Emrie Lue

Today my sweet niece Emrie turned three! I cannot believe that she has been here for three whole years. She is a hoot to say the least. Her over-abundance of personality makes for lots of laughs and very few dull moments. She comes up with the craziest things! Emrie captured my heart the second I knew she was a girl during my sister's pregnancy. I was just so excited to meet her and love her. She will always hold a special piece of my heart. I have had the privilege of spending a lot of time with this sweet girl since day one and I still can't get enough of her. When I've gone a couple of weeks without a little Emrie-love I do all I can to arrange a little hang out time.
I got to take Emrie to her first movie this summer and she LOVED it! We saw Toy Story 3 and she just sat and watched so sweetly. We love to sing songs and count. She is so smart and it amazes me all she picks up on these days. That girl LOVES to shop, wear jewelry, dress up and get her nails done. She is a true girlie girl and full of drama.
It has been a true joy of my life to watch my sister love her baby girl. She makes no apologies when it comes to Emrie, but she is also paying for her raising a little bit. It's hilarious to watch! Emrie has so much of Cassie in her it is not even funny! The things she says, how she says them and her reactions to things are a mirror image of her sassy Momma.
And maybe my favorite thing lately is to watch how Emrie LOVES Tucker, most of the time. She is adjusting to not being the center of the universe all the time, but she is so sweet with him. She just kisses, hugs, pats, talks and entertains him constantly. And Tucker returns the love! He does all he can to get to her and return some of the love. They are so sweet together and are going to be good friends. She gets SUPER excited to see him and is a great little helper.
Oh my Emrie Lue what would our world look like without you? I don't even want to imagine it. You are precious, perfect, sassy and a true Meyer girl. We are all just crazy about you and it is our privilege to watch you grow and learn and change. You are so special! YOUR AUNT MAC, UNCLE CHRIS & TUCKER LOVE YOU TTTTTTTHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSS much!!!

Purcell, America

Purcell has always been home to me. Even though I haven't lived there in ten years when I say home I'm usually referring to my hometown. Probably because my entire family is there, my heart is there. Both parents. Grandparents. Sisters. Niece. Everyone, but my family of three lives within a few miles of each other.
Our long term plan has always been to end up in Purcell. Someday. Down the road. But since Tucker has joined our family I find myself longing for us to be there sooner rather then later. All of that would be fine and a non-issue really if my husband was in any other field besides ministry. We don't just move to where we want to live, we have to be called. And right now we are most definitely called to Sayre.
We have an amazing church. One like I've never been involved with before. A pastor who not only loves us but defends, encourages, and values both Chris' ministry and mine, as well as, has the same ministry viewpoint as we do. We have a group of students that is special and passionate and really when we talk about the future we say, "we can't leave until after _______ graduates." That says something. Planning our life and ministry around students who are such a part of our lives we can't bear the thought of leaving. We have NEVER had anything remotely close to the church family we have been blessed with in Sayre. Our church LOVES my husband. They support him. They value his role. They are proud of him in a way that only people who have watched a person grow from a child into adulthood can be proud of someone.
They have welcomed Tucker into our church family with open arms! He has more grandma's than anyone can count. He is dotted on constantly. We weren't sure how everyone would feel about our adoption and the fact that our baby isn't white like the other 98% of our congregation. But they love him almost as much as we do. They have played a huge role in Tucker's life before we even knew we would have Tucker. They were so faithful to pray for us and over throughout our journey of infertility and adoption.
I have a place in our church. A vital role and ministry. They love that Chris and I do ministry together and that is not the case with every church.
But even with all those great things I still I wish my sisters were just around the corner and my mom and Nana were down the street. Weeks go by where everyday I wake up and go to sleep wishing we were closer. The two and a half hour drive (especially with a four month old who isn't too fond of his car seat) just isn't feasible as a day trip to hang out or shop or go swimming. Sometimes all the church family in the world still can't compare to having your actual family close by.
I don't know how long we will be here. I don't know if we will ever actually live in Purcell. But I really hope we do. It's funny that I get more homesick as an adult then I ever did as a kid. Someday. Maybe.