thank you.

Steve and I have thought of and planned and saved for this get-away for almost three years... when we realized at our approaching tenth anniversary that we were not going to be able to get away on a fancy holiday.  Going "away" on our 12 1/2th anniversary was perfect!  Half-way to 25 and we celebrate in January.

It seems so bizaare now that it is over!  Were we actually somewhere warm?!  Did we really read all those books?  Was it a dream?  But, yes, we did go and we did have a wonderful time and we have our family to thank and thank!

Rhea, Hannelle and Noam, Rachel and Rob and my Mom and Dad took care of the kids for a full week plus a day.  They took turns coming to the house to be with the kids, feed the kids, dress the kids for church, make the kids practice music, clean the house and do the dishes, clean up flu mess from three different kids (yuck), do lots and lots of laundry, write emails to a homesick me, listen to kid stories that go on and on, be woken up during the night time after time, be woken up early and so on and so on.
Some of our family helped our "savings" for our holiday grow (and become a reality really!) and some of you gifted us "holiday" money which we mostly spent in Jamaica (above) touring the island a little.  An adventure that we would not have gone on otherwise.  Some of you shared your flip-flops and beach bags and prettied me up for the journey (haircut and now I also have eyebrows you can see ;)

While we were gone we never worried about the kids knowing they were being loved and taken care of.  We had a lovely break from caring for the church, going to meetings and hosting small groups and making lunches and waking up at other people's times in the night.  We had time to hang out with each other, remember and enjoy why we are best friends and have a totally amazing adventure together.  The world is so beautiful and we were blessed to see it.

So, thank you all for loving us so much.  We felt it.