chilly weather

It has been pretty chilly around these parts for us desert rats. We decided to take a cartrip down to Pinal County, AZ, and we thought it might be good to make sure the kids were warm. Truly, they didn't end up even needing the hats but...

...yeah, we pretty much have the cutest kids on the planet.

new vehicle

Okay, so the pictures are grainy...it was dark out, I was using the iPhone's 2 megapixel dinky camera, and it was stormy.

Yes, stormy...that's right...that means that the monsoon has finally arrived in the Valley of the Suns, I mean, Sun.

It is a great vehicle. 48k miles. We drove it for 67 miles today, just to go out driving...and we looked at houses some while we were out, too.

We are very grateful to the LORD for His provision of a good vehicle.

yearning

I am back at work today. This past weekend was incredible. I thoroughly enjoyed my family. Having to be back here at school today makes my heart sink. My parents, sister, brother-in-law, and nephew are all leaving today, and I can't be there to take them to the airport, give them one last hug before they leave. I didn't get to print out some pictures for my parents. I didn't get to take a picture of my sister's family. I didn't get to burn some CDs for them of all the pictures we took this weekend. There were so many things to wrap up last night, but we didn't get the chance. My brother-in-law, Joseph, had never seen the Grand Canyon, so we made a day trip with the six adults (one sick and pregnant, Amy, my beautiful bride) and two infants (the cousins, Aidan & JD). It was a wonderful morning. It was only a 3 1/2 hour drive to get there. The sky was cloudy, but there was no bad weather. We got to the Rim, took some pictures in the freezing wind, went to a gift shop or two, and just enjoyed taking our time. My mom, Amy, and the babies went back to the rental van because of how cold it was, but we got some more good pics of Beth and Joe.We got to a stop that was near to Flagstaff and we took a few pictures there, as well. Amy and the babies didn't get out of the van, but the rest of us did. We went back into Flagstaff, ate a great late lunch (maybe a linner? dunch?) at Red Lobster, and headed down the hill at 4pm. We got gas first. There were blizzard conditions just south of Flag on the 17. There were something like 7 different accidents. It took us 4 hours to move 8 miles. The babies didn't enjoy it, but the incredible Van Liew women got them settled and asleep soon enough. Joe and I got out of the car and met a few other guys who were stuck, as well. Doug is an Icee repair man, moving to Colorado Springs soon. Jesse lives in Colorado Springs and was simply headed South. We didn't have a ton of time to talk with them, because we moved a mile down the road and got split up. We threw snow and enjoyed the weather as we could. Munds Park is not bad, I guess, but I normally don't get the opportunity to walk half a mile down the 17 to the Exxon and back again without the vehicle moving down the road even an inch. Okay: 8 miles, 4 hours. I believe that's 2 miles per hour. After we got down the hill further, we finished the remaining 108 miles in an hour and a half. We didn't reach my front door until midnight thirty (for those who don't know Adam-speak, that's 12:30am the next morning). So, all that being said, I was unable to finish the projects that I had for my family. I miss them already. Not only this, but Amy is still sick, needs rest, and she has Aidan to take care of. Just coming to work today makes me feel as if I'm shirking responsibilities all over. I love my family.

car donation

We donated our dead '97 Plymouth Neon to PBS. I'm sure it could be patched up and still run very well, but we don't have the money to fix it. It did have a 12 disc CD changer in it, but we listen to my iPod now anyway, so that's okay. It served us for the time we had it, but then it died. The Lord provided the Ford Escort wagon that we have now, and that's much better for having the car seat with Aidan.