Cheraw State Park

Camping with other families brought a whole new dynamic to the trip. I suspect that the families we were with had a lot to do with it. For one, it's hard to get more laid back than the Turner family. And secondly, between keeping the camp fire going for 3 days and cooking pretty much every meal for the whole group, the Miller family made camping feel like a full-service resort. I am certainly in debt to them, as I can't say that I've ever been that free to simply enjoy myself and my family on a camping trip.  I'm abundantly grateful for the camaraderie and spirit of servitude that flowed through the whole weekend. Prior to this trip, our family had only gone camping as a solo act, but the multifamily dynamic added so many fun components to the experience that I'm not sure if we'll be able to turn back now. The camping entourage may officially be in full effect. 

This was also our first time (as a family) camping in a state park. I'm a bit of a national park snob, and so my expectations weren't too high... but I've gotta say that Cheraw State Park was impressive. I'll spare you the full review of the park, but let's just say it gets 5 out of 5 stars from us. In short, it's a gem.... and best of all, it's less than an hour from home; a far cry from the 4 hour commute we became accustomed to from our Shenendoah National Park excursions.

So what did we do? We fished, we canoed, walked a couple of short trails, sat around a fire, and mostly just let the kids run wild. Who knew that throwing rocks and sticks in the water could occupy a group of kids for hours at a time?! We fellowshipped, we climbed a tree, and we pretty much froze to death from 1 to 9 am each day. The kids loved it, and Venesa and I took plenty of notes from the journeymen family campers. We scoped out their techniques, learned a lot, and are already looking ahead to the sequel in 2013. Be there or be square.

The Great Outdoors

Justin somehow managed to squeeze in two camping trips before his first birthday  (trip 1, trip 2). Jasmine joined the camping brigade just after her second birthday. And this past weekend, we dusted off the camping gear and gave Naomi Janelle (@ 14 months) her first taste of grilled hotdogs, hiking trails, and frigid overnight temperatures. Welcome to the great outdoors, Sunshine.

More photos to come.

Pregnant

It's official. After 11 months, 1 orientation, 2 training seminars, a home study, and 8 billion pages of documentation; we are officially DSS approved and pregnant with adoption. And much like a natural pregnancy, the next step... is to wait. With our preferences fully documented, and our family profiled to a T, we now sit back and wait for a phone call from our newly assigned case worker... waiting to hear the words, "I think we've got a match"... and once that happens, my guess is that my heart will start to race just as it did (if not more) moments before our first three children were delivered. PUSH!

At least with a natural pregnancy, we'd have a due date. But the uncertainty of not knowing when that phone call will come (a month from now? a year? 2 years? or tomorrow?) is a whole new ballgame for us. Granted, the three crazy children that we already have do a great job of keeping us busy (or should I say keeping us tired and moderately delirious) so I expect our anxiety during the waiting process to be pretty low. In the meantime, we will remain prayerful about whether or when we should have our adoption file registered with our county foster care office.  While we don't yet have clarity as to exactly which need God wants us to fulfill in the process (being registered as a foster family would not require any additional work or qualification), we've been advised that going the foster route could land a child at our doorstep at the blink of an eye... which pretty much puts us all over the map with our timeframe.

With that, I do hope that you (whatever readership we have left out there) keep us in your prayers as we continue to do our best to be obedient to God's perfect will for our family. As always, it's a bit of a roller coaster ride... but sometimes I get the feeling that He would have it no other way.