Sweet Vacation

Yes...its been awhile. But, I have a good excuse! We were on vacation!!!

Last week we traveled to Chautauqua Lake, New York for a huge family reunion to celebrate John's grandmother, Betty Sheldon's 90th birthday. (It is right on the Pennsylvania border)

We stayed at the lovely Sheldon Hall right on the lake. I've included some pictures of the house. The first one is from the front...I am standing half way from the house to the lake! The second, is of one of the dining rooms. There were about 9 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms and cubbies and closets galore. It was beautiful, peaceful, calm and just plain relaxing.

I will write more as I get a chance.

We enjoyed running around on the lawn, canoeing, fishing, visiting family, exploring the area and just enjoying each other's company.

I look forward to catching up soon!!

Oh...and John posted a bunch of pictures from our trip on our website...just click on the "Yates Family" tab to the right.

McKenna's 4th Birthday

My life has been so out of order...so why should my blogs be any different?

McKenna turned 4 on the 26th and we celebrated by taking a plane ride to Colorado.

The girls mostly enjoyed the plane ride. Grandma Shiralyn provided a super fun bag for the girls to entertain them on the ride here.



Mommy and Josiah spent most of the flight in the kitchen with the two awesome flight attendants. We were in row 25 so it was a short jaunt to the back and the girls quickly realized it was fun to go back and forth. Mimi (my mom) kept giving them trash to bring to the back. At one point the flight attendant asked McKenna if she would like to help collect trash from the whole plane. McKenna, (to my shock) nodded her head and follwed Frederica to the front of the plane. Next thing I know McKenna was wearing Frederica's apron and was holding a trash bag and walking down the aisle of the plane. I ran to grab my camera and by the time I got it out she was running towards me. Frederica said she was doing great the first few rows and then realized everyone was watching her and commenting on how cute she was and she bailed. I got a very blurry photo....but its still cute.



When we arrived at our house Daddy surpised the girls with new bikes. And Ariel bike for McKenna and a Princess bike for Brookln.





Then we all went out to TGIFriday's for dinner. We figured it was one of the only places around that would sing to McKenna and bring a fun dessert. Very cute.




McKenna continues to be a DELIGHT in all of our lives. She is a wonderful big sister. Very helpful and always wanting to ensure that everyone knows the rules. :) She is so gracious with her brother and sister always ensuring they have what the want or need...even if it means giving them something she has. McKenna loves to read, to color and to play. Her imagination is really blooming and the songs and stories that come out of her mouth are precious and often very curious!!! She also has quite a passion for winking.

The last year of her life has been incredible. Her experience at Los Altos Brethren Preschool is indescribable. The impact that the school and her teacher, Mrs. Dybas, on our family is priceless. McKenna's knowledge and understanding of who God is and His character is just precious. We pray everyday about letting our light shine for Jesus and McKenna continues to surprise us in the ways she lets her light shine.

Independence Day....on the 1st

Reunion (our "community")put on a big Independence Day celebration last night. Bounce houses, face painting, watermelon, lemonade, live music, pie eating contests and the like for a grip of people to enjoy. We went with the Teague's and several of our neighbors and set up a fun "camp" on the grass next to the lake. Quite scenic. It was supposed to end in a fabulous firework show which got cancelled due to the super interesting Colorado weather. You know the electrical storm with 20-30 mile winds.

But we all had fun nonetheless. Here's some pictures of our evening on the lawn.

We're Here!

After a week and a half at my mom's house, MANY TEARFUL goodbyes, a trip to the beach, a birthday party, working our church's booth at our neighborhood street fair, an outing to the Mattel toy store, and a 2 hour plane ride.....we arrived at Denver International Airport to be greeted by my sweet husband!

We arrived on Tuesday and its been a whirlwind every since.

John did some pretty INCREDIBLE work on the house while he was here. Driving up to OUR home was wild. Getting used to everything has been great. The boxes and unpacking seem unending. My mom says if I get them all unpacked by Thanksgiving I should be ecstatic. :)

The kids are adjusting rather well. They have had a rough month. From having everything they own boxed up, to sleeping here, there and everywhere to flying on an airplane to just being in a new place, they have done remarkably well. All 3 of them have slept through the night both nights we've been here and have taken great naps during the day. Thank you Lord! (And thank you to my friends who have been praying for their sleep.)

We love it here. It is beautiful, quiet, calm and spacious. (Well...that's how it looks at least when the kids are asleep!)

We're happy. I'm happy. My mom is here with us until Saturday which is amazing. When we ever unpack the camera do-dad I will download pictures from the last 2 weeks and post some.

Just wanted to let everyone know we got here safely and are doing very well.

Love to you all.

Packed

I couldn't bring myself to take a picture of our moving truck. Way too real. :)

But it came, it got filled (oh did it get filled!) and it is in route to Denver.

We had a tremendous amount of help from friends, family and neighbors to load up the truck on Saturday. (Paul Tschetter...get ready for some work on the receiving end!!! If you have any friends...it would benefit you to convince them to join you!)

John's last Sunday at church was yesterday. Man, was that hard! I really hate this part.

John and I had a tender time around the Campbell's fire pit last night. Andrew assured us that they were all in a good place and not to worry about them at all. Mark told us they would continue to serve in God's Kingdom and continue the legacy we began on Chestnut St. Shelly wished we had had more time around the firepit together to deepen our relationships. (Hey Shelly--I'm counting on a HUGE firepit in heaven and I'd love to sit next to you forever!!!)

Our sweet neighbors went above and beyond the call of duty (once again) to help us during this stressful and crazy time. (Mark the ultimate packer, Maria the "forelady" and Shelly the don't-worry-we'll-take-care-of-it ringleader.)

We are so blessed (meaning "how truly happy") because of all of you. We cannot imagine our lives without the impact of our family, friends, church and neighbors. We have learned invaluable lessons from you. Thank you.

So that's where we're at.

WILD.

Bittersweet

I totally freaked out tonight when I realized it was the last night the kids would sleep in this house.
I started crying when i was putting kenna's jammies on. It hit me like a ton of bricks. (and i didn't even give them a bath tonight!!!)

Its weird to think we are leaving this home of so many memories. first roll overs, first crawls, first steps, first words...coming home from the hospital, christmases, backyard birthday parties.

i was crying and mckenna was being SO comforting. just rubbing my leg or my arm and just looking into my eyes with such compassion and strength...in a weird way. brooklyn just kep saying, "sad. mommy. daaady." i think she thought i was sad that John was at work. :) anyway, finally mckenna asked what was wrong. i said i was sad that we are leaving this house. and she looked at me with a big smile and said, "but you will be happy at our new house in colorado." and i had to smile and agree. :)

transitions are so hard for me. i cry as they approach and weep through the whole thing. and usually as soon as i'm on the other side i rarely look back.

this period of transition has been so hard. i was telling one friend that buying a house and moving has been the most permanent committment i've made since marrying John. (i realize its not REALLY permanent, but you know what i mean.)

its affecting so many people and i hate that we are making everyone so sad. but on the other hand, i know we are follwing God's leading. and i truly am excited about this next chapter of our lives. (imagine everyone having a place to sleep and 1 room to actually keep toys in!!!)

our neighbor, Maria, really affirmed us when she told us she was happy we were leaving. (what?!) she said that we needed to go in order to reach more people for Christ. that we had done what we needed to do on Chestnut Ave and that we needed to take Jesus to our next street.

what God has done on this street is crazy wild. and i know He's not done with us. He's going to stretch us and mold us and continue to draw us closer to Him. and I want that wether its in CA or CO.

so admist the mess of boxes and trash and sorted piles...I'm crying tears of grief as I put this part of my life behind me and I'm crying tears of joy as I release our future into our Father's hands.

Home Sweet Home

Tuesday we went through our final (and first) walk through of our new home. Wow.

We actually drove out there on Monday. A nice 16 1/2 hour drive in the Jeep Wrangler. Complete with hot sun, pellting winds, bumpy roads and oh yeah, no air conditioning. :) Most of the drive really was nice...especially once we drove though the Rocky Mountains. John and I agreed it was the most beautiful scenery we have ever encountered on a drive!

We spent the night with our realtor again...she's so great.

And Tuesday morning we met the project manager to give us the grand tour. Somewhat unbelievable. It still seems like a really great house that we are going to visit for the summer. Hard to fathom that it is ours.

it was beautiful. Wonderful. It was fun picturing the kids running up and down the stairs or sleeping in their rooms. We got to meet some of the neighbors across the street who were delightful. Moved there a year ago from California. :)

We spent several hours in the house just walking around, dreaming, laughing and thanking God.

We experienced some crazy Colorado weather before we left. A lovely hail storm that left about 3-4 inches of hail on the ground. There was incredible lighting and the LOUDEST thunder either of us had ever heard. Crazy.

We flew home Tuesday night grateful for air travel and our families that took care of our kids while we were gone.