back home in AZ!

Well, we survived it and loved it all! After 3+ years of planning and saving for our sabbatical trip, traveling to 9 places in 33 days, we are back home in sunny, hot AZ. Monday, Oct. 17th we packed up our things one last time and Andy took us to the Atlanta airport to fly home to Phoenix. We arrived back here around noon on Monday to 100 degree weather (come on Arizona! Seriously?). Our friend Renee picked us up and took us home. It's good to be back.

Many, many thanks to all of our friends and family who hosted us, cared for us, and gave us your time, energy, and love. We have hundreds of priceless memories from this past month. We are thankful to God for this incredible opportunity and for the many ways He provided for us on this trip. It was awesome to go so many places and tell Lydia that God was with her wherever she went and that no matter where she was, He loved her, heard her prayers and knew her needs. I have to say that our kids were AMAZING on this long journey with constant changes and new places and people. They adjusted remarkably well and I'm so proud of them and so happy that we were able to make this trip as a family. Sheesh, I'm getting teary just writing this.

Here are some UN-expected things from our sabbatical trip:

• leaving "the Cat in the Hat" somewhere (?) yet AGAIN
• Lydia said several times on our trip "I really miss my friends". When we drove into our neighborhood on Monday she said "Hey! We're in our neighborhood! I don't miss my friends anymore" :)
• frying my hair with the flat iron in London - brilliant.
• Ben coming home with 3 (yikes!) new "I" teeth
• I didn't work out for an entire month
• Rollie and I both gained 5lbs (big surprise, given the above)
• So few issues on our trip. Things went SO smoothly.
• coming home with new ski jackets for Rollie and I. So now we're planning a ski trip this winter :)
• 33 days of mail...
• I don't feel like cooking. New recipes in my pile of magazines should get me excited, though!
• how easy it was to pick up with old friends and some family that we haven't seen in a long time. So thankful for those relationships and the opportunity to see the amazing way God is working in people's lives.
• Rollie and I were REALLY grumpy on Tuesday, our first full day back in AZ. Definitely a reality check when we have responsibilities again and no extra family members to play with our kids.
• Lydia came home with a MAJOR twang in her speech... thanks to all the time in IN, TN, and GA!
• How well the kids did with all the changes. And how well I did with all the changes :) I knew they would be OK, but 95% of the time they handled everything so well. I love you guys!
• I still want to spend time with Rollie. We were barely ever apart and I'm still so glad that he's going to be home with us for 2 more weeks.
• We can't wait to do it again! We're ready to start saving for our next trip in 6 years! We're thinking of a week in Italy sans kids, and maybe camping at some national parks with everyone.

We'll leave you with this picture as a final thought on our sabbatical trip:

THANK YOU for joining us on this journey!

(we'll still be doing blog updates these next few weeks before Rollie goes back to work

with our family shennanigans and new recipes)