Home again, home again

Behn, Graham and I survived and thoroughly enjoyed our first roadtrip as a family. We have a well-travelled son: we started in VA, of course, and visited MD, DE, NJ, and PA. In MD we spent a few days with the Cathey side of the family. It was especially nice that Graham got to meet my grandparents and we spent some special time with them. As always, I loved being with my parents and siblings as well. Emily and Hannah were also able to spend the weekend in MD.


Then we (including Emily) headed north. We spent a night at Rachael and Matt's and we all got to meet sweet little Marielle. She is adorable! It was a cozy night and we woke up to a bit of pretty snow. Then we travelled to Mom and Dad Trader's, where Lydia, James, and Ruby were also staying. That was a chill, snowy afternoon and evening. The next day, we headed even more north, up to NJ. Luke and Jess are living there right now and we just had to go see Lilyana. What a doll! It is so fun having all these babies around! I wish we could have spent more time with them. Friday was a special day because we got to spend time with my cousin Susan and her kids. Susan treated us to a photo shoot with our little man. She is an amazing photographer and I'm so thankful that she captured Graham at this age. Friday afternoon we enjoyed bringing Graham to Grandmom Ernie's and then later to Kiri and Brian's. Kiri and Brian are Graham's honorary aunt and uncle :) We had fun with them and also enjoyed the company of other friends, Dee and Adriene. I really, really miss my DE friends. Saturday was finally a slower day. We did take Graham over to Grandmom Ruth and Bob's so they could meet him, which was sweet, but after that we just hung around the house and spent time with Lydia, James, Ruby and Mom and Dad Trader. Later on, the whole family (minus Emily and Seth, who we really missed), got together for a family dinner and the babies got to be all together. It was hilarious lining them all up, they made the cutest expressions! So entertaining. In a way, we are all in disbelief that these three infants are here. God is just so good. These little kids are phenomenal expressions of His grace. Now we just have to wait for the last little boy cousin to enter the world in April! Looking forward to him being here too. Sunday was also really chill. We really wanted to go to church, but were all so tired from being up late with family (and I was tired from being up with Graham). I got coffee with my friend Liz and then spent the day resting with family.

That's the trip in a nutshell. I'm sure I left out some details, but it was a whirlwind trip and I'm writing this all down for my own sake. I'm not sure when we'll be able to take such a long trip to visit family again. Already missing everyone...

But it was good to be home in VA. I'm always impressed by the beauty of the mountains as we drive down 81.