Saying My Goodbyes

Goodbye to... the zinnias in the front bed that Adah loves to grab, the view of the fields from our backyard, Snowball (one of two cats I have ever liked) relaxing on our car, the short walk down the farm road to the Murrays house, the pond with its loud toads, the pigs and their silliness, Sali and Belle in their big white fluffy coats, the sweet screened in porch, Jamie and the kids randomly popping in to say hello, the biggest kitchen in the world(!), the rowdy cows, being an hour's drive from Raleigh friends, the crazy hens and their scrumptious eggs, the freshest of produce you can get, the lovely coop grocery store: Company Shops Market, beautiful sunsets over the fields, the friendliest of neighbors Gary and Wanda, Harley the german shepherd patrolling the premisses, dear friends Danny, Grace and baby girl Anna, the short forty minute zip to Aunt Lauren and Uncle Brad's house along with the weekly hangouts for Adah and Eva, the Durham Farmers Market, picking strawberries and blackberries from essentially our backyard, the quirkiness of our lovely home with its beautiful uniqueness, the sound of cars pulling down the gravel driveway, baby chicks chirping, the Saxapahaw General Store, the greenhouse teeming with life in spring, the creepy basement I avoided at night, the fruit vine wallpaper in the kitchen, the memories of pregnancy and newborn Adah in this place...

I am thankful for time to say goodbye and grieve what I am leaving behind.  I am thankful for God's peace in this difficult transitional time.  I am thankful that God is going with us to Wilmington and that the next chapter He is writing is going to be just as exciting and blessed as this one.  I am thankful that I am allowed to be sad and excited at the same time.  I am thankful for our two, beautiful years at Sunset Farms.

9 Month Stats

Weight: 21 pounds, 10 ounces
Height: 29 inches long

Boo yah!

Nine Months and Moving

Our baby girl is nine months old today! I know it is said far too often but I am seriously wondering where the last nine months went?!  She is so dang grown up! Adah has two teeth on the bottom and has thankfully yet to bite me AND She is officially crawling! It is amazing to watch her go.  She is excited about it too, it's like a whole new world has opened up for her to explore.  It has definitely made things more interesting in keeping her out of trouble but it really is fun.  She is clapping her hands and waves and her auntie taught her to raise her arms up high when you ask in an overly animated voice "How BIG is Adah?!?!" It really is too much.  She enjoys flipping the lightswitches up and down, knocking down block towers I have built, waving her bright yellow spatula around and playing parachute with the bed sheets.  She is still just as joyful as ever and is a delight! We are excited to find out how much she weighs when we go for her check up today.

 Along with Adah, Kyle and I are also moving... to Wilmington! Kyle recently got a job which is a HUGE answer to prayer and we have a lovely home waiting for us as well.  We move in eight days.  We are going through a mixture of emotions as we are saying goodbye to an amazing, beautiful place and amazing, beautiful people.  When I think about our time here at Sunset Farms these words come to mind: rest, learning, transformation, hard work, growth, blessing, joy, challenges, creation, beauty.  What a gift it has been to share life alongside the Murray family!  Kyle and I have been so blessed by the example of Chris and Jamie in their roles as husband and wife, parents and farmers.  Kyle has learned everything he knows about growing good food from Chris and I have learned just as much from Jamie about cooking.  One word that describes how I feel about these last two years here is thankful.  Praise be to God! We are excited about the next chapter in our lives and what the Lord is going to do in and through us next!

Beach Babies

Last weekend we went to Wilmington along with my sister and her family to celebrate Fathers Day and my mom's birthday.  It was a sweet time all being together, especially because of the girls being at this fun age.   Lauren and I were able to spend Sunday afternoon hanging out with our friend Morgan without the babies which was a sweet break .  We all went to Wrightsville Beach on Monday for the girls first official day at the beach.  God provided a beautiful tide pool for us to enjoy and Adah was mesmerized by the handfuls of sand she would pull up from the bottom.  Eva had to be watched constantly as she liked to find small shell fragments and bring them immediately to her mouth!

Adah turned eight months old on Fathers Day and she started clapping her hands that same day! She is also waving now, at stranger's passing by and at us anytime we walk into a room.  The other day I went in to get her up from her nap and she was sitting up in her crib, facing the door, smiling and waving with both hands twisting her wrists! It was too much! Her first tooth is coming in on the bottom and I thought nothing could be sweeter than her gummy smile but I was wrong.  What a joyful and blessed June we have had!

Meeting Henri

Following our stay in Palm Springs, Kyle, Adah and I flew North to visit our friends the Lensers in Fair Oaks, CA outside of Sacramento.  Julia and David had their first son on February 28th and we were so excited to meet dear Henri and see them!  Julia and I were roommates in college and Kyle and I went to her and David's wedding April a year ago.  Who knew we would be in California twice in two years?!  We had a lovely (but too short) visit with them for a couple days.  We enjoyed lunch in the park and mostly just hung out and watched the babies and marveled at them! It was so good to get to be with them in person and to just get to hang out.  We wish NC and CA were neighboring states.  Henri has an amazing smile and Adah just loved him!  We enjoyed dinner from Inn-n-out burger which is a California must.  I am so thankful for the many talks with Julia as we are in similar stages of life right now with a new baby.  One thing we realized is how much difference a few months makes in a baby's development.  Right now our children seem so different in what they can do but in reality they will be the same age and in the same grade in school which is crazy!  We are so thankful for these sweet friends and our time together!

As you can see, Henri loves to take baths!

The California Desert

My cousin, Maiya, who lives near Palm Springs, California got married on May 19th and my parents, my sister's family and us all went and decided to make a trip out of it.  Along with some aunts, uncles and cousins we rented a house for the week leading up to the wedding.  The house where Maiya got married was directly across the street from where we stayed.  It was such a lovely week of celebrating Maiya and Rusty, lounging by the pool, visiting with family, and doing some site seeing in the area.

We went to a local zoo and saw wolves, a bobcat, this cute badger among others.  We saw two roadrunners by the pool in our backyard! They are just like the cartoon!

We went on a crazy tram ride that takes you up the side of this mountain in a glass walled, rotating tram.  My mom (who has a difficult time on merry-go-rounds) was not a huge fan! It was a cool 70 degrees at the top where we saw the eclipse through a welder's mask and the beautiful views down below.

Adah and Eva loved the pool!  It was so great having Kyle and Brad around all week and just getting to be with everyone each day.  Adah loved seeing her Nana and Pap all week and I know they felt the same about her and Eva.  

The desert is a crazy place! I guess it is just what you would think the desert would be like but being there and experiencing it is so different than just reading about it.  It doesn't rain there.  Seriously, it rains once a year.  I saw two clouds the whole time! Think blue sky and blazing sun constantly.  The towns are situated in a valley and there are mountains all around.  They have misters everywhere that you would think would get you all wet but really have a nice cooling effect.  When you are driving instead of the medians in the road being grassy they are sandy with cacti and some beautiful desert plants and flowers.  I don't know why this was so alarming to me.  The desert has a beauty of its own and unlike anything I have ever experienced.  

This is the only picture we got at the wedding! Proof that it is a bit crazy having a baby at a wedding :)  It was a lovely ceremony and reception and we are so glad we were able to be a part of it! Congratulations Maiya and Rusty, we are so happy for yall!

Thank you self-timer for this photo of us, the Gerstmyers, McCahans and Aunt Carol and Uncle George!