Transitions and farewells

I feel like this past year has been a huge transition year for us, and even as hard as living in transition can be it has been such a great year growing together and being around family for a year. Even though we've spent most of our year living on the road and out of a suitcase, I am beyond thankful for what this year gave us, especially with family.
My first niece Evelyn (Kalee and Dillon's first) was born 6 weeks after I arrived in East Asia, my first year there. A super early comer she was as she wasn't due until mid December and came September 30. So, living overseas for two years, we didn't really know each other, other than by our skype dates and the summer I came home and held her nonstop. This year of being home has been such a blast with her. She started walking just in time to walk down the aisle for our wedding, we got to celebrate her 2nd birthday at the beach, and we spent many days with her playing on her new bike and pretend cooking eggs. (She has a fascination with eggs)

This year not only gave me time with Evelyn but also time with her sister, Collins, my second niece. She of course also came early but not quite as early as Evelyn. I remember getting the call while at a Bible study with some friends of ours in clayton and immediately getting on the computer booking my flight home to be there for it all. I didn't just get to be there when she entered the world, but I also got to spend about a week there in the hospital with her and kalee! I will never forget the joy of holding her in the nicu and getting to feed her each day. I know she doesn't really know much about me yet and her view of knowing me will be from Evelyn telling her about me and our Skype dates, but you just can't take away the joy and connection I have to her by being there and being a part of everything.

As hard as farewells are and are becoming for me here lately, they bring experiences that I don't think I would have ever intentionally had with these two girls if I wasn't leaving them for several years. Just last week, we went to stay with the Peaks before flying to Colorado and Kalee let us come take the girls out of daycare for the afternoon. Words can't express how fun it was to go sneak into Evelyn's room and pick her up from nap time. Now, her excitement was very limited when we drove off and left mama at work, haha. But, after about 10 minutes of screaming "ba ba" she fell back asleep and awoke very excited to see her larlar and shushu!

We spent the afternoon having tea parties, cooking in Evie's kitchen, dressing and undressing our dolls, pointing out colors, and just having fun together laughing and hugging. By far the best part of it all was after dinner when she crawled up on the couch beside me and we watched Mickey Mouse clubhouse on my computer for about 2 hours straight! That experience was a great farewell as my time with her from here on is more limited. I hope for more time of cuddling on the couch watching shows but if it doesn't get to happen again, I have a great memory to always remember with her.

Another great thing about my last year with Evelyn is that she is now becoming a phone talker where even when I would be in North Carolina sometimes and she would be staying at my parents house, she would call to talk. Most times it was just a hey and a I love you but about a month ago it was a conversation! She told me she was at her papa and hoddie's house and told me a few things she had done that day and that she loved me. Now talk about melting my heart! That was when I realized that my not being here with her for 3+ years isn't going to stop our relationship together. Even though I will be a world away from her she can talk to me and it will grow to be much longer than I love you! We can still watch Mickey Mouse together one day, maybe not laying on the couch together but as she grows more and more she can tell me more and more about her new school and new home in Tennessee and most importantly she can tell Collins about larlar and shushu! I long for the day when she is older and we might just be able to convince her mama and daddy to let her come spend her summer with us at camp larlar and shushu! What a joy that will be!
Now, as great as this farewell stage has been so far, I know that come the end of July it will be heartbreaking. We are excited to meet our first nephew and Mallory (my sister) and Ron's first child, Hudson, and to spend a week with him. But, we know of all the kids, he will have the least memories of who we are. So, as hard as it will be to say goodbye to someone we just met, we will trust The Lord he will not forget who we are through the years of Skype and phone calls and he will love us just as much as Evelyn and Collins do. We won't be there in person for his big milestones but we know we will be just as much a part of his life as everyone else around us. I am most definitely already extremely partial to him as his name is so great! And I pray for him that he will one day be known for great works for the kingdom much like the Hudson who went before him many years ago. I long to one day be able to tell him stories of Hudson Taylor's work for The Lord and to have him come experience the life he lived with us. Hudson Davis Kelley you are and will always be very special to me.

13,000 miles of our life

So, we've been very MIA on the blog and so I figured the best way to show why would be a map of all of our travels these past 5 months. Halfway into mapping our travels I ran out of destinations on google maps so I had to improphize to show the journey just not how many times we took it or our stops in between points. Since Christmas we have put over 13,000 miles on our car and this is what that looks like....

So, now I think you will know why my blogging opportunities have been slim, ha. I will have to say that as much as I might have complained along the way from living "out of our car/suitcase" at times these past 5 months have been such a blast and incredible time, seeing the Lord work in incredible ways and growing closer to each other in our marriage.

No, I will not bore you with the details of each journey but I will share some highlights from these trips with you all....

While in Florida for the month of January and beginning of February we met some incredible friends who we are incredibly blessed to now have as a part of our lives. I love having friends who can relate completely to this stage of life that we are in now as they are living it too.

We got to celebrate our first Valentine's Day together as a couple by cooking some chinese food while back home in North Carolina and I got to experience the life of living in a state that gets SNOW! These you can read more about in previous blogs where I was better at sharing.

We got to visit Lenoir Rhyne and see the impact Harrison has had on the students there as he is a legend that lives on with many of the guys there. And, go to a wedding in Johnson City of one of those college friends!

We also got to visit Harrison's college roommate and wife in Knoxville,TN and spend a few days there with them. It was incredible to see how many people we met who were excited to hear about what we are doing in East Asia!

From Knoxville we returned to North Carolina to have the pleasure of the arrival of my mom and sister and 2 nieces for a youth spaghetti dinner fundraiser held for us at our church in Clayton... and man was that an incredible weekend! The youth have all become such a huge part of our lives and it was awesome being honored by them as they acted out a skit about us. And, we got to take my nieces to the Marbles museum in Raleigh which was an adventure for sure!

The weekend before Easter, we rushed to Alabama for the last few days of my "memaw's" life. Sitting by her bedside singing hymns as she prepared to meet the Lord and my Pawpaw in heaven was a memory I will always be thankful for the Lord blessing me with. She was such an incredible influence in my life as she most definitely spoiled me rotten!

Our wedding was at Memaw's house

While in the Alabama area the month of April we spent a lot of our time on the road. Visiting family and friends in Birmingham several times as well as Montgomery and Auburn.

We bought baby chicks for Easter that lived about 3 weeks until the dogs attacked one night

Celebrated the soon to be born Baby Kelley!

Got to spend lots of time with this cutie and on her new bke!

We also ventured to Louisiana to visit a church there to share and to get a mini one day vacation in New Orleans while on our way back to Alabama!

Then on to Nashville to meet with friends there and Harrison ran his first 1/2 marathon! I ran the mini marathon too. In the cold rain but it was lots of fun!

From Nashville we headed to Montgomery to celebrate my mom's birthday!

Then it was on to Dothan, AL then Destin, FL where we got to visit with our East Asia friends and see friends we had not seen in years!

After Destin we had a daycation with Kalee and Dillon and the girls at the Georgia aquarium and then at the braves game! Chop Chop!

 After the braves trip we were headed North stopping in Norcross, GA for a 3 day conference with our great friends from our life group in FL and many others!

Once back in North Carolina we spent Mother's Day at the beach with Harrison's parents!

And.... Harrison got his braces off!!!!

And then the packing-up-our-life week began as we packed or sold all of our belongings!

After the packing and selling was over we headed back down to Alabama for one of my best friends' wedding and some family time.