I Survived....

Don't ask me why, but I felt like I just survived school registration.  I think I got quite spoiled in Oklahoma when they needed a birth certificate, vaccination records and registration form.  Plus, there were no "school fees", which was quite surprising since I grew up in the Midwest and my parents paid those each year.  I had no idea how easy I had it until yesterday.

Yesterday, was the big school registration day.  For months, I'd been collecting all the forms and getting all the boxes checked off.  We'd done required eye, dental and physical exams with the correct forms filled out.  We had birth certificates and proof of who we were and proof of where we lived (times two).  All of this was in triplicate form.  So, with my folder holding the required forms (in triplicate) and my checkbook (because school fees are pretty hefty here), I headed to the school to register my trio.  Thankfully, I had done everything I could beforehand, but for some reason they still had forms for me to fill out - of course 3 of the 4 needed to be done in triplicate.  I should have counted how many times I wrote our address and phone number.  From the moment I walked into the building and until I left, I was there 1 1/2 hours and none of that was socializing (I know some of you may be surprised by that...)

I couldn't help thinking time and again that there has to be a better way especially with all the technology we have today.  I'm pretty sure there is a more efficient way, but for now, I'm glad we're done for this year and hopefully, it will be much easier during the rest of our stay here.  Now, we're getting excited for that first day of school that's too quickly approaching!

Meramec State Park

 Meramec River

We love to go camping as a family.  Now, I do draw a line...no primitive for me.  We've come really close a time or two, but I do like a flush toilet and a shower.  It's so easy to pick up our tent and sleeping bags along with a bit of food and off we go.  However, we hadn't been yet this summer.  We had just a couple of days before the next big event on our calendar so off we went to investigate what Missouri state parks are like.  We were not disappointed.  They were beautiful!

It was so good for us to get away for a couple of days.  We arrived, ate lunch and then Chris and I just sat and slept the rest of the afternoon.  I guess that's what moving will do to you...  We had a good time of watching the kids play along with the deer and the fireflies in the evening.  We took a couple of hikes and checked out the caves in the park.  Even though they'd seen the much larger and grand Carlsbad Caverns National Park,  I think they enjoyed this one so much because they gave them each a flashlight and everything was much closer to investigate.  Plus, the story of the bear getting lost and someone later finding the skeleton really helped the awesomeness of the place! (according to Luke)

We weren't there long, but we would definitely go back or maybe we'll try out another one of their state parks in the future.

 Obviously, one huge tree!

 Just a pretty view

 The smaller of the two caves for us to investigate on our own.  We had a lantern with us, but the kids were quite uncertain about the whole thing...that's why they're so close to Chris.

 Obviously, one tall tree! (that's Hannah on Chris's shoulders)

 Luke

 Hannah

Andrew

You Never Know....

Who you may see at a stop light!

The other evening we "randomly" decided to go walk through a few stores - not something we regularly do of an evening.  We were stopped at a stop light in a rather heavily traveled intersection when someone was honking at us (I wasn't even paying attention).  Chris asked me if we knew anyone here...my thought was "no" we just moved here, but there are a few lovely families that we do know.  Then Chris hesitated and said it looked like a family from our Sunday School class and sweet friends that we knew in Altus, Oklahoma and who still live there (just a few hundred miles from us!).  I turned around and it was them waving like crazy to get our attention!  What a fun surprise in a sea of a lot of unfamiliar.  They were in town visiting another family they know.  We didn't even know they were going to be here.  Anyway, it was fun to see them, chat a moment and take a picture.

As I reflected on the evening, I keep thinking "how did that happen?".  It was so very random.  The only clear explanation to me is that it was a "God thing".  I don't know why He gave us that gift, but it was sweet and fun and for that I am thankful!

An Outing

After all the hard work, I wanted us to have some "play" time with my parents and nephews so we took one day to take in some of the sights.  Chris had found a park across the river from the Arch that we wanted to check out.  I'm pretty sure I couldn't get you there again, but the sight was well worth it. Afterwards, we went to Grant's Farm.  It is such a nice little place to visit.  We really enjoyed the Clydesdales, but the biggest hits were the animal shows.  The kids really enjoyed seeing those.  If you want to go in the summer, I would highly suggest going first thing in the morning.  I couldn't believe how many were there as we were leaving to enjoy our quiet, picnic lunch.  They were waiting to cross the street!  They were in for a long wait even after they got across...

 The gang...next time the picture will be more complete with my nieces included in the picture

The kids also enjoyed the goats.  I have to say that the goats really enjoyed Chris the most...his shorts, his shirt, his shoes, his watch....  The goats were not really interested in the kids at all.

Moving In

Waiting...this tree has already been a source of much entertainment (Andrew doesn't usually climb it, though and wasn't overly thrilled in this picture...)

Our moving in day was much anticipated.  It seemed like this move took awhile.  We had been packed out about a week before we left town and then it was a few more days after we arrived that we received our household goods.  We were ready to be "home" (more thoughts on that later...).  Plus, this day was eagerly awaited as my parents were coming to join the fun as well as my two nephews.  It was a crazy day, but so fun and productive.  Waiting for the truck was the hardest part, but the Legos and Grandpa and Grandma ran a very close second.  I can't tell you how thankful I was to have my parents help unload boxes and take on the jungle of our landscaping.  They worked really hard  the few days they were here and the kids played hard with their cousins as well.  We are so looking forward to many more times together with all of them, but I promise they won't always have to work.

It's here with the first items coming off the truck!

Chris's seat for much of the day.  If you haven't done a move like this, that is all one person gets to do - sit and mark off the numbers of the boxes to make sure that it all arrives.  I was inside directing the movers as to where to put things.  That's why it was so nice to have my parents unload some of the boxes so we could at least eat dinner that night and sleep in our own beds.

Hot Springs National Park

We took the scenic route on our way to our new home.  It was quite the route, but it was a great way to see part of the country we had not seen before.  We were in two vehicles, which is always one of the unfortunate parts of moving, so it made the drive even more interesting.  See for a big part of the trip we were out of cell phone coverage and somehow we only had one of our GPS's (the other got packed...) and I had no atlas in my vehicle.  So, it was a good lesson in trust - trusting that I would make it to my destination.  Chris set his watch for every 10 minutes to make sure I was still with him and I was.  I wasn't sure how all that would work, but it did and now I laugh about it. 

Anyway, all that to say that we took the scenic route to Hot Springs National Park.  We were really there long enough to eat and walk around, but it was a good stop for us.  As Chris says, it lives up to his name.  I was surprised to hear, though, that it comes out of the ground at 143 degrees and they cool it to 90-100 for us.  That is hot!

One of the natural hot springs that they still leave in its natural state (not covered up for conservation purposes)

 Just some pretty flowers....

 This building was photogenic

 The springs they use now and how they preserve the springs - yes, not so pretty

A beautiful drive up the mountain

Moving Out

Well, our move is nearly complete...at least the physical portion.  There is still much to do in terms of meeting friends, finding a church and settling into our a new school and neighborhood.  All went quite smoothly, though, and all that hot Oklahoma weather wasn't here to taunt us this time around (it was over 100 the day - ok, the entire summer - we moved to Oklahoma).

The whole process went quite smoothly without any stories to tell.  That is an answer to prayer.  You never  know.  When the kids were concerned whether they would see their stuff again, I could only assure them that they likely would, but it is just stuff and that it was possible that something could happen to it.  Thankfully, nothing did, but it did give them something to think about.

So without further ado, here are a few pictures of our Altus departure.

  Boxes are so much to play around (it is short lived, though...)

 Some disassembly work by Luke

 Big semis are great photo-ops for the trio and great discussion topics for the neighbors (it's easy to get into a cul-de-sac, but how do you get it out?)

 One last social gathering in the hall of the hotel while our kids slept.  This was our last night together with these friends as they left for their new assignment the next day and we left the following day.