Our Week in NC

Some of you may remember, we moved from Wake Forest, NC to Alabama last August as Will was finishing his M. Div (seminary degree) and took a position as college pastor. Well, this past January Will was accepted into a phd program and he will have seminars every January and August for the next two years.

This past week Israel and I joined Will in Wake Forest as he had class every day from Friday- Friday (with Sunday off!). Because we moved from here just a year ago, it was great to catch up with some friends that we miss!

Here's some of the things we (mainly Israel and I) did:

• Stayed with my sister and her family on the way up - got to hang out with Israel's cousins!

 
• Hotel mixup: got to our hotel for the week and had to change hotels. I had to make this decision on my own because Will was in class and couldn't be reached. It was a long story but it ended up working out much better!
• Because of the hotel mixup, we had to bunk with our friends the Moores on Friday, and they were the most gracious hosts ever. Seriously, I don't think I've ever "made myself at home" quite like our stay at their house. Thanks Adam & Ashley!

• A little shopping trip to H & M for some stylish baby clothes for little man.
• Saturday night church, visiting with some friends and meeting their new babies, eating dinner after church with friends.
• At church: introducing Israel to Isaiah, the sweet boy whose adoption journey opened our hearts to adoption!

• Sunday morning hanging with Will - enjoying family time in the pool, lots of snuggles in the hotel room!
• A great visit with my friend Courtney who left the next day to meet her daughter at Hannah's Hope on their first trip!
• A visit to my old office- it was so fun catching up with my coworkers and to show off Israel. They had celebrated with us as we counted down our waitlist numbers and just missed our referral when we moved. 
• An afternoon with Ashley watching Downton Abbey while my son took the longest nap ever. I even checked him for breathing because it was so long! Ashley let us do laundry at her house- as I said earlier, she's the best!
• Frozen dinners in the hotel room- thankful for a microwave and fridge so we don't have to eat out every night!
• Afternoon with my childhood best friend, Joanna.
• Dinner with our friends, the Strains. 
• A morning play date with Julie & Judah Forrest. Judah came home from Hannah's Hope last summer!

• Lunch with my friend Sarah!
• Lots of silly play time in the hotel.

• Israel's first trip to the ER and the children's hospital- where we remained from Wednesday night to Friday morning.

• Friday afternoon at the Strothmann's house.
• Friday night- HEADED HOME! After a long and very eventful week, we were so ready to be back in AL. We stopped briefly in Charlotte to break up our trek home but we finally made it home on Saturday afternoon after many adventures in the car. Glad to be back.

I must compliment my son: he did AMAZING all week! From the 10 hour car rides, to sleeping in a pack and play for the first time, to sharing a room with us and sleeping (while we had the hotel light on, the olympics on in the background, and his noise machine going!). He is the best kid ever.

The only downfall of the week was our hospital visit, which I'll blog about soon. It's still a little raw and we're still dealing with some sickness! Please give us grace to lay low for a while.