Overdue...

Um yes, yes...it has been a loooong time since I've updated a little something about us...but that can only mean one thing...life has been hectic to say the least!


As you know we made our trek to America this past October...and arrived at the most beautiful time of the year in Atlanta...where the fall colors were so bright that you could literally see a gold reflection through the windows. This picture does not do it justice but in my half stupor of walking up our first morning in America...I had enough wits about me to take this photo.


Then after only a short day of rest...we did a big no no...we took our "list" to Wal-Mart and spent the next 3 hours bewildered by the shear mass of the store and the overwhelming selection of things. Towards the end poor honey even had a manager come to him and ask if he was okay!  We must have looked a mess and by the time we left...we were headed home to take a nap. I know...lightweights.



After our big fiasco in Wally world...we decided we needed to slow things down a bit and took it easy for a few days.  I loved being able to sit out on the porch with my bare feet...soaking in the sunshine...all the while we are in the month of November!

The hubs quite enjoyed himself out on the deck as well.










Then it was time to head to church...oh how amazing it was to spend time with our church family again.

Our friends have really blessed us as well...by throwing us a re entry shower to replace some of the things we had to leave behind in England.  We also had a lovely couple donate a couch to us!

However...it was quite the show to fit it upstairs in our apartment.  But the finished product was worth it!


Then it was time for my favorite American holiday...Thanksgiving. We have a lot to be thankful for this year...in particularly...reuniting with family. They have blessed us by allowing us to stay in a one room flat in their home.

It was great to have 3 generations in the kitchen again!

Then it was time for a freakish event that comes only once per year...called BLACK FRIDAY.  Its a one day mega sale for all the retail shops across America. For that one day only...stores open at crazy hours...like 12am...and for only a few short hours you can get crazy deals on items.

For example...Best Buy...an electronics shop...had HDTVs 42" for 50% off!  But this was the line..yes those are people actually camping out 2 days prior to doors opening to ensure they got the deal.  Crazy!







So we did get one Black Friday deal...but chose to do it on line instead of waiting in the insane lines.  Honey got a battery drill 50% off and then we had a gift card from our re entry shower that we used...which brought the drill to over 80% off!  Talk about a deal! Now if we only had our own home to use it on...





Then it was onto other matters...we had been in the country for over 4 weeks at this point...and STILL hadn't been able to get our cell phones sorted.  My parents also were waiting on us to get home...because mom wanted herself an iPhone!  Yes that's right...my little mommy is a proud owner of one...and I am so proud of her how quickly she has learned to use it.  She's so cute!

Then we were just trying to get back into the swing of things living in a new country.  But had to chuckle when we came across adds like these...

Or even better...just seeing the massive difference in size of things available here verses in England or Holland.  Like this...












As overwhelmed as we were at the time...J received a letter from the US Government that helped us feel a bit more settled....it was his Permanent Residency Card.  Woo Hoo! He can now legally live and work in the States.  Now to just find a job...













After some meetings and doctor appointments here and there...it was off to a time of rest and relaxation to a small town called Slapout Alabama...as we were going to visit one of our supporting churches and good friends.





The town gets its name from the local town grocer who back in the day when asked if he had a certain food item...would famously say "I'm slap out of that!".
















We were staying in a cabin on the lake that the sweet church provided for us.  It was so peaceful.  We loved waking up every morning to this...

We also enjoyed taking walks on a country mile road...nothing better.  J really enjoyed just the peace and quite.  I loved the sunshine...one thing I had terribly missed 

while living in England...sunshine year round!

We also spent some time catching up with good friends and were able to take some sweet family pictures. We just love this little family!

Here we took some shots at an old abandoned farm house. Made for a very cool vintage backdrop...don't you think?

Then it was time to make our way back to Atlanta...and to celebrate a Dutch holiday...Sinterklass.  Its a dutch tradition where kids fill their wooden shoes with hay and carrots for the horse that Sinterklass rides in on and in return he fills the shoes with candy...if they have been good.

That catches us up to date..and as I type this...the song that I am listening to sums this time up..."Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas"...MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!