So Long Ordinary

My last day without Sean! Can't tell you how excited I am to go get that guy. We've missed him something terrible. It's going to be a sweet reunion in Albuquerque tomorrow! I felt pretty sick yesterday. For some reason I keep getting these terrible sore throats and headaches...sounds like a sinus problem, huh? Anyway, it's gone today and I feel so much better. I went to bed early last night and got to sleep in a little too, since the older girls are at Grandma and Grandpa Cannon's house for a slumber party. So, I haven't taken many pictures since Sean was gone. Early on in this dull, dark, three weeks without my better half, my camera battery died. For days my camera sat with a dead battery. Then I got all mad at myself and pulled out that darn dead battery and dug around for the charger and...I charged it! But then the battery sat on the charger for days. Then I got all smart and put the charged battery back into my camera. It has now sat on the des...

This has been a long, slow week. I'm grateful it's Friday. It hasn't been a bad week, per se. Just slow. I'm so glad we're down to just one more week without Sean! He's doing very well, by the way. So here's the latest: The best, most wonderful news is that our support is in!! We've reached 100% of both our outgoing and monthly support needs! This is a HUGE praise and we are so amazed by how God has provided this time around. If you are a part of our new financial and prayer support team, we want to say "thank you." The unique relationship we share with so many people willing to invest in God's kingdom work through us has become one of our favorite aspects of being missionaries. It's true. The many special relationships we now enjoy with people from all walks of life - and churches of every kind - is such an unexpected and amazing gift packaged into the larger blessing of serving Christ overseas. We appreciate you and may God...

So...one week down and two to go. Sean is still in Spokane. He's doing well, working hard, mentally exhausted but otherwise having a good time. On this side of things...well, it's....strange. No Sean. I don't like it, not one bit. And I have a huge amount of respect for women who live this way all the time - single moms or moms whose husbands are away at war or work or whatever. It stinks. And actually, it has gone very well so far. We girls are hopelessly lost without our fella around but we're gonna make it. I feel like these three weeks without Sean home are like a huge blank spot in my life. Nothing goes forward, it just stays where it is waiting for his return! (there's a very good Spiritual lesson in that previous sentence, by the way.) We're moving internationally - in a matter of weeks. We have a few things to get done. But it has to be done with Sean. I don't have much urgent stuff I, by myself, can take care of. Little things here and...

I took Sean down to Albuquerque over the weekend so that he could catch his plane to Spokane. We decided to make it a bit of a special trip for just the two of us...sort of an early 10-year anniversary getaway/celebration of (almost) completing deputation/last hurrah before leaving the country/time as a couple while we have free and willing babysitters. It was so much fun to be with my best friend on a fun, relaxed, distraction-less (read: childless) adventure. We drove the back way to Taos, New Mexico and ate lunch there and strolled the streets then drove on to Chimayo where we stayed at a Bed and Breakfast , visited a very old Catholic church and ate dinner at a famous restaurant . We slept in, went for a walk together, ate tasty breakfast and then drove on to Santa Fe where we strolled the Plaza and watched college-age hippies throw some kind of monster parade/demonstration. ( I literally mean the monster part - they were all dressed up in wild monster-like costumes. We're...

**Don't forget to scroll down to see all the new posts. I had a spurt of blogging energy and posted three times in 30 minutes! That's some kind of record for me, I do believe.** This morning we went to the Sand Dunes . It was the perfect day - warm but not too hot. The stream is still going and that makes it feel almost like the beach in the middle of Colorado! Actually, better than the beach, in my opinion. But then, I'm terrified of the ocean. Do you suppose I should maybe get over my irrational fear of the ocean considering we are moving to an island in the middle of the ocean ? Anyway, we had fun and were home again by lunch. In time for me to spend the afternoon catching up on everything else I've been trying to get done all week (insert long impressive list here). And I'm still not caught up. One more day to get ready for Sean's big three-week trip to Spokane. Wow, that got here fast. Oh, and if you look closely, you can see Maddie's and Pai...

The other day the girls had a blast playing in the little ditch that runs in front of my parents' house. (Photos by Sean)

I can't believe it was already a week ago that we were in Denver. We had such a great time. We went to the Zoo, went to a Colorado Rockies game, walked the 16th Street Mall, saw Auntie Rachael, stayed in a fancy-pancy hotel, shopped, and so much more. Here are a few pictures from our trip. Thanks Daddy Ben and Grandma for such a fun time!

We had a really great time in Denver over the weekend. Pictures coming soon! I'm still getting back into the swing of things. After this week, Sean will be gone for 3 weeks, and I feel like there's more to do than I can handle so instead of doing anything at all I'm floundering. I do a little something and then I feel lost, like I forgot to do ten other things. And I spend a great deal of time thinking about what's coming...and how fast it's coming and all that needs to get done and how excited I am to get to Indonesia and how hard it's going to be when it's time to say goodbye. Please do keep praying about the visa situation that MAF is facing in Indonesia. They're working hard on a solution and we're actually quite confident that it will eventually get worked out. These things take lots of time and lots of diplomacy. Pray for the people working with MAF to fix the snags and pray that our Christian witness remains intact. We're not the o...