Okinawa Arrival

After more than 24 hours of travel, we made it to Okinawa, Japan. In our first day here, we have enjoyed the F-15 fighter jets on the Kadena Air Force Base where we are staying, Japanese ramen and toilets at the very large mall, local Okinawan ice cream and a Japanese city park complete with a very fun roller slide. We are so happy to be with family but missing Drew who had to go to Vegas for work but will join us Sunday for the remainder of the trip.

Fall Frenzy

So much fun and fellowship has been had this fall, Here it is in pictures!


Our sweet baby boy is an outside lover, which fits in quite well with our family. 

We enjoyed having around 300 people at our house for the 2nd annual Family Fall Kickoff, which we put on in partnership with our church and our family ministries. We had great weather, an awesome band, delicious dinner and then we sent all the kids home covered in dirt, hay and farm sweat!


I enjoyed hosting a baby shower with my momma for my baby brother and his lovely wife who are expecting their first baby in December. 


Here they are glowing with excitement! We are excited to meet our new niece.


I had a great time chaperoning Leila's first middle school field trip to Tangier Island. What a neat place!


It's so great when they're being kind to one another. 


We enjoyed a day in Charlottesville visiting with some of our dear friends and family. Here's Benaiah and Christian (we met the first day of college and have been friends ever since). 


And here's me with Christian's 2nd oldest, Ann Elise, who also happens to be my God-daughter. 


The rest of our Charlottesville visit included a childhood cancer walk in honor of my cousin's son who is in remission, and a 1st birthday party for his baby sister, Caroline, pictured here with Mary-Michael. 


Sleepover fun with the Lighty girls (a family of 5 kids adopted from 3 different continents).  


This is a beautiful picture of adoption with both Niger and Colombia represented. It's such a blessing to have so many families that "get" adoption and have a heart for these kids. 


Celebrating Granddad's birthday in Mathews!


Taco Tuesday always needs sombreros. 


MUMS had our annual pumpkin patch play date, and the corn pit was definitely Benaiah's favorite part. 


While Leila was away on MCC's youth retreat, I took the 2 middle kids to my dad's for lunch with Nana. 


They enjoyed some pumpkin carving with Poppy.


We went bowling with a few close friends for Halloween this year and the kids agreed they had way more fun than trick-or-treating, so I think we've found a new tradition. 


We were so excited to be a part of our church's 1st SERVE day, which involved more than 400 people completing more than 50 projects throughout Hanover and the city of Richmond. Here are our big kids working in the food pantry. 


And fall would not be complete without our cows escaping multiple times to neighboring farms. We know animal control and our neighbors better and better each year. 


This is "crazy cow" - the one we cannot catch. 


Fall also means it's time for the wood stove - everyone favorite hangout spot. 

School 2019-20

Everyone in the same school, everyone on the same school schedule and holiday breaks, everyone sharing memories together about pep rallies and art class, everyone wearing uniforms or crazy clothes on the same silly, dress-up days - these are just a few things we are experiencing for the first time as our children all started school this year. We are very thankful for Aylett's offer of scholarships to bring our whole family together under one roof of this small but delightful school that has been a big blessing for Leila and her academic needs. Aylett goes up to 8th grade, and then we will likely be off schedule again with Leila heading to the local high school, but until then...here we go, all together, with a very thankful daddy and momma cheering them on. 

The Summer Days of August

From Geoff's 40th birthday to the beach and beyond, we finished summer well and are heading into the fall feeling very blessed for the many adventures we went on and the memories we made. When I think that I really only get about 18 summers with each of my children, it reminds me how fast their childhood goes. This perspective helped me on those hard, "please stop touching me," "she looked at me funny" kind of days. 


It was awesome to celebrate my amazing husband with so many friends and family. Though he was slightly uncomfortable, many came with stories of how Geoff has made a difference in their life, encouraged them to dream, pushed them toward Jesus and showed great grace through the way he lives and loves people. Of course, there were some funny stories mixed in, but hearing the impact he is making made me very thankful to be his wife. 

Birthday brownies to accompany ice cream sundaes were requested by the birthday boy. 


Some of the many children excited to share in the birthday treat.


The kids spent several days this summer "working with Daddy." Some days they actually worked and other days they played and enjoyed the Gatorade and Chick-fil-a. 


We spent out 3rd year with 4 other families from church in Nags Head, which meant a daily trip to get ice cream. Sweet Abi (in the middle) left us halfway through the week to head to her first year at Liberty. 


So many children meant so much laughter and games. 


The water was quite cold most of the week, but we still enjoyed it. 


Benaiah especially loved the beach! He loved the water, no matter what the temperature was. This kept us busy!


He also loves his buddy, Stella. Here they are getting ready to go to dinner. 

This year we ate out just once as a family. Before we even received our meal, we remembered why we had made that decision. The kids did better eating at home with Daddy and Blake as the chefs. 


Such a cute beach baby.


Very thankful for each of these special individuals. 


When we weren't on the beach, the ladies were exercising with an online barre class. Check out my helper. 


August at our church means our At The Movies series is hoppin'. This is when we welcome lots of people from the community to check out our church and communicate through modern-day movies the great love God has for them. Geoff worked hard on all the sets and here's Leila as a minion one Sunday.


To prepare for the upcoming school year, many moms and children from my MUMS group gathered to pray over our schools, the administrators, the teachers and all of our students. 


August gave us some cooler days, so we were able to enjoy several after dinner fires on the porch. And when there are fires, there are always marshmallows.


Labor Day meant some final trips to the lake and Nonnie and Grandad's pool. 


The 2 big boys traveled to Texas over Labor Day to celebrate Grandpa's 70th birthday and Geoff's 40th birthday. The Lawrence boys (Grandpa, Geoff, Kameron and Frazier) gathered to go white wing dove hunting, which is something Geoff has very fond memories of as a kid. 


Frazier was very proud of the 3 he shot down all on his own. 


He also experienced horseback riding on the ranch owned by some friends of Grandma and Grandpa. 


And finally a tour at the famous King Ranch along with an afternoon trip to Mexico rounded out their long weekend in south Texas.