New Job and New Snow!!!

Today we had our first REAL snow (like where it actually stayed on the ground).  It was so cold and it was the one day Ashley actually had to be somewhere-substitute teaching interviews.  So it was both of our first days to try driving in the snow...and we didn't crash.  A kind person from the church (thank you Steve Dickie!) purchased two ice/snow scrapers for us and special de-icing windshield washer fluid just yesterday, but it doesn't help if you don't put it in your car.  Ashley ended up at her interview stuck heating up the car trying to get the snow off the windshield.  There was so much snow blowing.  Dale was like a kid on Christmas.  He was so excited, all he wanted to do was make snow angels.   The crazy thing is, yesterday it was 67 degrees!  Wichita sure has sporadic weather.

As we traveled the 1400+ mile journey from Irvine, CA to Wichita, KS, we thought it would be fun to get a little video along the way. Our favorite part was definitely Flagstaff. When you have only seen really dry, hot parts of Arizona, it is rather shocking to all of the sudden be surrounded by snow. It was so beautiful. We also got to stop by the Stations of the Cross in Texas. A long time ago we got an email about this place where a guy donated land and the money for the sculptures to be made, but we figured we'd never go (because who's ever in the middle of nowhere Texas?). But as we were driving, Dale noticed that we were passing right by them. What a blessing in the middle of a long drive! Along the way we also enjoyed seeing the gas prices drop. Probably the most difficult part of our trip was finding places for Dale to eat, poor guy. There are definitely not as many "gluten-free" options in the middle of nowhere (which is where we were a lot of the time). One other part of the journey I just remembered was our stop at the Oklahoma Memorial for the bombing that happened 13 years ago. It is touching to see how something like this impacts the entire city, the entire country. We both got really choked up at the fence where people have tied things, put pictures and momentos to remember those who were lost. There were these pictures of two children who were very young when the bombing happened (2 and 4 I think). They lost their mom that day. Next to these pictures it showed the girls all grown up, now 15 and 17, and it said how their lives are still impacted by that day. I think of it as being so long ago, that it must be in the past. But for these girls, they live without their momma every day. I get chills just thinking about it (which could be a little affected by the pregnancy). Right outside the memorial there is a statue of Jesus with his face in his hand. It says "Jesus wept." Oh, it was beautiful and perfectly fitting. You can see this in the video. Hopefully we can get some pics of our trip up soon too. What a great experience. It's just the beginning of all the new things we'll see.

Welcome to Our Blog

Okay, so this is Ashley trying to be techy, but it may not go so well.  I at least wanted to try and load up a few videos to test and see if I can figure it out.  More info will come on things we have discovered in Kansas and how things are going (and yes there will be belly picture updates).  Enjoy the videos for now, if I can get them to work :).