Two Weeks Too Long

Earlier this month, Cale traveled for two weeks to Venezuela on business. The first day Daddy was gone, Averie asked several times when Daddy would come home. "ToMoRrOw? nO. ThE nExT dAy? nO. ThE nExT dAy? nO." This of course was a hard concept to grasp at 3 years old. It was very sad actually because 14 days seemed SOOOOOO long even to me! We made this advent calendar chain to help us ALL count down the days before Daddy's return.

My wonderful friend from high school, Elizabeth, came to spend a full week with us while Cale was gone. It was such a blessing to have her come and get to know our children again. Averie, Kempton, and Brenna all bonded with her and it helped pass the time quickly while Daddy was gone. She was a huge help to me and always took initiative to just do whatever needed to be done. We of course stayed up way too late (1, 2, 3 am) talking and reminiscing. Thank goodness for Diet Dr. Pepper the next day!

Thank you Elizabeth for sacrificing a full weeks worth of teaching to come and spend time with all of us! You are a gem!

You can feel the excitement everyone felt as they saw Daddy walk in the door.

Averie said this as Daddy tucked her into bed the night he arrived home, "DaDdY, dOn'T eVeR nEvEr EvEr Go tO VeNeZuElA aGaIn!"

Shortly after Daddy's arrival home, we were fortunate enough to be visited by sweet Julia (and of course her great parents Scott and Becky). We had an enjoyable time talking late and preparing ourselves for our 10 year reunion coming up in October! :) Scott and Becky are definitely my favorite people, they brought loads of their favorite icecream all the way from Ohio to share. And you all know how much I LoOoOoOoOoOve icecream!