we are home

we arrived home last night at almost exaclty mid-night.  the remnants of a long trip are now scattered across the living room floor... and all over my arms, in the form of mosquito bites.
i wish that i could say "this vacation was exactly what we needed.  the most refreshing trip we've ever taken and now we feel all rested and stress-free and ready to attack life with a renewed vigor"

but i can't say that.
because it is far from the truth.

i return home with a heavy heart and a deep pain in my gut.  i have a hard time letting go of things that i know are beyond my control, but i feel like i caused.  i am more stressed out now then when we left.  wondering the proper way to proceed, or whether or not i should take any action at all. i have learned that people aren't always who they seem, that people who say they are christians don't always act christian, and that a lot can change in 2 years. 
i cried a lot this week.

but honestly, not for all bad reasons.
the convention was a complete blessing that made me cry too.  i am planning on sharing some of my favorite points from it in a future blog post.  and it was so nice to see old friends and people that i knew growing up.  i got to introduce my husband to friends for the first time.  and i learned that there are many out there reading my blog that i didn't know about (this is your shout-out Ida!!  thanks for reading and for saying hello).
we did enjoy the driving part of our trip.  which was about 14 hours both ways.  :P  spencer came with us and he did sooo good in the car.  slept a lot and entertained himself in the back seat.  im proud of him.  our little family loves road trips.

and we celebrated our anniversary on our trip.  we told each other "happy anniversary" more times than humanly possible, and told each other again and again of our love for the other.  we talked about how we felt 3 years ago and how we feel now.  and how in love we still are.

i try to focus on the good things... even though, honestly, i need another vacation to recover emotionally from our vacation!!  chris and i have decided next time we need a getaway... we're really going to GET AWAY!  go somewhere no one knows us and relax.  a cruise maybe??

so now its back to our lives here.  and i am so happy to be home.  in my own bed, in my own house, in my own little town.

and just because i can't post without at least one picture... here is one of spencer that chris took.  he is getting to be such a great photographer!!