Sitting here in Seth and Mary‘s living room chatting while I blog. This may not make any sense, because I’m awfully tired and a smidge discombobulated, and I’m multi-tasking. I really want to go into depth about the amazing people we’ve met and the insane things God has done, but this is probably going to be short, choppy, to the point. If I don’t go to bed soon, I might just pass out. I hope to elaborate later, because these new friends are just awesome. And God is just beyond all… just beyond, y’all.

We had a wonderful, relaxing evening with the Anderles. They’re so sweet. Expecting their first baby in October. Yummy lasagna for dinner, Blue Bell ice cream sundaes (we’ve had Blue Bell four or five times now–these Texans think it hangs the moon), chatting about everything under the sun. Mary’s insanely jealous that we have a basement. The girls are in bed. Ahhh… this is the life.

Getting up at 5:30 to drive to Sea World. Wowzers.

Let me back up a bit. Great time at the Caldwell Zoo in Tyler Friday. Stayed talking with Jack and Kaye until 10ish, in and out of the zoo in a little over an hour, started pouring rain. Met one of Gabe’s online friends at Newk’s Express Cafe, flat tire. Yeah, I can’t go into all that right now–God just blew our minds.

Anyway.

Met Kelli and Chris (and little Caroline) Friday evening. Had such a wonderful time with them. Yummy fajitas. Kelli painted with my girls. They made us feel soooo at home. They’re awesome. And Caroline is to die for.

Darling Amanda drove 45 minutes (both ways) just to hang out with us, and I loved every minute with her. Bless you, Amanda. You’re just a million kinds of wonderful. Love you!

We stayed up late chatting with Chris and Kelli (shocker) and got up early for the zoo. It was just about to rain when we got there, started raining two minutes later, was POURING by the time we left. There was hardly anyone at the zoo but the eight of us. And oh my goodness. Hello, generous Houston Zoo! The girls each got a beautiful stuffed red panda, and they gave us $72 worth of Zoo Food Coupons. $72?! Are you kidding me? We got a pizza (because Miss Amanda recommended it), drinks, chicken tenders, fries, chips.

The zoo is beautiful. We loved it. Went back to Kelli’s to put on dry clothes, do laundry and clean out the van (thanks for your help, Kelli!). The girls painted more, played some Wii. We were sad to leave–we had such a great time.

Headed to Seth and Mary’s, and I think I’m all caught up. Except for all the juicy details that I don’t have the time or energy for. Kaye and Mary Katherine wrote some sweet updates about our time together if you’d like to read them and see pictures. 

Off to bed. Up in a couple hours. THANK YOU for caring about us and encouraging us on this little adventure. There’s going to be some jet lag and culture shock and melting down when we get home in a few days.

These past six days have changed my life.