After days like yesterday, I really need to play around some with my thinking and emotions. We had such an amazing day with our best friends, family really, the Lloyds. Each of the children has a friend their age. Ryan and Beca and 9 days apart, Aaron and Chris are 6 mo. apart, and Ethan and Sammuel are 6 mo apart. The young ones, Zach and Caitlyn were actually born on the same day, one yr apart!

When we arrived, the first time in 1 yr, the children could barely wait for the van top stop moving. They jumped out and ran immediately to their Lloyd counterpart, and we littereally didn't hear from them for at least 2 hours. There was a huge yard to run around in, a maze to run, tire swing, huge trampoline, and trees to climb. They were in heaven!

Mandy and I could actually sit and converse about whole topics rather than be interupted mid thought, which used to be the norm when all our children were 4 and under. We went to Wegman's for lunch, which used to be one of our usual stomping grounds. One of us would call the other and say "hey, I gotta get some groceries, you wanna meet and have lunch?", or " i gota get out of the house, come out to eat with us!". Then we would trapse out with all 6 children, dodging the glaring eyes and thoughts behind those looks saying we were either crazy, or a small daycare! Today, we got the same looks and thoughts, I'm sure, but this time the children were all (well, mostly) calm and obedient, and helpful. Save for Aaron and Chris who have way too much kinetic energy, totally feeding off eachother!

These things make me really want to stay. It's really quite difficult to process the emotions with coming back to the states each yr. Do I want to settle down and get back into my normal, predictable routine, and have these times more often with the children? Or do I want to continue to have other amazing experience, seeing the world, meeting new people, developing new friends, only to have to say goodbye in a moments notice becase they have to relocate? Traveling the world is something I would never have thought we would do. It's incomprehendable, I wouldn't change what we have done. But, there is something said for staying put for a while, predictability, old friends, family and routine. I will never have my ultimate dream of raising the children modern day Little House on the Prarrie style, but, I know there's got to be a comprimise out there somewhere.

This is obviously the meloncholy in me talking today! i am just blessed by all experiences God has given us, both here and out there, in His big wide world!

Meanwhile, we will take the days like we had today, any time we can!