Travels and Such

All I can say is, everyone here went through a bought of illness, Micah had an out of town trip, and then we all traveled as a family to Minneapolis, MN. That should explain the lack of writing I have done over the past few weeks!

Now to break it all down, we did all get something seasonal related. Isaac got the worst of it. He ended up with breathing treatments and steroids. Again, we are thankful for medications that help when all else fails.

During our passing illness, Micah had to be out of town on a business trip. I have to say, it was one of the most trying weeks of my life having all babies sick at the same time. My one mommy-to-three babies limitations were tried and tested over and over again. There were moments when I had no idea how to get from point A to point B, but just like the symptoms, those moments passed. Sometimes God provided a helping hand by way of good friends and other times He simply carried us all. God was gracious in helping me adjust my expectations and enjoy days spent in two rooms of the house, humidifier blaring. I made it through the babies first infection, thankful they were big enough to handle it overall. It is amazing to me that God has kept them well for over seven months.

Micah returned and almost immediately, we left for Minnesota; estimated travel time (without triplets) 13 hours away. It was my first trip north of Chicago. The babies spent their first night in a hotel.

The next day we drove primarily through Wisconsin, explaining our accents and threatening to find someone... ANYone, make friends, and see if they are up for company for about a week!  During this season of life, every stop lasts at least an hour and a half as we feed everyone and change the babies.  That adds three hours if we stop twice on a trip.  You do the math~  The boys were troopers.

When we finally made it, I was reminded why in the world we would do such a thing. We all had a blast with friends. Our children love their time together and I daresay the adults do too.  Good friends who know who we are, see our faults and love us anyway are rare treasures.  During our visit, we were fed well, went on a shopping trip (the gals), a conference (the guys), visited an aquarium, attended an Andrew Peterson concert, got lost driving in downtown (Tiffany and kiddos), and did a host of other things.      

These are some of my favorite pics from the trip:

The looming wind turbines in Indiana.

The boys' favorite store in the Mall of America.

Our reunion with our friends, the Wolters.  Jaime was one of the first to know we were having three babies.  She lovingly kept the boys for us that particular day.  This was the first time she and Doug met Isaac, Eliana, and Isabella after praying for them so fervently.

Andrew and Elijah love roller coasters!

Moms and kiddos

Friends~ fearfully, and wonderfully made and showing their unique personalities.

All smiles!

Dear friends.

The city of Minneapolis as we drove away, showing its fall colors.

While we were away, Miss Isabella began saying "Da Da"!  All those months of trying to teach Ma Ma have again resulted in another child's first words NOT being Ma Ma.  I guess I can't blame her... he really is a good guy.  I have new family pictures I will be posting soon.  The babies are 8 months old today and I can't wait to share just how much they have grown! 

In other news...  I remember several things about working in nursing homes during high school and college. People age- and as a result of seeing just how much we age, I decided to never ever get a tattoo. When you have seen what the lack of skin elasticity, thinning, and decreased cell renovation does to butterflies and "I love Mom" penned on various parts of the body, it is easy to come to that conclusion. I don't appear on the surface to be much of a tattooed gal. I wear clothes from The Loft and homeschool for crying out loud!  However, a friend of mine and I have been talking about it for years. And when it came up again recently, I got a little excited about it. The good thing about waiting until you are 30+ is that no one can accuse me of impulsiveness!  Honestly, I thought maybe I was too old for such a cool thing.  It dawned me that it might serve a profound purpose; reminding me visibly of Whose I am. While I love the identities God has given me, the most important is that indeed, I am ~in Christ~ a daughter of the King.  I know I need to be reminded of this daily and for me, this is an artistic way. I understand it isn't for everyone.  Now that it is done, I would definitely make the same choice again.  We'll see what my ankle looks like in 20 years or so but I am hoping it holds up:)

  
So there you have it~ a hodge-podge of Child Family news. Praying each of you are experiencing God's love and peace as we settle in to fall.