Michigan

Day Friday (11-22-13):

Another day, another leg of our journey. Another early morning. I woke up early and did all the packing. Forgot to mention that the night before, when I was doing our laundry, I went to throw one more piece of clothing into the washing machine (an HE) and didn't get it closed well enough, thereby flooding the laundry room. I'm officially the worst house guest ever.  We managed to get it all cleaned, but at that point, I was ready to call it a night. Which meant I left a good deal of packing for in the morning, not usually my style, but it worked okay.  On the early morning trips, we usually take the kids clothing pack in my purse and just put them right in their carseats in their pjs so they can go back to sleep.  The clothing packs are in those gallon zipper bags, the ones that have the slider thing on them.  They have all the kids clothes, socks, Kora's first diaper of the day, and they're usually color coordinated to a degree. I was able to keep them pretty well put together on our trip and it helps a ton when we're in a hurry.  It also helps me count out the number of days we'll need clothes for.  Another bonus is they fit snuggly in the suitcase. :)

See, they sleep the same, it's so weird.

Not sure what we gave her, maybe a chocolate granola bar, but it looks like she enjoyed it.

Boots

Hostetler Farm in Michigan!

 We went with Sam and Julie to the small group they lead. It was at Tiffany's place, she made some amazing pizzas. Our kids had a lot of fun playing with all the cool toys they had!


Day Saturday (11-23-13):

I honestly don't remember what we did on Saturday.  I only got this one picture, go figure!

Day Sunday (11-24-13):

Sunday morning, Doug preached a sermon and then on Sunday night we both shared about Thailand and what we'll be doing with GoodSeed.  We were able to talk with folks afterwards and as always felt so blessed to hear people's excitement about being able to share the gospel with friends and family.

In between church, we had a yummy lunch back at the Hostetler's place, and they invited a family from church to come over to join us. Doug got to play Settler's of Catan, and he won!  We don't play together because we value our marriage and that game tends to cause us to fight. ;)

When we got home in the evening, Kora played ipad, this picture might actually be from Saturday, I'm not even sure.  

Day Monday (11-25-13):

Grandma Julie is awesome. She is always awesome. When we were in Thailand, she was one of the BEST encouragers we had. Always checking on us, praying for us, and being a blessing.  We made such sweet memories at their house this time, and have officially invited ourselves to be their Oklahoma family and they are our Michigan family.  Grandma Julie made cookies and my kids just sat and watched, enthralled.

Cookies!

They're really good tasters.

Yum, yum, yum!

 We were even able to host a few of our friends during our week in Michigan, and by "we" I mean Julie. She was so gracious to let us have friends over to her place so we didn't have to drag our kids out to meet at a restaurant where Kora would most likely destroy the place.

Faith got to meet Kora, she met Kees once when he was just a few months old, now she got to meet Kora!

Not the best picture we've ever taken together, but at least we remembered to take one!  I'm kicking myself for not getting more pictures of our hosts at all these stops.  How did I not get any pictures of Kari when we were in Ohio?!?

Not sure if Grandma Julie is doing the reading or Kora!

Day Tuesday (11-26-13):

Moms are not allowed bathroom breaks.

The Halls came to visit, Dave and Darlene and their boys. They are missionaries in Cambodia, so they were a part of or team in Thailand...well they came to our conferences anyway. It was so great to see them!

Dave was building a table for Darlene for Christmas, it's on the roof of the van they're driving.

We went over to Pastor Josh and Sarah's place for lunch, after the Halls left.  Delmar was such a good host. He let Kees play with all his legos!  

 We always love getting to spend time with Pastor Josh and Sarah. They are so down to earth, and fun, fun, fun. But also have such a heart for ministry, for serving God and loving people.  We loved getting to hang out with them!  After hanging out ALL afternoon (sorry Presleys, we lost track of time), we headed back to the Hostetler's place.

She loves yogurt, granola, AND grapes.  She's MY girl!

Pastor Josh gave Kees his own legos to take home, we forgot them, but Grandma Julie mailed them to us, cause she's awesome!

Look at that face!

They were "helping" make the bed.

Day Wednesday (11-27-13):

On Wednesday we were able to go to the Children's museum with the Russell family. They have passes and could get us in for free. It was the perfect size, not too big.  The kids had a great time and the dads got to talk quite a bit too!

Watching Mickey Mouse Club House

Puppet

This area had tons of swim noodles hanging down and the kids could run through them. Kora loved it! Kees wasn't so sure about it.

Inside the bee hive thingy

They had such a neat conversation about creation and sharing the gospel.  I missed out cause I was chasing kids, so y'all should ask Doug what all they figured out. ;)

After the museum, we went to Tim Horton's to get donuts, we had dinner plans in a couple hours, but we needed to have a little snack to tide us over.

This kid loves donuts!

It was happy hour! Tim Horton, I love you!

After grabbing some snacks and filling our gas tank, we headed to Walmart and took turns shopping.  Me first and then Doug, the kids slept.

Then, we met a couple from the church for dinner at Ponderosa. After dinner, we headed over to Tiffany and Jonas's place. Tiffany had some clothes she was getting rid of, she let us look through them. We ended up with two garbage bags full. It was like Christmas came early!

We got home, and crashed, just one more day in Michigan: THANKSGIVING!

Day Thursday (11-28-13):

I was so busy eating, I barely took pictures. We were able to meet Julie and Sam's kids and enjoy the holiday with them. Our kids played well with the real grandkids! :)  Kees even sat at the kids table...progress!!! Doug was happy he got to watch football!

(Somewhere in all this hub bub, I made a couple pecan pies, had to bring a southern flare to Thanksgiving...doesn't get more southern than pecan pie! And if you're really southern, you say pee-can, not puh-cahn).

Kid Table

Playing ipad