Our new home: North Carolina. First adventure: Raven Rock

Welcome to our new home: North Carolina! If we are being honest we weren't very excited about this being our next home. But there is no doubt that this is where we are supposed to be. And we have found that no matter where we are we can make it a good experience. Our first adventure was Raven Rock. Many people said this was "the hike" to go on while here. Maybe we are "hike snobs" but this didn't come near any hikes in Utah. But we did have fun and loved being in the outdoors. Both of the kids did the whole loop which was three miles; so we are pleased they are getting to be great hikers, and love it as much as we do                             .  

New Years Eve, last night in the beach house!

This pictures was New Years Eve. We had a rockin' party with the kids. Doing Dance Revolution, playing games, eating lot's of treats, and banging pots outside. The kids even got to stay up all night!!! (8:30pm but they don't need to know that).This was our last night in Virgina, glad we got to say goodbye with a great Babinsky Family Party.

 We have been so blessed during our five months here. We never could have imagined the things we would see, the people we would meet, and the ways in which we would grow. There are a couple of things that stick out as things we have learned here:

1) WATER: Anyone who knows me is aware of my dislike for water. Yes I love to wakeboard, go boating, triathlons, and many other water activities. But I do not like water. Ryan on the other hand would live in water if he had the choice. He truly loves water more than anyone I know. He gets very frustrated when I'm not playing with him in the pool, or lake. So I have to admit I didn't recognize the blessing of living in a beach house when we arrived. These are memories I will never forget. I can now say that I have gone on my boogie board way past any other swimmers waiting for a great wave. This is a huge thing for me. I can now say I can dive under a wave so it doesn't knock me over. I now know that you can swim in the ocean in the middle of a torrential rainstorm and it's beautiful. And one of my favorite things. Both of our children LOVE the ocean, and swimming. They are not afraid to dive into a big wave, or let their Papa carry them clear out into the crazy waves. Even in the freezing cold waters of December the kids were out on the beach jumping in the water. Our family now is officially a water family.

2) CHARITY: I could go on forever in what we learned about Charity, and the pure love of Christ in this area. Not having crazy schedules on this adventure has given us so much more time to see the needs of others, and to be able to do something about it. I pray when we do get "settled" again we will remember this lesson and know that life won't slow down for the important things if we don't do it ourselves. We also learned that we don't need to ask why someone is in a situation, just how we can help them, and in what way they want this help.

3) FAMILY: We didn't know how we were going to feel about being away from our families. I can say with certainty that this is the best thing we could have done in regards to our family. Sometimes when you see people ALL the time you forget how important they are to you. And you forget to talk about the stuff really going on in your life. Some of my favorite times now are phone calls, and skyping with family. We are learning about eachothers lives in a more personal way than I think we have in a long time.

There are so many reasons we loved living in Virginia. We are so thankful the Lord recognizes our wants and our needs and is so close in our lives.

Christmas Day

We had such a wonderful Christmas Day. We spent the morning just relaxing, and opening presents together. Grandma Hare and Aunt Cour D'Alene skyped us while we opened presents. Then we went to church which was such a nice way to spend our Christmas morning. I wish every Christmas was celebrated on a Sunday. It makes you focus on what's really important.

We skyped during part of the Flanders and Hare's Christmas parties. It was strange to be away from everyone for Christmas. But knowing we'd be home soon we didn't miss it very much. We were just grateful for this quiet day we got to spend as our little family. It really was a perfect way to spend a Christmas.

I wish I had a better picture of my decorations. I didn't want to go buy expensive stuff since I would just have to leave it behind. But I loved my garland and wreath I made from the bottom branches of our Christmas tree.

I love this picture. It's exactly what happened with all the presents. Raiyah taking her time to analyze each thing she opened, and Malakai just racing through to see all the things before deciding what to play with.

Grandma and Grandpa Hare visit to Virginia

We had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa Hare visiting. The first thing they did was let Ryan and I go up to Washington DC for the weekend by ourselves. It was so nice to get a break. I think Grandmama was reminding us how much we miss her babysitting for us all the time; the kids miss it too. When we got back we spent a day in Williamsburg checking out all of the Christmas decorations, and historic buildings.

We also took them to Fort Monroe. But the rest of the time was just hanging out. It was so nice to be with them.

This is the first year we have bought a real christmas tree. I don't think we can ever go back to the fake one we have in storage at home. It was so much fun going and picking out our tree, and getting it all set up. And walking inside the beach house with the smell of pine was just wonderful.

 There was a Christmas Parade in downtown Norfolk. As you can see by the kids' faces they were thrilled. There were lighted floats, Santa, lighted firetrucks, and just lot's of fun. It was strange celebrating Christmastime with no snow, and pretty warm days. But we had a lot of fun.

 We went to the parade with the Robertson's. They have one more daughter Gracie not in the picture. We loved getting to know the Robertson's they were great friends. The first day we arrived in Norfolk Chris (our church bishop) was willing to help us in anyway needed. He helped us find a place to stay, and calmed my troubled thoughts of showing up to a city with no home for my kids. :) Needless to say the first time he met us I was in tears because I was stressed from driving across country for a week, and then having no place to call home. But Chris and Heidi helped me to be positive and know that it would all work out. We taught their son Marshall in church. He reminded us both of my brother Matt. We enjoyed teasing him and getting to know all of their great kids. Marshall is also the one who taught Ryan to go crabbing. He was a modern day HuckleberryFinn.

Virginia Beach Aquarium

My parents bought us a pass to the aquarium when they visited. We really enjoyed visiting here with my parents, and many friends. The kids thoroughly enjoyed all the exhibits. There were room sized aquariums of sharks, turtles, and lot's of fish. We had fun with Becham and Kenyon Larsen on one of our fun visits.

Portsmouth Virginia

 We thought this "lightship" was pretty neat. Where they didn't have a place to put a lighthouse but needed lights they would just put a ship out to warn the other ships.

View of Norfolk from Portsmouth side

Historic downtown was very comfortable and fun to visit.

The Children's museum was exciting for the kids. There were some things that were really original and fun to play with. The kids had a great time.