So Close Yet 1887.2 Miles Too Far

The last couple of weeks have been so difficult when it comes to decision making. Only one decision needed to be made, but we were so torn. My prayers increased greatly and my confusion even more. Do we move back to Oregon or stay in Oklahoma? Before we left Oregon and on the way down we felt that we were going to move back to Oregon. Then while driving in Denver I received a call from my friend Wes McKinzie who happens to be the director of the acappella music recruiting group for my school. He asked if I would join. Doing this would increase my yearly scholarship $10,000. Thanks a lot Wes....Now we have an even tougher decision. More prayer and questioning happened, and finally this morning after talking to my Mom again, we decided to stay. (Which is amazing in itself since my Mom has the most bias opinion out of anyone.) It's going to be tough to not see the NW for at least 7 months. We can't travel for the winter holidays due to our baby girl, so we'll have to wait at least till spring break if not till the summer. There is a possibility that the group I'll be with will head up to the NW so I'll keep y'all updated on that. Please pray for our family as we work hard to balance family, school, work, and whatever comes our way. Finances are still really difficult and finding the time to work will be even more now that I'll be in the group. Praise God for His faithfulness to our family and for His constant blessings.

By the way. Our little girl is Keely Elizabeth.

MANY PICS FROM OUR OREGON TRIP

So I didn't stay up with our trip. Sorry about that. I'm just going to post lots of pics and make small comments.

This is Serena and Tyson at Peter and Lindsey's wedding. Such a beautiful winery.



Lake Shasta, CA



Tyson loved Sam. Sam has gotten so old, but Tyson still calls him puppy. Tyson became Sam's shadow.


Here is a early morning pic from the Columbia River Gorge


Some mountains in eastern Oregon.


Mountains in Utah.


Really cool lookin' rocks in Wyoming.


Here we are in Colorado. I thought the Rocky Mountains would be a lot rockier than this.



Tyson did so well on the very long trips both to Portland and then back down to OKC.

On The Road

Yesterday we left on our "big trip." Starting at 5:45am (Central Time) we started heading west on I-40 and kept on going. Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and then into California. We finished our traveling day at 7:45pm (Pacific Time) and we were so proud of how well Tyson did. There were a couple of "moments" of meltdown, but for a 2 year old boy who had a fever, he did so well. Day 2 (today) was only California. We left Needles, CA at 7:45am and arrived at Santa Rosa, CA about 5:45pm. Day 2 wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't for the dumb drivers. Saturday is my friend Peter Wilson's wedding so we get to enjoy some time here in Cali with some great friends. A reunion of East County CofC family. Sunday we will leave for Portland and be there for about 1 1/2 weeks. I have a feeling that this trip will make it hard to go back to Oklahoma. I forgot how much I missed the mountains. Here are a couple of pics from the border of Arizona and California.