goodbyes for now

We've had a busy last couple of weeks. We had our last days of work, packed everything up, and stored it away. There are a lot of little things that you have to think about when you go away so far for so long so we've just been taking care of it all and at the same time trying to see everyone before we go since it will be a while before we see them again. Here are some highlights:

Evening with Erin, Marcus, and super cute Morgan at their peaceful home in the country...

The Baha'is of Fort Bend got together and had a little going away thing for us. We were blown away by the outpouring of good wishes and also by the great food! The kids from our children's class sang some songs and made us an awesome book to remember them by. We were super touched.

My parents also had their friends over so we could hang out with the "Super Seven" one last time and say goodbye to them all.

Finally, the Sampson family got together to wish us goodbye and good luck which was very very sweet! Sadly I forgot my camera so the few pictures I took were on someone else's camera. :( It was nice that almost all our nieces were in town, and John got to go spend a night with them just hanging out with Tom, Teresa, Mazy, Alexa, Kevin, Christina, and Becky.

And last but not least, Jamey and Auggie!

Everyone spoiled us with really great vegan food. It made us feel really good that no animals were harmed in order for us all to get together and have a good time. They showed that eating in a way that promotes compassion and nonviolence towards animals can also be really yummy!

But mostly, we were happy that we got a chance to see everyone and we left the country feeling really really lucky and really really blessed to have such great family and friends behind us.