A Day of Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving from the Nomadic Blakes!! We hope that you had a blessed day with family and friends and that your Christmas season is full of the love of Jesus!!

Our Second Stop...Durham, NC

Our second stop was Durham, North Carolina to see my brother, sister-in-law, nephew and our new little niece! The boys are only 3 months apart in age, so they were instantly friends and enjoyed the "built-in" playmate for the week! We went to the best museums I've ever been to for children! The boys enjoyed playing outside until dark, while I doted over Baby A and carried on some adult conversation with my sister-in-law and brother. It was a great time!

Now, we're in Florida visiting my brother-in-law (Cody's brother), sister-in-law, and our nephews with Cody. Here's a preview of what's been happening:

We leave to drive to Panama City with Cody tomorrow afternoon and will then be back up to Destin again to spend Thanksgiving with Cody's brother and family.

Fun times seeing family again...I LOVE IT!!

Our First Stop...Houston, TX

Our trip across the US has been wonderful so far. We started our trip in Houston, TX. It was a fun time of meeting our new nephew and J's new cousin! We had a great time...and even fit in a trip to the Houston Museum of Natural Science and the Houston Zoo! Here's a slideshow with the highlights.

Looking Back...

In reviewing our blog to locate some pictures, we came across this picture:

Cody was smart enough to remember that we had that picture taken the day we moved into our new home in Scotland and decided to take the "same" picture on the day we moved out of our home in Scotland. Here is the "more recent" picture:

Amazing how one child can grow in a year and nine months!

The Nomadic Family

So as not to leave my faithful readers at a loss for what is to be going on these next couple of months, I will update you...now that I know what's going on! I have just booked tickets for J and me to travel across the USA to visit some family on our way to meet up with C in FL where he will be for at least a month or so. Then, our travel ends in Panama City...for now. I do not have tickets back to Las Vegas...no worries, though...we'll make it back, just don't know when but sometime in December or early January.

No, we do not have a place to lay our heads in Las Vegas yet, which is why we've decided to leave with C and the reason that I've officially claimed the term "nomadic family" to fit our family right now. House hunting has proved to be what we thought it would be here...HARD...you know, unless you have lots of thousands of dollars of cash to pay for these homes up front (which, as a sidenote, we do not!). So, we'll continue to be patient and pray and really search deeper for what God has planned for us here as far as housing is concerned. We'll re-attack the issue when we get back in January. Right now, I'm excited about getting out of this temporary lodging shoebox, visiting family for a while, and spending Thanksgiving with my husband.

It's possible we'll be gone through the rest of the year, so if for some reason there is not a blog post until January, please forgive me. I'll try to post as we travel. If I don't see you, talk to you, or bump into you along the way, have a blessed Thanksgiving and Christmas!

His Kingdom...NOT Mine!

The song "In the Blink of an Eye" by MercyMe that I have playing second on the blog has a line in it that says,

"How can I further Your Kingdom when I'm so wrapped up in mine?"

Just thought I'd share that with you...it sure got me thinking today! I'm incredibly wrapped up in "my kingdom" instead of "His Kingdom" right now. Thanks, God, for reminding me that "all of this stuff" is not important but furthering Your Kingdom is!

"Trick or Treat"

For the first time, Jackson went trick-or-treating this Halloween. Our first hurdle...how do you describe trick-or-treating to a child?? We showed him how to open his bag up and what to say, but being the sweet boy he was, he would not push his way up to the door and when Cody tried to show him how to gently and nicely get up with the other kids, he apparently turned to Cody and said, "I need to wait my turn." Uh, how can you argue with that?? So, he waited his turn and eventually caught onto the game, but was gentle about it. He "dressed up" as a pirate. I put that in quotes, because half of the costume I cut off, as the way it was designed was not going to work to get it on ANY 3 or 4 year old...so he wore his own pants, the shirt from the costume, the belt, the "hat" was too small and he refused to wear the eye patch (except when I made him for a picture!). He had fun and came home with a bag full of loot! We had gotten together with a few other families to trick or treat and enjoy a meal together. Here are some pictures from the night!