What Lies Beneath...Gramee's couch

Day 196 (Sunday 10-6):

We got to visit HisWay in Stroud, OK. It was a great day!  Long, but great. They are in the middle of some remodeling in their space, so Kora needed extra supervision. Doug's aunt Margie watched her for most of the service and even part of the meal.  After we were done eating, I took the kids over to the Dollar General so Doug could talk and to give the kids a change of pace and I might not ever admit it, but to keep the kids hemmed in the cart. :)  It was so great to visit, share about how we feel God is leading our family, and have them pray for us. 

Testing limits, this feels all too familiar.

Daddy danced with her. (It's not a baptist church...) :)

Kees is usually pretty well behaved, he's been into coloring lately.

Kora likes coloring too, but she's easily distracted as well.

One of us may have organized the crayons in rainbow order...okay, it wasn't Kees, but he actually stuck with the system.  Sweet boy, perhaps brainwashed, but sweet none the less.

It was the first night of Paden's revival, Doug and the kids went and I had to stay home because I had one of the worst headaches ever.  Thankfully, some rest and ibuprofen helped quite a bit, so by the time they came home I was able to hear all about it. And see this first hand. Kees loves using the grabber to help clean. This night, he was cleaning all under Gramee and Grampa's couch. He kept chastising Gramee about what was down there, but we're pretty sure all those trinkets, trash, and treasures were last touched by tiny sticky fingers.

After Kora went to bed, Kees was allowed to do this.

Making the mess is more fun than cleaning it up.

Kees found a can, he's rinsing it, so he can crush it later.

Day 197 (Monday 10-7):

We headed back to OKC to stay with Doug's mom. It was another day of sorting, organizing, repacking, then semi-unpacking once we got there.  I don't want to complain, and I have so very much to be thankful for, but I am looking forward to having a place of our own again....someday...in God's time. :)

Swing

The slide shocked him, then he was not having it.  He did not want any part of sliding with or without Grandma and Kora.

I bought this little dress a while back, but it was too big, she's already grown in to it.

I was "resting" on the slide, Kees was not happy with this life choice.

He didn't convince me.  I kept resting for a little while longer.

Tether ball, this was lots of fun until I tried to show him how to play, then he freaked out and ran off. "Well excuse me for living"....I don't think I use that phrase often enough.

Kees insisted I come look over here, and then he said:

"Look what I found. This has been hidden for forty years.....for forty years."  He said "forty years" with special emphasis and mysticism.

Sweet lady

She's pleased to be looking down on her subjects.

Love that face!

We went to Homeland with Grandma, they had cool Halloween decorations, and I brought juice boxes.  Also, notice how cool this cart is, they BOTH got to drive!!!

The lady at the bakery gave them FREE toddler-head-sized cookies, right at dinner time.  But I've never turned down free cookies, and I'm not about to start now.

Day 198 (Tuesday 10-8):

9 years of married bliss!!!  Doug celebrated by going to breakfast with a friend, and no, it wasn't me. :)  He was actually meeting with a pastor friend. We missed him, when he came back he came bearing gifts: flowers, guacamole, frosted sugar cookies, sweet potato tortilla chips, chocolate, and a couple other things I can't remember.  I was THRILLED, this man knows me!

While Doug was gone, I got a phone call from my mom and dad. I had offered to visit Mamaw (my dad's mom) who was being treated at a hospital near us.  The kids weren't allowed to visit, but Doug drove me and they just waited in the car. It was a great visit, more for me than her I think. It was good to see she was doing better and I prayed with her before I left.  My parents found out later in the day that she could go home, so I'm glad I visited when I did or I would have missed the opportunity.  

Picking up a coke for Mamaw (from Sonic)

Kora sleeping

When we got home from visiting Mamaw, we got dressed up to go out to a fondue restaurant called Melting Pot. We went "back in the day", so it was fun to go again. 

All dressed up.

Fondue dippers

We got the "premium dippers", all these meats and some pickles.

We got the Wisconsin trio

Doug VERY reluctantly posed for this picture, and who could blame him, I ended up dripping chocolate on his sleeve.  Which reminded me of the many times I've inadvertently gotten pen ink on his pants while taking notes at church. Yeah, apparently I get really excited about sermon notes.

By the riverwalk in downtown OKC.

The weather was beautiful, this day, and the day we got married...back in 2004.

We walked around Bricktown.

Getting back in the car without kids and having empty car seats was strange. So thankful to Grandma for watching our kids!

We went to Bass Pro.

I thought America had hit "rock bottom" when the song "Red Solo Cup" came out, and then there was this...

Wow, the were selling these puppies for $10.

Now that we're an old married couple, I have to rest often, this chair was nice.

I was terrible at this "game", Doug did pretty well...show off.  Remind me to tell you about the time we bought Dance Dance Revolution and I thought I was going to finally be better than Doug at SOMETHING....oh the irony.

Beautiful sky

On the way home we stopped by Aldi to buy more Almond milk, and Aldi had my very favorite salted caramel latte drink. Win, win!  We got back to Grandma's house and the kids had done fine. Kees cried, not right after we left, but a few minutes later, and it was short lived. Grandma distracted him with Scooby Doo.  His cousins came over to play, and everything was fine, until he needed to go to the bathroom. He didn't want anyone else to take him and waited until I got home.  It's funny because he doesn't "need" anyone to go to the bathroom, but he's scared to be in there alone.  There was a time, not very long ago, that I didn't think we'd be able to leave him to even go on this date, so I am thrilled at the progress he is making.

And now, a stroll down memory lane...

Texas wedding shower at Kathryn and Jon's place.

Cutting our awesome wedding cake, made by the one and only JOY BENNETT, I'm still so thankful and impressed by her work.  There was strawberry filling and the taste was out of this world! (Doug had an OU groom's cake)

I included this one because back in the day, these were Doug's mom's only grandkids. When I started dating Doug, Madeline was 5 and Alex was 2.  WOW! I was their favorite (and only) aunt.

I found this cool purse at Walmart, I think, after this my best friend Kari used it and then my sister, when they got married.  We got married on the Friday before the OU/TX game, HUGE rivalry. It was kind of a big deal, we were watching the game at the airport on the way to our honeymoon. Our shirts say "BEAT TEXAS!"

When we lived in Wisconsin

Missouri

New parents

At the monkey show (December 2010)

Kees's second birthday (May 2011)

August 2011

August 2011

November 2011, heading back to America to have a baby girl.

Christmas 2011 (before Kora was born in January)

Kora's first trip to the farm (January or February 2012)

Kees's first farm trip (May 2009...might have been June)

Visiting Thai co-workers when we were on our way to Laos to switch our visas over (November 2012)

Last year's anniversary date, SUSHI. (October 2012)

Baking class (2012)

Kees's 4th birthday (May 2013)

Leaving Thailand (late July 2013)

In Canada, with our GoodSeed peeps. (August 2013)

Another one from this year.  (Dear sweet Douglas, if you made it this far (in the blog), just wanted to tell you how much I love you and how thankful I am to have you.  You are the best, my one and only, God brought us together, I'm excited to continue on this journey with you. Love you so, so much!)

BYE BYE...

One of my all time favorite pictures of Doug, not sure how he planned that silly face and wave, but it is PERFECT.  I love that man!