On the Road

Well folks, it's been awhile. A lot has transpired since my last post. I haven't had much access to the internet. There was a flurry of packing, cleaning, and goodbyes - the most we have ever had to say. It was tough, to say the least, but God provided many blessings along the way.  It was difficult to leave our house with all the people stopping to say goodbye, or farewell, as I prefer to put it. There was even an earthquake while we were visiting with one family. A grand send-off! We had many invitations for meals, which we gratefully accepted, free haircuts from our awesome barbers, a spacious place to stay after our household goods were packed (Thank you Baileys!), and a warm send-off by our wonderful church family at Calvary Baptist Church. There were other little things here and there, such as snacks made for our journey and help fixing some things at the house. We are so thankful for good friends. We will miss everyone so much, but we know we will see each other again. We are looking forward to getting settled in WA and renewing old friendships there.

Cake made by Barbara Goosman - Great Job!

Victoria and Mrs. Owens

Penny and Sasha

Friends at Calvary

Sophia's first friend, Victoria Owens

Amy and Savannah

Tim Owens, Noah, and Elliot Fairhurst

Our trip started off well and we have been blessed with good weather the entire time driving. I found out that semi trucks do not look out for you in West Virginia. I tried to follow Russell around a truck when the lane we were in suddenly ended and I had nowhere else to go. The large truck that was next to me did not slow down and I had to step on the brakes and run over one of the cones to get in behind it. My nerves were shaken, but all was well. We later found out from a local that trucks run people off the road there all the time. Praise the Lord nothing happened. The children are traveling well considering how much time they have to spend buckled up. Sophia is being a great little traveler. We are driving two vehicles, so that means Russell and I do not get a break from being behind the wheel. We took a day off the second day to see the Creation Museum in Kentucky. It was great, very informative, and the botanical gardens were beautiful! There have been some long days, especially the day we drove through Chicago - not fun! That short distance took over two hours and was stop and go and changing traffic patterns the whole time. It is hard to follow another vehicle through that, but the worst thing that happened was we had to stop before we intended to. Not too bad, just a late night in a not so nice motel. It had an ...interesting smell, and the shower left much to be desired. Yesterday was another very long day of driving. We really enjoyed the scenery in Wisconsin and Minnesota, though. We are currently taking another break in Sioux Falls, SD. It is beautiful here and the place we are staying is nice. Today we went and saw the Falls and I had my first good cup of coffee since leaving VA! We also had a great meal at Chevy's. One does get tired of cheeseburgers and chicken tenders after awhile! We are enjoying the down-time and resting a bit. Tomorrow it is on the road again, hopefully ending near Mt. Rushmore. 
I'll try to post more later with some more photos.

A WHIRLWIND

Cooling off at the yard sale

Nathan taking some time out with Sophia

Bethany and Savannah enjoying some music before staying up all night!

Always happy Sophia enjoying carrots

Nathan and his buddy Will, soccer champs

Savannah and Haley before their Young Eagles flight

Three Young Eagles after flying over Stafford

Sister time - fun stuff!

That's life for us right now, a whirlwind, a flurry, a tornado, whatever you want to call it. It's crazy busy, exciting, and overwhelming. Time seems to keep moving faster. There have been yard sales, ruthlessly cleaning out closets, deep cleaning, organizing, yard work, emptying flower pots :(  and cleaning outdoor items, home repairs, phone calls, paperwork, goodbye visits, sleepovers at our house, barbecues, follow up Dr. appointments, meeting with the real estate agent, and just the regular day to day work. Along with all that, we've been battling illness and asthma due to the poor air quality and heat. There have been some fun times mixed in there, but I'll be honest, I am exhausted. I know Russell is too. He is such a hard worker. We are trusting the Lord to give us stamina and carry us through the next few weeks. We know there is a purpose in all this and we are confident that we are following God's plan. I know we will grow stronger through all of this. I really should be making dinner right now, but I needed a short break. It is good to take little breaks throughout the day, no matter how busy. Just a minute ago Victoria, our two year old, was singing "Cast your burdens upon Jesus, He cares for you."  I'm thankful for those little reminders. 


"Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you." 1 Peter 5:7   

Savannah and Noah's Rugged Adventure

The beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains

Me and a friend from church getting their punishment after Kangaroo Court

A horse farm in the Shenandoah Valley

The youth group and counselors at Crabtree Falls, the highest waterfall on the East Coast. The teens hiked all the way up to the top, in 100 degree + weather.

The view from the top of the waterfall. It was a very tiring and long hike up but the view was worth it.

We just had a heat wave last week with some record temperatures; the same week that Noah and I went camping with our church's youth group. It was really, really hot but everyone still had a great time playing games, hiking, bonding, and getting closer to God.

This was posted by Savannah.

It's HOT!

 Sweet Sophia cooling off with Daddy.

If you've been following the news, you will have heard that we are having record high temperatures. On Friday, the heat index (temp. and humidity) was 122 degrees! Well, when it's that hot there are two choices - stay inside or go swimming.  The kiddos love swimming, but I'll take Seattle weather, thank you! Thank you to the Budkes for providing this fun time for us.

 Is this how the scuba divers do it? Looks good Sammy!

 Nathan takes a running dive.

 Victoria and her pal Mr. Wes Budke, the owner of this awesome pool.

 Jeremiah, proud of his swimming abilities. He has graduated from life vest to floaties.

Sammy taking a break on the lounger. This is the good life on a hot day!

The elusive Noah swims away. He's hard to catch. Savannah was equally hard to catch.

Photos of the Smith children

Here are a few photos of the children taken within the last two months. I am trying this out to see how it works. Our computer is older and it is hard to view the images before adding them. It is also a very slow process! I will try videos later. Russell bought me a FLIP and I am still learning about that, too. Thankfully, I have children to keep me up to date! I'm not that old, am I?

Wow, we did it!

We actually posted to our blog! I have been meaning to do this for a looooong time, but there were always more pressing matters. Our lives are about to change dramatically. We are ready for change. My head is spinning - excited, nervous, thankful, overwhelmed, in awe of God and His ways. The road has been bumpy over the last year bringing us to this very place. He has made our path clear and we are ready to go. We have been searching for the path for some time. We knew that God was directing us somewhere, but we didn't know where. God's ways are not our ways and we couldn't see the big picture until we stepped out in faith.  Retirement from the Coast Guard was a big step of faith. We had job security and a good paycheck. But, it was a step that Russell felt clearly led to take after some trials and much prayer.  It would be wrong to tell you that we never doubted the decision was the right one, though. Our faith did waver on occasion. There were even some sleepless nights, but we stuck with it. We continued to seek God and our faith grew and we marveled at the door that was opened for us. More doors continue to open and God is answering our earnest prayers of "Lord use us, just show us how and where." So we are preparing for a move date of August 18th. It's so soon, yet it feels that we've waited so long for our "orders". We are ready to go....mostly. It will be so hard to say goodbye to dear friends and those who have become like family over the past five years. It will be bittersweet to leave Calvary Baptist Church and the sweet family of God there. We leave behind friends from Flat Run Baptist Church as well, and many good neighbors. I know the Lord will give comfort to us and to those we leave behind. We just want to be in the center of His will. We are so looking forward to serving at Westside Baptist Church, reconnecting with old friends and family, and hopefully, making a difference in the lives of others. To God be the Glory - Great things he hath done.