A Weekend with the Zs

We spent a fun weekend celebrating Andrew's birthday with Grandma and Baba Z. We explored one of our favorite places here--the Durham Life and Science Museum. It's so much fun and has a great variety of hands-on learning and playing opportunities. 

Thanks for coming and spoiling our sweet, crazy, one in a million Andrew!

Building a House

We are building a house in Chatham County, NC. It means all kinds of things to us right now--patience with temporary housing, excitement in seeing it go from dirt to what you see below, frustration that it is taking way to long, flexibility with planning, joy in envisioning what we will do. That only names a handful of the feelings of the last 2 months. So far we love NC. We have been impressed with friendly people, less traffic, fun activities, and new friends. We went and saw the house this morning and it looks great!  Our general contractor even let the kids add something a little extra to make this house their home:

VA to NC Transition

We left Virginia on the last day of school. We had packed out and cleaned the house so I had a few hours to fill with Lydia and Andrew not in our home. It was a great day so we played at the library, played at the park, and had a picnic lunch. One of my good friends met us to say goodbye and then we rushed off to pick up the big kids and head down to Williamsburg. 

Abby's awesome class memorized Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech. You can watch it here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cdbgGfY8mnE

We went to Busch Gardens on Saturday and had a much-needed family fun carefree day. Roy and Sam went on all the scary big people rides while I hung out with everyone else and had a great time together. We took Andrew on his first train ride, which failed to impress him. 

The girls were so cute and invited Andrew to do the hot air balloons. They all had the best time!

And then we were back on the road after church to come to our new, but still temporary home in North Carolina. 

Here's what our house looked like in June:

Then they poured foundation about 3 weeks ago and we got this dropped off:

And then, thankfully, all this happened this week and this is what the house looks like today: 

We can breath a little easier as we see the process continue. We also completely recognize and try to express gratitude for the guidance and help we have received along the way. This experience of buying and selling in VA, Roy changing jobs, moving to at least 2 temporary housing places, and other hard experiences this summer has taught me more patience and how to better trust Heavenly Father. As crazy and annoying as it has been at times, I have also felt that He has been lifting is every single step. This is one of those times in our lives that I feel the truth of "we've proved Him in days that are past". He has helped us in the last few months and I know He will keep doing so. 

Exploring UNC

We have done a few trips to campus. Can I just say once again how great it is that we can get to Roy in 15 minutes?!?  Love it!  There are several fun science things we have been able to enjoy and cool things to look at in these old campus buildings. I can see why people have fallen in love with this school. 

Andrew Turns 2!

We celebrated Andrew's 2nd birthday on Friday by going to his favorite place: the Marbles Museum in Raleigh. It has so much fun stuff, but his favorites are the giant train table and the basketball room. He had a blast!

I forced him to take a picture with me. You can tell how thrilled he was to be held when there was important playing to be done!

Grandma Mambo and AC (my grandma and aunt) sent money.  He was so happy!

He sat with Roy to open gifts without complaining. He was so excited to tear into the big gift of the Duplos train.  Please note his new smile. Little stinker. 

We went to Target on Saturday and he got to spend his money on new trains. He was so happy!

I can't believe Andrew is 2. But it also feels like he's always been here. He's really developing a unique and sometimes crazy personality and has recently started teasing us. He's such a cute guy and we are so grateful he is in our family and that we got to spend the weekend celebrating him!

Andrew Turns 2!

We celebrated Andrew's 2nd birthday on Friday by going to his favorite place: the Marbles Museum in Raleigh. It has so much fun stuff, but his favorites are the giant train table and the basketball room. He had a blast!

I forced him to take a picture with me. You can tell how thrilled he was to be held when there was important playing to be done!

Grandma Mambo and AC (my grandma and aunt) sent money.  He was so happy!

He sat with Roy to open gifts without complaining. He was so excited to tear into the big gift of the Duplos train.  Please note his new smile. Little stinker. 

We went to Target on Saturday and he got to spend his money on new trains. He was so happy!

I can't believe Andrew is 2. But it also feels like he's always been here. He's really developing a unique and sometimes crazy personality and has recently started teasing us. He's such a cute guy and we are so grateful he is in our family and that we got to spend the weekend celebrating him!