From Our Little Corner of the World

I thought I'd give a plain ole life update since there's lots going on in the Strouth house. LOTS.

We've been back in America for 3+ months.... and some days it seems a lot longer, some days shorter. We have gradually eased our way back into life here... some days better than others. Some days we are okay here, some days we wish we were on the other side of the world BUT we're making it, and still confident that we are right where the Lord has us.

So what have we been up to?

July was full of reconnecting with people and adjusting back to life here. And is now kind of a blur. In the midst of being bogged down by a TON of house stuff here, we've asked several times, "Why didn't we do this earlier? Like in July when we had lots of free time?" And it's in those moments we have to remember to give ourselves a lot of grace because we were just doing what we could at the time, and enjoyed great time with loved ones.

As soon as we got back we celebrated the 4th. Within the first week we were back, my mom & dad both came to visit, and my mom returned Lucy to us. Now it's like we were never actually apart.

Then a few weeks later my dear friend Julianna came to visit from North Carolina. We had a blast, as always.

Then Adam's brother & sister in law flew in, with our cute Nephew and we all drove to Kentucky for Kelly's wedding.

He's gotten SO big over the last year! He loves his gifts from EA- KungFu jammies & bug crocs! 

We went by campus to drive by our old houses and walk around, which I hadn't done since we graduated.

From there we went to Ohio to spend a week with Adam's family.

We went to the Columbus zoo for Adam's birthday. Austin loves animals & was fearless in the petting zoo.

Oh and in the midst of that, the Olympics started, and they consumed my life for those 2 weeks. I lovelovelove the olympics. Fun fact, I was there, in the arena when the magnificent 7 won the gold in 1996... when Kerri Strug landed that vault on a hurt ankle to clinch the gold for the women. The women winning the gold again was pretty exciting.

Sometime during August, we started our new jobs, working "remotely." HUGE adjustment. So thankful to work with people who prioritize giving grace above all else. Towards the end of the month,  we went to North Carolina, but on the way stopped in JC for a few days, where I got some great quality time with old friends. Once in NC, we started working in our new office, and looked at a lot of houses all over the Triangle area.

We found one that we liked, in an area that we REALLY like, and hopefully in a couple of weeks it will officially be ours! So we came back from North Carolina, jumped back into the swing of things here working "remotely" and got to work on our house. We went to Kentucky in there somewhere to a friend's wedding 

The last couple of weeks have been CRAZY! But we have survived.

We have been working hard on getting our house ready to go on the market.... doing lots of things that we are asking ourselves, "Why didn't we do this 5 years ago!?" Beats me. Hopefully we wont make those oversights next time. We are pretty much DONE {updated since starting this post!}, and after deep cleaning & "staging" it over the next last 2 days, it will hopefully go is on the market! 

So the ball is really rolling to officially get us moved to North Carolina. Bittersweet to say the least. Excited to be on a yet another new adventure, but really sad to leave this city and people here that we so love! 

So in a nutshell, that's where we've been. The last 2 months are really jumbled in there, but that's how they look in my brain too. Transition is hard & refining. One of the many lessons I'm learning. 

Okay, that's all for now. More soon, when the madness subsides! 

My other sweet nephew: Tyler Bear

I think you've gathered by now that one of my greatest joys in going home was meeting my other "nephew" Tyler. I talked about the sadness of not being there for his arrival here in March, but just to reiterate.... his mama and I have been like bffffffff x1,000 since birth- gmas & mamas were bff, we were born 3 months apart and have been BEST friends since then. both each others MOH's. to say we're like sisters would be an understatement. 

here's proof:

i think its rare to have a relationship like ours, and I'm so thankful for her. 

we've spent our entire child-hood/teenage years/early adult life planning our futures together which most certainly included our children. it is still surreal that evie has a baby, and if I was writing our story Tyler's bff or gf would be cooing in the floor next to him. But I'm not writing our story- someone who knows much better is- so I'll just love on him like he's my own. 

Without further ado, I would love to introduce you to Mr. Personality......

Hi I'm Tyler, but you can call me little man or Tyler Bear. I'm pretty cute huh?

I've got the sweetest smile you've ever seen with BIG dimples on both cheeks. 

hmmm, what's that you say? 

aunt haywee! you're leaving me again!? you just got here! 

you promise to come back!? okay! 

my animal book is my FAVORITE! 

 i LOVE this part! munch, munch, much! 

i sure do love kisses from my mommy. 

she's so funny. 

teeheehee! that's fun mommy. do it again. 

i got my daddy's legs. 

they all keep saying something about me being a linebacker?? I'm not real sure what that is, but it sure sounds like fun! 

i know you just want to stick your fingers in my dimples....

but if you do I'll poke you back! hah! 

I love my big jump jump. If I jump big enough, the elephant cheers for me.... 

....good thing I got these so called linebacker legs. I make some BIG jumps. 

mmmm i sure do love my hand. 

okay Aunt haywee.... I gotta go watch elmo now. I'll talk to you later. 

 I miss you already.... and don't worry- I promise when you come home in July I'll come running into your arms screaming, "AUNT HAYWEEEEE!" 

sniff. i can't hardly stand it. i sure do miss you Tyler Bear and mourn the fact that you will be running and talking when i see you again. until then, you be sweet for your mommy & please don't forget me! I love you little man. 

Joyfully Loving Those Smushy Legs, 

Our new nephew AUSTIN and our time in OHIO!

Okay here we go. I've got a bout 9 bajillion pics uploaded and I'm ready to pump out a BUNCH of posts. Half of those pics might be in this post.... but what are you going to do when you meet your first nephew!? 

I have been DYING to be an aunt for years. I have a 17 year old step-sister. Adam has ONE brother. That's it for us. After 7 years of marriage, I thought it was way past time for said brother {Alex} & his wife {Amanda} to hurry up and have a baby!

And then in April, Austin Alexander Strouth was born! 

They lived in Chile. We live in Asia. We figured out that we were 1 longitudinal line from being on complete opposite sides of the world. SO we met Austin via skype, and patiently waited to meet him in person. 

At the end of July, we all went to Ohio to visit Adam's fam, and we FINALLY got to meet our darling nephew. 

We spent about 10 days in Ohio, mostly visiting with family and passing the baby around. 

Here are some LOTS of pics from our time there.

Adam is still quite satisfied with a dog in his lap. 

We spent lots of time enjoying each others company at home & at fun places like the Dublin Irish festival.

The day after we got there, Adam turned: 

Yay happy birthday to my love! 

Grandma finally got to meet her first great-grandchild! 

We went on lots of walks...

I think we might need to get a moby-wrap for Lucy....

Gave Austin lots of baths

Hello little peanut. 

You can't use your sleeping baby for a pillow BUT you can use your sleeping dog. Reason #419 that Adam is content with a dog. {read: ADAM is content with just a dog...}

We spent lots of time with their Grandama, Aunt {Ardie} & Uncle {Dave} & cousins {Ashley & Andrea}. 

I think Adam was trying to prove a point with his desired stage in life......

But is more than happy to play with his nephew & make him smile...

as long as he gets to give him back when he starts crying. 

This is maybe one of my favorite pics of Lucy. How funny is this? 

Handsome Strouth men...

Austin rockin his "sun suit".... 

After church on Sunday, we went back down to Grove City to spend more time with the family. Uncle Dave asked if we wanted to go down to..... {I keep calling it Commerce Junction}.... Commercial Point... to watch the go-cart races. Um heck yes. 

What's not to love about going to a small town where they shut everything down to make a go-cart course through the town? 

I mean its no nascar, but it was entertaining enough! 

Austin, however, did not like the noise so much. 

So we headed back to their house to play some wiffel ball. 

I knocked a few out of the park. 

And then the boys got a little more intense with baseball....

so I just practiced taking some action shots. 

The night before we headed home we drove down to Cincinnati to go to a RED's game! 

Austin had a fantastic time. 

But then these started looming overhead....

and they entered a rain delay. So we moved to higher grounds and waited the rain out. 

An hour and a half or so later, the game continued.... 

and we were sure that Austin would zonk in no time. 

But nope. He was having too much fun watching the game.

And flirting with his Aunt Haley. 

We had a great time, despite the rain .

And just before mid-night, we made our way back towards our favorite bridge....

....over the Ohio river to the Kentucky side that Adam and I walked over numerous times when we had Bengals season tickets for a few years. 

We got home at 2:30ish {am that is...}, got up the next morning, packed, hit the road (the same one we drove down and back on the night before), made a quick stop by Grandma's to say bye to her and Aunt Ardie.....

And we were on our way home! 

We made a pit-stop in Louisville to see my friend Lesli {I mentioned their parenting story here & here} and met BOTH of her new babies! Greer came home from Ethiopia in March and little Charlotte was born in May! They've had their hands full. Charlotte fell asleep before we could get a pic with her, but we snagged one with sweet Greer. He is the cutest! 

So that was our trip to Ohio in way too many pictures. 

It was one of my favorite trips to Ohio. We weren't rushed, had lots of free time, and spent most of it with family. It was a good does of quality time that will hopefully hold us over for the next year! 

We miss you guys already! 

Joyfully Loving our Nephew,