks left at their training center so we decided to take advantage of them being close and having a day off. We went to Charlottesville on Saturday for lunch and toured Monticello. We were also able to join them for dinner and lunch at their cafeteria and join their "house church" with others who are going to their same region (Middle America & Caribbean and South America) on Sunday. What a fun time to meet some of their new friends and to see where they have been living for the past 6 weeks! I also was able to spend my birthday there on Sunday so it was a fun time - they even sang "Happy Birthday" to me in Spanish.

Polly was able to spend the weekend with our friends, the Peacocks. When we picked her up last night, Aedan said he had so much fun with her that he wanted her to stay longer. We are so fortunate to have friends who love us...and our dog!

The puppies spent the weekend at the grandparents (Mike's parents). They made it through with only minimal damage, so overall it was a successful weekend. They were worn out when we finally got them home last night after a weekend of playing together. We were glad to all be back together last night.

Here are a couple of pictures from the weekend. I'll try not to take so long to post next time!

Waiting for the bus to take us up to the house.

Mom and Dad at Monticello

Miriam and Mike at Monticello

Mom and Miriam

Couldn't resist including this GREAT picture of Mom.

Mom and Dad with us at ILC on Sunday.