Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all!  Hope it was a great weekend of celebrating!

First and foremost, thank you each and every one for your KIND, PRECIOUS words of excitement and encouragement.  It makes huge life events seem more real when shared with dear friends.  We continue to be so excited and feel so at rest in the Lord's perfect provision for our little family!  

I apologize for having not responded to many emails or phone calls in the last week.  Right after I made that post, I used any free time to get us ready for the camping trip we went on last Thursday through Sunday.  I do look forward to getting caught up this week and next!

We had a trip planned to camp at Lake Cachuma for this last weekend, about 30 minutes from Santa Barbara.  We thought we may have to cancel due to the wildfire, but were so thankful that the air quality at the lake was still just fine as the winds blew the smoke out to sea.  This is what it was like as we passed through Santa Barbara on our way to Cachuma.

Abby Jane had a great time on this second camping trip for her.  She LOVED the tent, or "toot" as she called it, and has been asking for it ever since we got home yesterday!  She thought it was great fun to run around inside, jump on our thermarests, crash on our sleeping bags, throw herself onto the side of the tent and fall back onto the cushy bags/ thermarest combo!
Morning sippy cup by the fire
Sitting in her new little camp chair- she's saying "seat" as I'm taking the picture.  We think that orange will make the chair perfect for her to use at tailgates, too!
I think discovering how to throw rocks was one of the other highlights of the trip for Abby Jane.  We went on long walks in the mornings that included a little trail to this spot.

We had planned to go on several hikes, but it turned out to be pretty hot in the afternoons, and I just wasn't handling the heat well enough for a hike.  So we took an afternoon trip our second day to a cute nearby town named Solvang, and we even got to read books under a shady tree in a park while she had her afternoon nap!
We did have some issues with some marrauding birds and squirrels while we were gone one morning on a long walk.  We were also chased out of our campsite by a much-to-brazen skunk who proceeded to go through our trash that we had not hung up yet after dinner.  Jake made fun of me because while it was there, I was saying, "Let's just get in the car!" because it was NOT "just going on its way" like Jake said it would and kept coming closer and closer the more we backed away... and  Abby Jane was safe and sound in the tent, so we didn't have to worry about her!  Then after it left, I was talking trash about how it better not come back and what I would do, etc.  What can I say- I'm just not into animals that should be skittish and are NOT! 

But other than those run-ins with nature, it was a precious weekend of being away, unplugged, and being able to process the newest development in our lives!