7 Quick Takes Friday - #19

7 Quick Takes-- let's go.

1. "Back in the U.S.S.A!" And more specifically, Texas. Yup, we're back. Loving things like family, seeing my kids play at parks I played at as a kid, Chipotle, the big beautiful sky, and virtually no traffic. It's nice being home.
   
2. I dubbed yesterday "Thrift Store Thursday," and we foundsome awesome deals. Thrift stores are so amazing. We stocked up on summer clothes, Fisher Price toys, baseball equipment, and books, and spent in total what would have spent on just three pieces of the clothing that we got (slacks, khakis, and khaki shorts for my husband). I love good deals.
   
3. And Thrift Store Thursday was followed up by... a trip to the ER! Yikes. Poor little Silas, he's my ER guy, I guess. He got stitches last January, and last night he got dermabonded. I knew that's what they'd need to do, but I just lacked the confidence. After watching it be done, I feel like I could do it in a pinch. Reminds me of my oldest son asking me, "mom, did you go to medical school before I was born?" Of course, I replied with a giggle, "no, why?" "Because you seem to know so much stuff about sickness and how to take care of people when they're hurt." Yup, that's what motherhood teaches you, my son. :)
   
4. Speaking of conversations with my oldest son, on Monday or Tuesday after their first time to church in America, Ethan said, "Mom, church here is really different from our church in Turkey." I asked him what specifically he noticed, and he said, "like, in our house church, we know everybody. But you can't know everybody in a church that big. And, sometimes, I feel like we're part of a small number of Christians, but being in that big church, it felt like there are so many other people who are Christians too!" Interesting observations. It is wild to watch our kids grow up so differently from how we did.
   
5. Sorry I haven't been blogging, doing the "Five-A-Month" goals I began doing at the beginning of the year, or even responding to e-mails much. I may be hit or miss for a while with computer stuff... we're just really trying to soak up all the wonderful things we've missed.
   
6. Four years is a long time. People who were single are now married. People who had toddlers/babies have school kids. Some people who were elementary age are now approaching or in high school. It's weird. Good weird, but weird. Keeping up through Facebook helped. But it's still weird.
   
7. Gotta go make a picnic lunch. I think we're going to take our bunch to the Dallas Farmer's Market & hit Dealey plaza for a picnic lunch today. Ethan & I have watched video and theorized about the JFK assassination for a couple years now (he saw me reading about it and is interested in history, so yeah, he knows quite a lot about it)... so now we're off to see the real place for his first time. Should be fun.
   
8. ETA: Didn't think of this earlier, can't believe I didn't mention it... you would not BELIEVE the flights we had. 2 hours before we were set to head to the airport, Silas woke up crying and then promptly threw up on me. That continued for several hours. Pretty soon, Maranatha was throwing up too. They each threw up at least 10 times. Then Baxter. And then, just as we made it to Texas and had our little ones in the stroller, ready to go get our bags, Ethan lost his lunch too. It was totally disgusting- the steward brought me a stack of those throw-up bags, and we used nearly the whole stack. And yet, somehow I honestly felt cheerful and strengthened through the whole trip. Only God could do such a thing, because it was flat out gross. OK, all for now. Just needed to share that. :)

Thoughts? How are you all doing? If you've written me an e-mail I will respond at some point... it just may be a while before I have mental space to sit in front of this computer for very long. Blessings to you all...