We always know that we will be doing a lot of traveling between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day every year, but some years we do a lot more traveling than others. This was one of those years that included thousands of miles and not just hundreds. We began our long journey in Pennsylvania with Dean's entire family. We enjoyed the evening together and I even played (and won) a game of ping pong.

The boys were all happy that they received some money but when I went to put it in my wallet, my wallet was not in my purse. I went through all the suitcases and the van, but there was no wallet. To make a long story short, instead of leaving for New Mexico from Pennsylvania, we drove home, and I found my wallet on the counter where it had fallen out of my purse as I was putting things in it for the trip. As we drove home, I kept checking the weather forecast on my phone and discovered that snow was predicted right along our path for the first part of the trip, but that it hadn't started yet. We decided to leave right away instead of waiting until morning so that we could miss the snow.

JJ crawled into the back seat and slept until we got to Western Tennessee, but Jeremy and Justin were determined that they were going to stay awake until we got to Tennessee (five hours). They did and were still going strong when we left Virginia behind. They did finally fall asleep and then all three boys woke when we stopped for breakfast.

Our time in New Mexico wasn't full to the brim and we enjoyed just being with family.

The older boys were more than glad for time with cousins.

Joseph loved playing with my great-nieces.

The evening that we were all together, we opened gifts and I wanted to read one of the books that I had given. I began reading to one niece and the next thing I knew all the nephews were gathered around. Yes, including the daddies of the nieces.

My favorite gift was an old photo of my grandfather.

We measured all the kids that are still growing. Each year we check to see who has grown the most and this time, it was one of the little girls. I failed to take pictures of mom with her grandchildren until the last evening and then the group was incomplete.

After we left mom's home for our trip home, we saw several hot air balloons. I snapped a quick picture with my phone since I had packed my camera away for the day.

As we traveled south through New Mexico, we talked about our time together and about the times that we had shared. New Mexico isn't just some state way out west, it's the home of many that I love and a place that I intend to visit again.

Even though we live relatively close to Washington, DC, we rarely get there for field trips. I'll take a look at the notice of a planned trip (we're part of a homeschool group that puts together great field trips) and groan at the possibility of driving in THAT TRAFFIC, and decide that we'll skip it this year. I have gradually gained more experience driving inside the beltway and decided that we would give DC a try when we were presented with the opportunity of a free Air Force Band concert at Constitution Hall.

I googled like crazy to make sure I knew how to find it and where to park. I found a parking garage where I could prepay for a reserved spot and made sure to include plenty of travel time. We made great time and then our only problem was that we arrived too early and walked all around Constitution Hall taking pictures and trying to decide which entrance was the correct one.

I had forgotten my camera but that's what phones are used for, right? Try as I could I just couldn't get a good picture inside the hall, but that didn't prevent us from enjoying the concert. All the boys enjoyed the music and I've heard them humming snatches of the music in the week since.

JJ had never been to Washington, DC, so I wanted to make sure that he had an experience he would remember. Of course we couldn't get close to the White House, but we enjoyed the model trains that were set up around the National Christmas tree. The boys all chose a favorite train and even tried to get a coin in one of the cars as it drove past. This was JJ's favorite part of the display.

We decided to visit the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History and even though we limited ourselves to one museum we still didn't do it justice. We decided that we would find the Hope Diamond, but the boys were much more impressed with parts of the gems and minerals collection.

We also wanted to look at bones. The dinosaurs captured our attention less then the other skeletons.

The turtle interested the older boys, but I was more impressed with the walrus head.

The preserved specimens also captured our attention. We all got to touch elephant teeth and tusks. By the time we got to the stuffed animals, I was ready for a break and found a place to sit while the boys wandered around looking at lions, and tigers and bears. Oh, my!

I know that the boys get tired of posing, but I wanted them to make the same face as the stone carving outside the museum.

I guess I didn't clearly communicate to Joseph.

By the time we walked past the Washington Memorial, the shadows were lengthening and we were all ready to get back to the van and on the road. I left thinking, "hey, I can do this." The boys left thinking that it would be better to do in the spring or fall when the weather was more comfortable. We all think we'd like to do it again sometime, but I need to mentally prepare for THAT TRAFFIC.

There might be a science experiment going on.

I wasn't paying much attention to the older boys this morning, but now that I think about it, I did hear them saying that they needed mirrors from the science supplies so they could do something with laser pointers. I wasn't convinced that they would find everything they thought they needed so I didn't question them about what they were doing. I did hear them going through the science box and I was aware that they had found a magnifying glass, but I still wasn't paying much attention. I did see Justin standing near the window holding a piece of paper, but he wasn't there long and I went on my merry way.

Some time later, while I was reading to Joseph, Justin came to me with the camera and said, "you want to see the pictures I've been taking?"

I took a look and sure enough an experiment had been going on under my oblivious nose. And it had been documented.

This evening, I glanced into the bathroom where Joseph was in the tub and he called out, "Hey, do you see the smoke?" I skidded to a stop to take another look but I didn't see any smoke. We investigated a little and decided that he was just seeing some steam rising off his arm. There was no smoke, but after the morning experiment, I did want to make sure that there wasn't a fire in the bathroom.

I wrote this piece several months ago for a homeschool publication and decided to pull it out for my blog. I tried to pick out pictures that I haven't used in the past and inserted them randomly.

When I was in the classroom, field trips filled me with dread. The thought of making the arrangements to take 20-30 kids on a trip scared me. Coming up with ideas seemed overwhelming and the fear of losing a child on a trip was enough to scare me spitless. Thankfully I had others around me who weren't quite so intimidated, and I got through all of them with very little incident.

When we began homeschooling ten years ago, field trips became fun. There was so much to do and so much to show our boys. When we heard that Queen Elizabeth was going to be in Richmond, we dropped everything for the day and headed off to see the queen. When we heard about free admission at Montpelier and a chance to see James Madison’s home, we knew where we were headed. When we visited Mr. Vernon, the boys could hardly believe it when George Washington shook their hands and said he’d been waiting for them all day.

As the boys grew older, we became more deliberate in our planning and our trips took on a larger dimension. With the goal of getting them into all 50 states, we began planning our trips around states that we hadn’t visited yet. We were still taking day trips inside the state, but we made plans for longer trips. In addition to shorter trips to New England, Florida and the Carolinas, we’ve had a 4-week field trip to the West Coast and a 3-week field trip to the mountain west.

We’ve crossed the Great Plains in one day of hard driving and tried to imagine how very long it must have taken while walking next to an ox cart. We’ve seen and heard and smelled Yellowstone. We’ve lain under the redwoods and tried to see the tops, and we rode to the top of the Gateway Arch in what seemed like an oversized dryer. We’ve spelled our way across the Mississippi and visited living history villages in multiple states. We’ve discovered a tertiary road leading over the coastal range and feed manta rays.

Over the years, we have learned a few tricks that help us when we think about field trips. The first is that we keep a running list of things we’d like to do and places we’d like to see. When we see a list titled “Twenty Places Everyone Should See,” we look it over, check off the places we’ve already been and add a few to our master list. I’m sure that we will never exhaust our list, but by keeping a list, we never run out of ideas.

If a larger trip is on the horizon, we begin planning and dreaming early. Even though we look at travel books, we have visited a few places that came highly recommended but were a bust as far as we concerned. After we decide on the major goals, we search out some smaller places of interest. We planned to spend two days in Yellowstone, but the night before we took in the rodeo in Cody, Wyoming and really enjoyed it. Every time a calf got away in the calf roping contest, our youngest cheered. He didn’t think it was right to tie up the babies.

The timing of the trip may not be open to change, but the timing may have an effect on how enjoyment results. We planned to visit the Gateway Arch on July 5th not realizing that the roads around the arch would still be shut down after the Fourth of July Celebration forcing us to walk some distance. We timed our visit to Yosemite over Memorial Day weekend without realizing that entrance to the park was free that weekend and we spent oodles of time just finding a place to park. On the other hand, since we planned our trip in the late spring, the waterfalls were running full and beautiful up and down the west coast.

We recommend keeping pictorial records of our trips. I would love to be one of those people who keeps a photo album for every child and each special occasion, but I don’t. Instead, we’ve chosen to make a photo book each year highlighting the activities of the year or a separate book for each of our long trips. The boys love to go through the books and re-live their memories. I also write a family blog and include our field trips and travel experiences

We’ve discovered that distances take longer to cover when on vacation. A forty-mile drive on the interstate might take a little over half an hour, but forty miles of a scenic drive may take half a day. If your goal is to cover as much ground as possible, stay off the scenic routes. If you want to explore as much of our beautiful country as possible, take the scenic routes, but factor in extra time. We usually choose a combination of the two. We have long travel days getting to a goal followed by leisurely days when we stop to take pictures, examine a tide pool, wander through Lewis and Clark’s westernmost camp, or wait for the buffalo to get off the road.

In our planning, we try to include a variety of activities. Even the history buff in our family is glad that we don’t focus exclusively on historical sites, but we always include history as part of the trip. We enjoy museums, but after one or two good ones, we don’t want to read any more descriptive signs. Neither do we want to spend all our time just looking at the sights. If we’ve taken a scenic drive in one state, we’ll probably plan something different for the next day. After driving through Rocky Mountain National Park for the good part of a day, we spent the next morning in the Leanin’ Tree Museum of Western Art followed by a light lunch at the Boulder Tea House which was a gift from Tajikistan. Neither the museum nor the tea house was on our list of must-dos, but we all enjoyed them immensely.

Don’t be afraid to be serendipitous. That little road over the coastal range in California turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip and perhaps the scariest. Later on in the trip, we were driving along the Oregon coast and saw a sign for a cheese factory and turned in. We took the free tour and then wandered through the store and discovered squeaky cheese curds. Four years later, I still want a bag of cheese curds from that factory.

Last summer, we paused on the Utah state border to take a picture of the older boys in front of the welcome sign. They had officially entered their 48th state. With just Alaska and Hawaii to go, and only the high school years left, we’re not sure if we’ll be able to accomplish our goal of getting into all 50 states, but we do know that we have succeeded in broadening their horizons.

Even though we live in the boonies, our boys haven't had some of the county experiences that Dean and I had as children. They don't know what it's like to live next to a pig farm nor have they ever milked a cow. (I've never milked either - that was my brother's chore.) They've never had the opportunity of watching animals birthing, and they've never helped butcher. The closest they get to country living is when they help with the canning and freezing in the summer.

When I saw a "Free Roosters" sign earlier this week, I decided it was time to introduce them to some country living. We stopped just a mile or two down the road to ask about the free rooster. The lady of the house came out and gave us out pick of the two roosters that she had left and kindly showed Justin how to hold it long enough to get home. As we drove home, he named it Dinner and made jokes about having Dinner for supper, but the jokes ended pretty quickly when I put a pot of water on to boil and picked out a sharp knife.

I'll leave out all the gory details, but not long into the process, Jeremy texted Dean that he was thinking about becoming a vegetarian. JJ rode his bike around the periphery and kept his distance, but Justin was right at my side the entire way.

When I watched my father and grandfather butcher chickens, it looked so easy. I no longer think the process is easy. I've scratched that itch and have told the boys that I don't plan to butcher chickens again. Of course, if I had lessons as an adult, I might change my mind. Even though we were told that he was a young rooster, he was still tough and he ended up in soup. This afternoon, JJ told me that he wanted breakfast for supper. I suppose if we can have Dinner for supper, we can have breakfast for supper as well.

We blinked and the end of summer arrived, but with the end of summer came grandma and cousins. The cousins timed their visit so that we had one week before school started and we squeezed as much fun into five days as possible.

We swam - more than once.

The boys built a forge

Which meant all the boys got muddy.

After the forge was built and the boys had done some blacksmithing, they decided that they needed to bake bread, so I mixed up a batch of biscuits and the boys baked them on a clean shovel.

They were declared a hit and soon all that was left was a counter in need of attention.

JJ put in a request for a new fort in the woods and in no time flat his request was granted.

Of course the saw hadn't had enough of an workout so it got a little more practice.

We took part of one morning and visited Government Island where the stone was quarried for the White House and the capitol. The boys were traveling at high speed and made it all the way around the island while mom and I had a much shorter route.

All kinds of games were played inside and out. The swords got quite a bit of use and more cudgels were found in the woods.

The basketball also bounced more frequently than usual.

We allotted an entire day to visit the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum at Dulles where flight simulators were at the top of the list, but we walked the length of that massive structure on more than one level.

On Friday, we went to the lake and I failed to take a single picture. Two of the boys spent all their time fishing while mom and I joined the others at the beach. By the time we came to the end of the fifth day, the boys were ready for some less strenuous activity and I caught all five enjoying electronic games.

It seemed that summer was officially over when we said good-bye at the airport, but the boys were already planning activities for Christmastime. This week they've all hit the books and school's in full swing. Mom plans to be with us for another month, and we have several more activities planned. Next thing we know, we'll blink and winter will be here.

When Dean and I realized that we were unable to conceive, it was a hard truth to embrace. We both came from homes were children were valued, anticipated and loved and we eagerly awaited pregnancy, birth and parenthood. We grew weary of the hope followed by disappointment cycle we found ourselves in and gradually grew to accept the thought that we would grow old together without children. Even though the desire for children never dissipated, we developed a contentment with our new normal.

About the time that we stopped praying for a child, the Lord opened the doors for two! The eight months that we spent in the adoption process were the most exciting time since we had planned our wedding. We thought the phone would never ring letting us know that we could go get Jeremy and Justin. We spent about two years getting used to being parents and then we began to think about adopting again. We pursued three different possible adoptions and each time the Lord closed the door. The feeling of disappointment was there again.

When Jeremy and Justin were seven we opened our home for foster children. We were open to the idea of fostering to adopt, but didn't have our hearts set on it - until we fell in love with our first placement. He went home after four weeks and we missed him, but immediately began thinking about the next child. To make a long story short, we are no longer foster parents, but we are in the middle of an adoption process for one of those foster children that we grew to love.

Yesterday we celebrated Adoption Day. We chose as the official date the day that Jeremy and Justin's adoption decrees were signed in Haiti thirteen years ago. We began with a breakfast of crepes followed by some chores - can't get away from the unexciting even in the middle of festivities. Once the mundane had been taken care of, we packed a lunch and headed to the pool.

Four hours at the pool were followed by supper preparations. For some reason, grilling seems like a celebratory activity. We grilled corn on the cob, zucchini and chicken but before we could eat, I had to have a picture of who we were celebrating.

It didn't take long for the food to disappear, but before we had dessert, we had to stop for gifts. All of the boys had been wanting a watch, so that is what they received. Do you know how long it took to properly set three watches? I still can't get Joseph's off of military time.

Ice cream is reserved for special occasions and this was definitely an occasion. Between all the toppings everyone had a nice bowl full before we ended the day with a family movie. (I saw most of it.)

Reflecting on the last thirteen years has given me opportunity to realize that the pain of infertility has been healed. We grieved, but our sorrow has helped us to deeply appreciate the blessings that the Lord gave us.

A couple of days ago, JJ showed up with a new look.

What he didn't realize is that it isn't a new look. I remembered a similar look from March 7, 2011.

I did notice that Jeremy was wearing more clips three years ago, but I know where one or two more are.

There's something about boys and a hot day that calls for water. The afternoon temperature had reached its peak and I heard Justin tell Jeremy and JJ to put their swimsuits on. JJ didn't need a second invitation. He was out the door in no time flat prepared for a good water battle. And, yes, that is my largest pan lid.

It took Jeremy a little longer to decide that he didn't need to be fully outfitted, but he did grab his buckler and a hat in preparation.

Justin, out of his cast for just four days and still a little unsteady on his feet, took the offensive position from the safety of the deck. His only weapon was the hose and he had no armor.

The fighting force prepared to charge. They were ready for the onslaught of water and bravely strode forward.

The barrage forced them to raise their shields in protection.

The battle raged on as both sides bravely used their weapons, but the power of the water eventually brought the defense to their knees and a truce was called.

Their weapons were laid down and they began to make their way to the safety of the house, but they hadn't counted on orders from mama to stay outside until they stopped dripping and to pick up their weapons. The water fight was over and the drying had begun.

It was not a thing of beauty. It was not an architect's dream. It was not built to last forever, but when my sister sent me this picture along with the words, "demolition has begun," tears came to my eyes. How could such an old structure with cracks in the walls hold so many memories? This was the building I saw every time I walked out of the house in the morning as a child. This was the site of many of my earliest memories. This was the place that was known for almost 60 years as the Indian Building. As the years have passed it has changed in function but it has always been well used.

Four large rooms and three smaller ones comprised this building, but it was more than rooms. It was the clinic where Public Health Service doctors saw over a hundred patients every Thursday and where my mother delivered babies on every day but Thursday. My brother and I loved to explore in the clinic. We never helped ourselves to any of the medicine, but we often had a need for a cough drop while we were exploring. One time we discovered a centipede in the sink and thought we could kill it with the soap that was sitting on the counter. All we managed to do was make the centipede drunk - poor guy really didn't know which foot to use next. We were not allowed in the exam rooms, but I remember peeking around a corner one time and learning just how much head wounds can bleed. Of course, this was where I saw the doctor if I needed one - hopefully I was only sick on Thursdays - and where I received my immunizations.

This building was more than walls and windows. It was a meeting room for many. In my earliest memories, AA meetings were held in one of the large rooms where the 12 steps were posted in Navajo. Many times it was used for youth meetings or Bible studies. For years we would gather there on Friday nights for fellowship. In these rooms I struggled to learn how to write the books of the Bible in order with correct spellings and in these rooms I memorized many passages of scripture.

It was more than cinder blocks and single-pane windows. It was where we prepared, served and fellowshipped over food. If the group was larger than we could serve around our living room table, we moved the meal to the Indian building. Guests from all over the United States sat in folding chairs and ate off of mismatched tableware, but no one minded the lack of china, we lingered over those times of fellowship. Children attending VBS were served from the kitchen and one year we made hundreds of popcorn balls to be included in Christmas treat bags.

It was more than doors and a roof. It held the laundry room that was used for many years by dozens of ladies in the community. Wringer washers ran from sun-up to sun-down six days a week and on the seventh, I ran my arm up to my elbow in one of the wringers. I forgot that you should let go of the item you're running through the wringer and had to holler for help. And it was in one of those doors that I got my fingers pinched while playing a game of tag. It was on Thursday, so mom took me to the doctor to make sure nothing was broken.

It was more than a building on a slab of cement. The wide covered porch was a wonderful refuge from the hot summer sun. I wasn't the only child who climbed the poles that supported the roof over the porch and I know I'm not the only one who remembers lining up under its protection to receive a meal during a community dinner. Old benches spent many hours supporting those who sat to rest or visit. Here children played while their mothers laundered.

It was more than mortar and paint. It was a home. Families filled its walls with tears and laughter. Visitors found temporary lodging and young men learned how to keep house without their mother's help. Birthdays were celebrated and prayers were prayed.

It was more than an old building built by men who now live in glory. One corner held a utility room where my father taught me how to fix broken items and clean dirty ones. The opposite end was the first home of the Torreon Christian School where I spent my last year of high school. It was a conference room. It was a storage room. It was a haven of rest. It was temporary housing. It was a repository of food.

And now it's gone. Dozens of people worked to salvage everything possible from the building and all that is left is a pile of rubble. Now a home has a new piece of carpet and another has some extra insulation. Some of those cinder blocks will be reformed into another structure. The tin from the roof will be repurposed and old cupboards will soon find a new use.

Yes, it's gone, but the memories will linger on in the minds of many. It's gone but from the same site another building will rise. Once again, godly men from across the country will build and once again this new building will play a part in the lives of those who build and those who enter its doors. May the Lord build this house and may he use it for his glory.