From Sea to Shining Sea: Treasuring Time With Family!

Living so far away from our families can be a real challenge. While we don't have the luxury of taking weekend trips to see our families, we do have the opportunity to use technology as a source of connection. Skyping and phone calls help to minimize the physical distance between us and our families (our parents and siblings are now in Alabama, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan and Texas).

However, Joe and I both know that the technology that connects us is not enough. We do our best to get home when we can and we're always open to having our families out here for a visit. Since Evelyn arrived, our desire to spend quality time with our families is even stronger (as evidenced by Evelyn's 14+ plane flights in her very short existence). We both felt so blessed to grow up in close proximity to our grandparents and we treasured the relationships that we had/have with them. Someday, we'd like the same for Evelyn, but for now, Washington is home. For the time being, short, infrequent visits in person and regular contact via technology will have to suffice.

I guess the silver lining in all of this is that we DO NOT take any moment with family for granted and we really try to make the most of every minute (and this is truly a treasure and a blessing). I'm encouraged knowing that friends of mine grew up far away from their grandparents and felt close, if not closer, than I did to mine because they never took their time together for granted. They fondly remember the times they spent together and cherish the special memories they made with their families.

I pray that Evelyn will look back fondly on the memories we're making as a family now (she may not remember, but hopefully the blog and pictures will help to tell the stories)! Evelyn has had many opportunities to see family in her short life and we have more family visits around the corner.

Below are just some pictures from our trips/visits (so far) in 2011: