Part 4

We are now at Adam's parents home in North Alabama. We made it through Auburn and Johnson City...the two parts of the trip that concerned me. But, the kids did great, got to meet a lot of our friends and family and were well behaved.

Highlights from each stop--

Auburn-we were there less than 24 hours but got to eat lunch with our friend Kim and her two (not so little anymore) children. We spent a lot of time with Kim in Auburn and worked with her, she also photographed our wedding. Her children are beautiful and are just as talented and friendly as she is. Then we went on campus and took the kids to see all the hot spots. We treated them to some Toomers Lemonade and to see the (used to be alive) Toomers trees. Then we went to bible study with our favorite people in the world...PARKWAY PEOPLE!! The kids swam, we ate, we visited with our Auburn parents, Dick and Jana and had a good time of worship.

Johnson City- the kids love love love our TN home. They are so amused by stairs and so they ran up and down them constantly. It sounded like we brought 2 elephants with us instead of 2 children, baby boy was there but was obviously not running :). Our neighbors were so welcoming and everyone wanted to come see our little family. I was thrilled to have my mentee Jerri come spend almost all day with us on Saturday. She called Friday and offered to watch our kids while we painted and fixed up the house....and they loved her. It was so neat to see someone that Adam and I loved on in turn love on our children. Jerri really showed Adam and I that we could love a child that was not ours biologically. We loved spending time with her, having her and her friends over for sleepovers and watching her grow. She was our first kiddo :). She has grown into a beautiful, tall, loving 14 year old and was leaving on a mission trip this morning :). Her grandparents, whom we also love, had us over that night for hamburgers and they just loved and poured into as well. Its so refreshing to be around people who encourage us and not think we are crazy. Mike and Charlene are super supportive and are like family. The kids played on their trampoline, with Jerri and her little sister and ate lots of good food. Mike and Adam talked about gardening and Charlene and I caught up while she gushed over baby boy.
Sunday morning we got up and went to our favorite place in Johnson City, Heritage Baptist Church. We were so challenged and loved on while we attended and served there. Its like a reunion for us every time we go back. The kids got to meet several people who greatly influenced and changed our lives as newlyweds. We stayed after talking to our pastor, Reggie and left with such godly wisdom and advice. We love being around him because he lives and breathes Jesus and invest so much into us. He also loved on our kids and anyone who loves on them and thinks they are beautiful is OK in my book. We also saw his sweet wife, very briefly,  who is always encouraging us with her words and prayers.
We also took the kids to some awesome restaurants while we were there...Amigos (Adam's 2nd fav place in JC) and Cootie Browns where they got to taste their famous Key Lime cookies.

All in all it was a great 4 days, but I am glad to be in a place that is familiar to the kids and to have some help.

Pictures to follow soon.