Keeping Up With The Joneses - December 2018

Blue Ridge Mountains with Marmi and Papa

This is from a few weeks ago when Marmi and Papa came to visit, hooray!

Marmi and Isaac

Marmi supervising the girls' fun climbing up a rock slab.

Marmi and Papa

David, Seth, Will and Grace

Marcie tends to do her own thing while the others cluster together.

King and Queen of the Mountain, Seth and Gracie

Seth and Will, and yes, they are far away from the edge! It looks closer than it is.
(I get emails from concerned individuals when I post photos like this!)

Sweet baby Gracie

This photo of Seth's face looks like when he was a baby. I love it.

Gracie

Daddy and David

Papa and Gracie and Will

I thought Gracie's eyes were from being a preemie,
but they're from my Great Aunt  Alice (right)

Thanksgiving in Tennessee

Poor Seth wasn't feeling well the whole time (he had that unknown tummy pain), so he's not in ANY photos except this one with my dad holding him! It was a COLD day, so we were glad to shelter for a while in the snack bar of the Falls Creek State Park. My sister's darling kids Foster and Eloise sitting with them too.

Gracie loved to help Eloise get around. Elo loved it too!

Foster and our boys really enjoy playing together!

Stretching a buck (and lessening the sugar/dye intake) :) 

Making a leaf pile with Eloise, Foster, Will, Gracie and David

Aunt Courtney joins the fun with her little girl (front center). We have such fun siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins!

There were lots of cool rock areas for David to play in

I LOVE THIS PHOTO OF GRACIE! She loves to listen to "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth" as she is missing both of hers. It's so cute and gives her the most darling speech impediment. :)

We hiked to visit a couple of waterfalls - this is Falls Creek Falls

Gracie "helping" Eloise and Foster again

David and Dad in front of the water hole and Ozone Fall

Marcie keeping warm

The kids made good use of my brother in the swimming pool at their motel. :) He's a champ!

Reading the children's Bible to Eloise. These moments are never enough to satiate, but I'm awfully grateful for each one!

There also  isn't enough time on furlough to enjoy all the coffee I'd like to with my mom/best friend!

Seth is great now! Plus some fun run photos

Thanks for praying! He didn't end up having the scan, which was a blessing monetarily as he's stopped having symptoms and apparently doesn't need one! I guess it was just some type of infection with a strange lack of symptoms (other than pain) that raised his white cell count (to 16,000!) and took a long time to clear up fully. Thank God no one else got it! I'm so grateful for all the prayers and wish I'd asked earlier. The power of prayer always awes me! God is so good and gracious - even when His answer is no. I'm glad it was a yes this time. MUCH better sleep makes for a much happier Mommy and Daddy and kids!

Here are some photos from the kids' Fun Run fundraiser* at school the week of Thanksgiving:

Just after this photo Seth stopped running and said his tummy was hurting. This was the beginning of the drama and ended with a trip to Urgent Care Tuesday night. :(

At this point the "fun run" had become a walk in which they wanted Mom to join. But they still loved it!

Gail Boemker took this photo. She spend the first Christmas the quints were home (minus Seth) with us, helping out BIG TIME. She held Marcie all Christmas dinner, if I recall correctly. She was getting teary-eyed watching these miracle babies run their Fun Run laps! 

*Sponsored by Miss Anita and Mr. Jon, Aunt Lynnette, and Aunt Fay and Uncle Jim! THANKS!!

Please pray for Seth's tummy

Thanksgiving was dramatic for our family this year, it good ways and not-so-fun ways. First, we went to Tennessee to the beautiful Eden Ridge missionary retreat center in Crab Orchard. WOW, what a place! It's definitely the nicest cabin/chalet I've ever stayed in. While focusing on missionaries, it is available to the public at reduced rates and worth every penny and more! The views are incredible, and the cabins are gorgeous. It's only about 5 hours from us, although with Thanksgiving traffic it took quite a bit longer. The drive through the Smokies was stunning, though, and there was even some color left on the trees!

So the not-so-fun stuff: We had to take Seth to Urgent Care last Tuesday night, ER on Thanksgiving Day in TN and a clinic appointment this past Tuesday. He's had two blood draws and dozens of labs, another blood draw today, and a scan of his abdomen at some point today. It's been 12 days and nights of him complaining about his belly button hurting. He definitely had an infection, with significantly raised white blood cells and platelets, which was gradually getting better, but he's still crying and literally writhing at night (very little sleep around here right now). Please pray the scan and lab work today will help diagnose what's wrong with the poor guy, and that he'll feel better either way!

Our family's first foray into Waffle House - raging success!

Our 3-bedroom cabin, gorgeously decorated and with brand-new furniture. It was so luxurious and inexpensive!

Cold car riders, ready to go to the mountains!

A video that makes us homesick for Papua New Guinea!

Believe it or not, we're already looking at tickets and flights for July. Don't get me wrong, I love the USA and so very many people in it! This year is a huge blessing and source of refreshment for me. (Grocery shopping - LOVE. Meal prep - EASY. Internet speed - INCREDIBLE. Fall in the USA - BEAUTIFUL. Christmastime - MAGICAL. Roads - SMOOTH. Freedom to travel around by myself - PRICELESS.) But I can't imagine giving up beautiful, remote Papua New Guinea. <------ and="" by="" friends="" great="" hanks="" job="" made="" micah="" p="" there.="" this="" todd="" two="" video="" was="">

Horseback Riding!

These are a couple months old but super cute!