Life Updates, Beach Trip Extravaganza, & More

My family tries to take an annual trip to Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina. I love going to this place because I have so many memories there with my family. It used to be so easy to go to the beach when we all lived in Huntersville, North Carolina. Now, Jake and I are in Pennsylvania; Mom, Dad, and Caleb are in Tennessee; and Seth and Emily are in Colorado (Moving this week!). We still all made it to Ocean Isle and spent a week relaxing on the sand. Sarah Lou was able to come over from Atlanta and it was great to spend a few days with her. Jake and I had a 10 hour drive from Bethlehem. We left a day early and stopped in D.C. and spent the night with Cody and Becca. It was so good to see both of them!

Every morning Dad makes a castle...he has a unique technique and people always come and take pictures of his sand creations. Over the years we have seen several shapes and sizes.

These pictures were taken later in the day, so some of the walls had already caved in.

Mom and Dad sitting in the background...waiting for the tide to come in and wash the sand castle away.

Caleb and Kaleb wanted to build one too! Here's their creation:

Mom and Dad before we all watched a movie.

Seth and Emily

Caleb brought a friend (Kaleb), but somehow I didn't get a picture of the two of them.

While we were on vacation we found out that someone had put an offer on the house!! This was a HUGE answer to prayer because we didn't want the burden of the mortgage. It is so awesome to see how the Lord provides in HIS timing. The timing was perfect because on Saturday (the day we left the beach), Jake and I drove to Charlotte so he could go to the airport and I could spend the weekend with hometown friends. Jake flew to Omaha and packed up all of our stuff. He was such a trooper because he maintained a positive attitude even though his flight was delayed several times and he was stressed about all the logistics of packing and loading everything since his flight back to Pennsylvania was a close 36 hours away...not knowing if he had enough boxes and materials...or if he would be able to get more materials if needed because of the holiday. He was on a time crunch, but with some help he pulled it all off seamlessly! The gentleman that bought our house ended up buying our area rugs and several pieces of furniture. We are glad because we will not have the space in our new townhouse for everything we had in Omaha. 

In Charlotte, I got to spend time with a few of my favorite people and their families...Sarah Coffey, Krista Fulghum, and Erin Dickert. Sarah, Krista and I go back to middle school and Erin and I go back to high school. All three of these girls have been a huge blessing to me and I cherish my memories with them. I love getting together whenever I am in town because it feels like we have never been apart. On Saturday Sarah and I packed a picnic and went to see the Charlotte symphony perform in a park followed by an awesome fireworks show!

I drove back to PA from Charlotte on Monday. Jake flew into PA from Omaha on Monday evening. Before he got home I was able to drive all the way back, pack the car with all of our belongings in the Bethlehem house...clean the house...head over to our new townhouse in Alburtis, PA...unload...organize...clean...head to the grocery store...blow up an air mattress, and have everything ready so that Jake could come home and relax! PHEW! I think the vacation should have been post-move instead of pre-move! Now we wait for the truck to arrive with our furniture...Hopefully it won't be too long!

The townhouse is located next to a park with a nice walking path. I went on a long walk this morning and spent some quality time with the Lord. It felt wonderful to be outside in the early morning. I think I'm really going to like our new location.

I  pulled some weeds this morning and was really excited to see some beautiful plants in our front yard. Of course, the neighbors came out as I was crawling through the landscaping taking pictures. Oh well!