Family Photos

We had the opportunity to have a photographer come to the house to capture our family of four. We are so thankful for these beautiful photos and for how well the photographer captured the early days of Maya's life. We are enjoyed this cute, snuggly addition to our family!

Another Unexpected Goodbye

Our silver Honda

An ode to a teammate that won't be coming with us...

Going through this process, it is amazing the things that bring about an emotional response. Today we continued to process of showing people our car to sell. It is our last physical thing tying us to this country and has been our "home away from home" for this entire journey. She isn't new or flashy, but she has been as committed to this journey as we have. She's a real trooper.

Loaded up in front of the lake

In the last 18 months, she has been through a lot. She has seen many, many oil changes. We had one major repair where she had an entire valve job done. We also had other smaller repairs along the way, each with their own adventure story. She hauled a canoe up to the BWCAW for our canoe trip last summer and has carried our bikes through many states. As we traveled, we first packed every inch of the car with everything we thought we would need. Slowly over time, we realized that we weren't using everything we had with us and we slowly paired down. She was a champ all the way through.

Leaving MN on our last road trip.

Back in 2007, Bethany picked me up from Midway airport in this car for my first visit to see her. And once we were dating, we drove back and forth to MN several times to visit family and friends. Our memories with this car go way back.

Somewhere along the way, Bethany and I realized that we have traveled enough miles in our car to gain airline style "status." We get priority boarding and virtually unlimited check bags. Plus we get to be in first class seating in row 1 every time! 

In all of this, our Honda Civic has represented freedom and flexibility for us. We could travel anywhere we needed to go in it. God has provided through this car for us in so many ways. It was reliable and rarely broke down even as we put so many miles on her. I will forever treasure the memories that Bethany and I have built listening to podcasts and hitting the open road together. Goodbye old friend.

Celebrating 3 Years

Time flies when you're having fun! And that has certainly been true for us since we tied the knot 3 years ago today. Marriage has been a fun and wonderful adventure for us, and we've learned so much about ourselves and each other since April 18, 2009. Our marriage has been full of a LOT of change, as most of you know...but it has only brought us closer and taught us how to do life together, no matter the circumstances.

Here are some photos from our special day 3 years ago...