Fun, but tiring weekend

We had a great weekend. Derek's going away party was a great success. It is such an encouragement to know we have so many friends and family who are here to support us both in these upcoming months.

 Derek grilled the yummy hotdogs.

And HanNah made all the wonderful food!

Derek was so excited about all of the attention he received-- especially the kisses from Aunt Leah.

Our dear friends Billy and Gina traveled up from Springfield just to come. He was our campus minister at the BSU down at college and he has continued to be an encouragement to us!

Jackson walked into a cabinet on Sunday morning before church ending up with a nice big boo-boo on his eye. We went to Applebee's with Derek's parents after church and Jackson ended up falling asleep in his chair. I had to put my hand down to keep his head from crashing into the table to prevent another big mark on his face.

I had a host-parent orientation meeting yesterday afternoon while Derek and his dad looked at his car that wouldn't start (ugh!). My cousin Greg and his wife Andrea came over with their daughter Bethany last night for dinner. They live in Prague, but are back for a few months. It was good to catch up and visit.

We have a busy week ahead of us as it's Derek's last week before he heads off to basic. He has the week off work so we have lots of time to spend together--Yay! We are heading out this afternoon to go visit his brother in St. Louis for the night and we will be driving back tomorrow. Uncle Joe is coming over to help get started on getting the basement studded a couple days this week and one of these days we are going to go on a date night at Derek's two favorite places-- Burger King and AMC Theaters, and use the gift cards our wonderful friends Jeff and Missy gave us (who also traveled up from Springfield for the weekend, but I didn't get a picture.)

So anyway, I probably won't be on here much more this week. But I'll be back next week for sure. Please keep us in your prayers as we prepare for him to leave!!

Oh! And Julie arrived safely in the US yesterday and is at a two-week language camp at Bryant University on the east coast. Yay!