Yesterday we began the drive from Houston to Dallas.  It didn’t take nearly as long as we thought, plus both tired kids (and one tired mama) fell asleep for the first half of the four hour drive (yep, we now consider four hour drives fairly short…that’s our worldview, ya’ll).

We arrived at our hosts’ house – a fantastic townhouse right in Dallas where we are spoiled to get two whole bedrooms and a bathroom, an entire floor, to ourselves!  Thank you Andy and Amy!  Levi and Amelia are also enjoying playing with their three girls (including four-year-old twins!!!) and they are waiting to bring one more home from DRC.

We hung around the house for about an hour before it was time to leave to go to our evening presentation with a group of adopting families.  The host of that event had gone all out and it was beautifully decorated and so far the best attended one we’ve had!  It was such a blessing to meet so many families who love the DRC.  Seeing one family who has already traveled who we got to have over for dinner to our house in DRC was extra fun!

It was yet another late night and now both kiddos have colds again.  Bummer.  But, they slept well (Levi slept in until 10am!) and hopefully we’re on the mend.

Today is my (Lisa’s) birthday!!!  It is my first of many 29th birthdays, I’m sure.  For starters our hosts are treating all of us to Planes.  This evening they have offered to hang out with our kiddos so we can get a real date.  As another adopting family we stayed with pointed out – one cool thing about staying with strangers who are in the process of adoption is that they’ve all passed federal background tests, so we’re probably safe.  Matthew followed up that point of interest with saying that he was the only one to point it out, thus probably escaped something on that test…ha!  Joking, of course.

I should be going to bed.  But Matthew found a Bourne movie on TV and so I’m going to try and make this quick, because we’re super tired and we have a long, busy day tomorrow, and it’s been three days, ya’ll!

When I left you last, we were headed out of Mississippi after a quick overnight.  We drove west through AR for the entire day, just stopping for a leisurely lunch.  We made it across the border into Texas and drove to Marshall for the night.  After such a long day of traveling, we really felt like lazy parents and reasoned that the kids needed a break and a chance to get their way.  So, the hotel had a lovely outdoor pool, with a rock waterfall, and we all took a dip.  Since it was still in the 90’s, even after dark (it felt like Congo!), and we were loving being in the water and just relaxing.  But, yeeeeaaaaaah, the kids didn’t get to bed until 10:30pm.  Oops.  Parent fail.

The next morning we hit the road with two tired, cranky kiddos and made it to Onalaska, TX, where a dear friend of Matthew’s family lives.  I hadn’t had the chance to meet her yet, and we were thrilled to be able to spend a couple of hours with her.  It was a great break from the road and a good chance to reconnect.

We picked up and finished the drive into Houston by dinnertime, though not missing out on Houston’s fantastic rush hour traffic!  We stopped at our host’s house and hung out for a bit before departing to another friend’s for dinner.  Our hosts and this couple, who we joined for dinner, are friends of ours that we met five years ago.  Matthew and I went on a pre-kid cruise back in the days of two incomes and no kids and a boost in the Alaska yearly payout.  We were ready to start a family and thought we’d go out of that lifestyle with a great vacation.  14 days through the Panama Canal was amazing, but we really enjoyed each nightly dinner with two great couples from Houston.  So, it was fun to have yet another dinner together again after five years, though we’ve multiplied a bit since then.

However, it meant another night where the kids didn’t get to bed until quite late – this time, 11pm!

This morning we had a leisurely morning, Amelia even got a quick nap in, before we headed out with our hosts to the Houston Children’s Museum.  They had such a great time exploring, climbing, and experimenting with all the museum had to offer!

We ran back by our host’s house with just enough time to grab our materials and head outside of town for another presentation to a small group of adopting families.  It was a super fun dinner, complete with fancy cupcakes (yes, first – gotta keep the kiddos happy while we explain ourselves and MAF’s work in DRC!) followed by pizza and swimming in their pool!  The family that hosted this event is truly one of the most amazing families I’ve ever met: they have adopted six kids and they are all six and under!

Again, we were enjoying ourselves too much to be responsible, and so the kids just got to bed at 11pm…woo hoo!

Tomorrow morning we will hit the road north toward Dallas for the weekend.  The get together with other adopting families is tomorrow night, so we have to move quickly to get there on time!  Busy busy…

Sunday was a fantastic day for us.  We presented our ministry to a small group of young couples, about eight of them.  Our hosts for this event were a family we met while in DRC when they were there for their adoption, which was one of the hardest stories I’ve heard yet.  However, they were able to bring little Levi Alan home – our Levi’s middle name is Allen and both were named because both grandfathers have the same middle name, though it’s a battle of the spelling…we love it!

After church, a few of the couples went out to lunch and treated us to a fun meal at Buca di Beppo.  It was great to get to know them a little bit further – a couple of seminary graduates, or soon-to-be, and even one couple that has done a vision trip with MAF, since he is a pilot/mechanic/IT.  So fun!

Once we were back at our hosts’ house, we readied for a neighborhood BBQ on their cul de sac.  It was fun to meet their neighbors and talk to one who was even raised in a remote part of DRC!

All of that made for a long day, though, so after the kids went to bed Matthew and I went on a little date, thanks to our awesome hosts.  There wasn’t anything open in Shelbyville, Kentucky at 9pm on a Sunday, so we went to Kroger to get some road snacks for the next two days of driving.

Yesterday we jaunted off toward our next destination: Houston.  It’s a long drive and we have a few stops planned on the way.  We managed to find a cheap hotel in Mississippi, just across the border from Memphis.  Today’s goal is somewhere on the eastern side of Texas.  The kids are doing really well in the car, still, only occasionally causing us to pause and consider dropping them on the side of the road.  Just kidding, mostly!

If you haven’t noticed, there is a little schedule of our next few weeks posted to the right on our website, under our picture.  If you’re in any of those areas, just send us a note and we’d love to see you!

This morning we had a wonderful visit with many adopting families at the Louisville adopting families get together.  Everyone in attendance has or will be bringing home kiddos from DRC.  We were in a large classroom at a church (the same church where we’ll be speaking during a Sunday School class tomorrow) and about the time we were just getting going, a wedding was performed in the lobby of the church.  Levi wanted to watch with his new friend, our host’s son – so they sat on the stairs and watched the whole wedding.  I was later told Levi kept asking where the diamonds were.  Hilarious kid!

After the gathering, on the way home, we stopped at a local African grocery store with our hosts.  The store was awesome – it smelled like home (Congo) and they had local products we hadn’t seen in months!  We were both so excited!  The laundry soap, powdered milk, canned beef all reminded us of home, not to mention the bagged fish in the freezer!  We were there to look for some pili pili, but they didn’t have any.  Like I mentioned yesterday, our host has a PhD in food science, so likes to literally experiment in the kitchen.  When Matthew saw he had REAL palm oil (the bright orange, freshly squeezed kind), he suddenly had a craving for our Congo chicken dish, which we haven’t been able to recreate in the US, since it needs the palm oil flavor and pili pili to make it the same.  So, we were a little bummed that they didn’t have it, but oh well.

Matthew got to work in the kitchen and the moms and kids went outside for some bike riding and slip and sliding.  I eventually overheated and came back in – yay, pregnancy.  But, when dinner was ready, it was soooooo great.  It tasted JUST like Congo (Matthew used habanero instead of pili pili, which worked well) – thanks to that tasty palm oil.

After the kids were in bed we wasted two hour watching Sharknado with our hosts.  I was outvoted, so I don’t really have any comment…

Last night I had big plans to blog…then decided to hang out with our awesome hosts and watch TV instead.  It worked out well, except getting to bed WAY too late.  Oops.

Yesterday we got up and headed out to meet some very special people to us and in our lives in Congo, though they’ve never been…yet.  MAF’s next couple moving to Kinshasa, Kevin and Tasha Spann and their daughter Adah, were in town – they’re from the other side of Tennessee – and we met at a splash park for the kids and then out to lunch.  It was such fun, though I think we discussed more “shop” and “what to bring to Kin” than other stuff.  But, it was still super fun and wonderful to see them.  We were in our initial training together two years ago, where we met, and have kept in touch, for obvious reasons, ever since!

Tasha and I…

See? Talking shop…

The Congo-bound kiddos

We then headed back to our host’s house and Amelia and I took a long nap.  We had another great dinner with our hosts and proceeded to stay up way too late, as previously mentioned.

This morning we packed up and headed north to Louisville (and, unbeknownst to us, back to Eastern time).  We will be here for a very busy and fun weekend.  Our host has a PhD in food science…so I’m gonna go eat some fantastic-smelling Mexican food…

So, how to recap the past few days…

Sunday we attended church and had a relaxing afternoon.  Monday, Matthew and his brother got to go do man things together and we had a good afternoon at the park with the kids – they loved their Uncle David so much!  We all watched a movie and headed to bed for our last night in Atlanta.

Tuesday morning we headed out and began the second half of our road trip.  Nashville, normally a four hour drive, but we ran into a terrible traffic jam and it took an extra hour.  Ew.  We arrived and got a bit settled, met our hosts – they will be bringing home twins from Congo to add to their family – and headed out to the adopting families get together that evening.

It was such a fun evening, and certainly our biggest turn out.  I estimate about ten families there, but sort of lost count.  The house where it was hosted was the biggest house we’ve ever been in in our lives and it was gorgeous (the owner built it) – and such wonderful hosts.  We chatted for a long time with the families and went home way too late.

This morning we slept in, did a bunch of work planning the next few weeks’ appointments and get togethers, then headed downtown to see some sights.  Matthew and I wanted to see the Country Music Hall of Fame, but I did find out just before we got there that his real motivation was a Carrie Underwood exhibit.  Ah well, can’t blame him for that!  Ha!  Even the kids enjoyed the museum – Levi is really into guitars and wants to play.  We drove around downtown then headed back to our hosts’ house for the evening and good fellowship with them.

Meanwhile, our Pampered Chef show closed today and we are so excited that we passed our goal of $1000 in sales and were able to earn some spending cash for setting up house in DRC, as well as get LOTS of good stuff from Pampered Chef that we will use to host many people in our homes – thank you to all who ordered and supported us!  If you weren’t able or interested in that, but do want to help with special projects or fundraisers, stay tuned, more are in the works.  Of course, I must emphasize that without regular, ongoing support we can’t go at all, so if you have been considering joining our ministry team with that, please do so here!

Stone Mountain is one of the more popular attractions in Georgia.  It is not really a mountain, but rather a 1600 ft hill of solid granite.  There, surrounding it, they have a large park, complete with all sorts of attractions.  Most famously, there is a carving in the side of the heroes of the South: Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and Jefferson Davis.  It is the largest relief carving in the world – yes, larger than Mount Rushmore!  It is hard to comprehend how big it is, but we were told today that there was once a 12-person banquet held on Robert E. Lee’s shoulder!

First thing after lunch, we (the four of us, plus Matthew’s dad and wife, Jan and Catherine – known as Far Far and CC to the kiddos) took the cable car up to the top of the mountain.  The kids loved being on top of the giant slab of granite, not to mention how awesome it was to ride in the cable car!

Matthew had to leave right away to go pick up a very special guest at the airport, so we continued on our adventure back down the mountain.  We were waiting for the train and, during that time, experienced a 4D show.  4D is  a 3D movie with theater effects: wind, water, vibrating seats, and lighting effects.  The kids had a blast and didn’t freak out at all!  Surprise!

We made it just in time to board the train and discovered that Matthew was almost back to the park with the super awesome special guest.  We passed them as the train rumbled along next to the parking lot, waving and grinning.  The kids were super excited, but the rest of the train ride was quite relaxing around the base of the mountain.  The weather was perfect for such an outing: high 70’s and overcast, but no rain.  Much better than the typical Georgia summer heat!

Once the train pulled into the station we greeted our most awesome surprise guest: Uncle David!  Uncle David is Matthew’s youngest brother, who is currently stationed in California with the Marines.  He had a medical leave and it happened to coincide with our visit with Dad Lind, so he decided to come out for the weekend!  Yay!!!

Next up we decided to let the kids play at a large indoor park/climbing toy – I think David and Matthew had more fun, since it included foam ball launching guns from three stories up.

It was finally time for dinner and the end of the day show: a LASER and fireworks show broadcast on the side of the mountain.  Dinner was delicious and the LASER show was really fascinating.  The kids loved the show and the fireworks especially.

But let me tell you about my experience.  Yes, I completely enjoyed the show, but I got distracted right in the middle.  And was thrown back to my early days in Kinshasa.  Like this story.  Remember THAT?  Or this one?  And there was others, like when we went to town on the cockroach infestation in the house and had them dropping on our heads?  I didn’t even write about that…too traumatic at the time.

So, being in the states, I thought I could handle any bug encounters.  But, then again, I’ve never been to the deep south.  And tonight, sitting outside in the deep south, I was enjoying the LASERs and the fireworks and I felt a tickle.  On the back of my head, just under my messy hair bun thing.  I reached up and tucked away a few stray hairs that were blowing in the breeze…or so I assumed.

There was that tickle again.  It was more distinct than some stray hairs, but what else could it be?  Ha, silly tickle-y hairs.

Then it happened again.  I reached up and felt…plastic?  A bead?  My earring?  I instinctively sort of pulled it out of my hair and as my hand came around to my line of vision, the annoying tickle TOOK. FLIGHT.

It was a flying cockroach. In. My. Hair.

I was able to confirm it because it landed on the ground five feet in front of me and crawled away.

I wanted to die.  I shared with the family what had happened, mostly a high-pitched “there was a cockroach on my head.”  I made sure to emphasize this for the rest of the evening.

So, it is now midnight, church in the morning (thankfully, we are not presenting anything), the reunited brothers are watching a UFC fight that their dad had been kind enough to record for them (which really means they are mostly just scolding the fighters) and I am just about ready to head to bed.  Let’s hope and pray that I sleep…and do not have dreams about cockroaches on my head.

Just a quick update.  Mostly we’ve done stuff as a family, hung out, rested, worked on…stuff.  We did get the opportunity to meet some of friends of Matthew’s dad here in Atlanta, as well as meet with a family that we met in Congo during their adoption process.

In other news, just a few days left to order from our Pampered Chef show – we are half way to our goal of $1000 in sales and just a few orders will put us over the top!  If you’re part of our facebook party, there are giveaways and discounts that are also attainable!

And, lastly, I went to visit a midwife today for my 24 week visit.  Everything is right on track and looks great.  Baby is positioned well, measuring correctly and has a steady heart beat.  I have no complaints, other than being tired and hungry most of the time.  Just 16 or so weeks to go!

Only one week to order from our Pampered Chef show – don’t wait until the last moment!

Today is Day 50!  What?!  That’s a long time to be on the road…

Yesterday, for the afternoon, we decided to go to the community pool.  It was really fun (despite being called out of the water for a bit due to thunder) – there was a shallow pool with lots of fun water features, a river where the water flowed quickly, and two adult-sized water slides that Matthew and his dad had a lot of fun on for a bit.  Amelia’s fever was temporarily broken with Tylenol, plus the water we thought might help her feel better (or at least distract her).  Levi had a GREAT time, as he always does in the water.

However, we got home and Amelia was feeling pretty sick so we just put her to bed where she was asleep within 30 seconds. We enjoyed a true Southern dish of cheesy grits and shrimp – Catherine is a fantastic cook!  It was time for Levi to go to bed, so we got Amelia up and put Levi down.  Amelia ate some Cheerios, drank something cold, and watched Shaun the Sheep until it was time for more Tylenol and bed.

She woke twice in the night, but was mostly better by morning.  Levi seemed fine as well, so we all headed out to the Georgia Aquarium.  Did you know it is the largest in the world?  It was crowded, but we went straight the what the kids wanted to see most: sharks.  They both love sharks.  Well, Amelia declared a love for sharks, but when one swam too close to her, she pouted and said “I scared! It’s going to bite’chu!”  So adorable, especially compared to two exhibits later when she was petting the piranhas through the glass…she had no idea.

About half way through the sharks (and sting and manta rays), Levi started whining and we realized he had a fever.  We got through the rest of the aquarium with minimal damage, though Levi was pretty upset about not feeling well.  We nixed going to the World of Coke, but mostly due to the cost.

After aquarium, we headed to a Southern place, Mary Mac’s Tea Room, where they served true Southern cuisine.  It was awesome, except for poor Levi, who had curled up on the floor for most of the meal, except for the brief trip to the bathroom – thank goodness he hadn’t eaten much!  We finished a delicious dinner (the place is famous – pictures of all sorts of famous people – and Justin Bieber – signed on the wall) and drove home.  Levi went straight to bed, where he continues to sleep off his sickness.  Amelia is feeling fine and is her normal loquacious self, so we expect Levi to be feeling fine by tomorrow.

Off for more adventures tomorrow – hopefully our health holds out!