stop number 3: lori's house!

the road trip chronicles continue! after leaving savannah, the kids and i traveled on to my dear friend lori's house. it was such a treat to visit her beautiful home and to be a part of (translate: throw a kink in...) her family's routine for a few days. lori's 3 children are such a delight... i had so much fun watching them talk to and play with ethan and caroline. they completely entertained my kiddos! from puppet shows to building with blocks to ring around the rosy, ethan had a ball. he sat at the table and did "school time" with lori's 3 yr old while the older kids worked on their home school assignments. we went to their neighborhood pool, which was becoming the theme of our visits! (um, our neighborhood pool is a blue kiddie pool on our back porch!) ethan also loved walking up and down the stairs in their house. he was so excited at any opportunity to travel up the stairs, and he counted them on the way down... evvvvvvvvvvery time! i think there are 20 steps in the stairs, but then again, there may be "fourteen, fourteen, sixteen!" :) i think lori's whole family caught baby fever thanks to chubby lil' caroline!! her 7 yr old daughter said several times, "oh caroline! i could stare at your beautiful sapphire blue eyes all day long!" hilarious. i never had to ask twice for someone to watch caroline for a minute while i ran upstairs for something (with ethan behind me happily climbing the stairs...haha!). thanks, lori and family, for being so wonderful to us during our visit!


i love visiting lori for many reasons, one of which is that we are SO MUCH alike and it's just a ton of fun and we never stop talking!! but another reason is that lori is such a mentor to me, a sister in Christ who is walking this same road with me but is a few miles ahead in the journey. i learn volumes from lori just by the way she runs her house and talks to her children. i see how God has blessed her efforts to be intentional in her parenting and how her children are truly a joy. not perfect, but a joy! yes i saw them argue (i mean, i WAS there 3 days!), but i also witnessed grace, forgiveness, and reconciliation in such a form that i rarely see in siblings. after being in her home for 3 days, i want to sit lori down and learn everything she's done with her children so that i can do the same! we had many wonderful "iron sharpening iron" conversations about parenting and marriage during my too-short visit. praise God for her honest and humble example... i am always encouraged after time spent with lori. here are some pictures from our little visit.


ok, the picture above is wonderfully hilarious because lori's husband is adamantly opposed to apple products. his opinion is that "macs are inferior machines" (hasn't he seen the commercials??), and he scowls anytime i bring my laptop into his home. :) i laugh at this because that is the exact attitude that brian has about any windows-based computer. :) so there is always a bit of mac/pc banter when i come to visit... i was pretty proud that i captured this picture of 2 of his children happily using my powerbook!








we miss you guys! ethan was saying your names as we drove away from your house, and he still asks for puppet shows... thanks for a memorable visit!

one more stop on my road trip!!