Happy Birthday, Princess!

September 27th

The evening before Raegan's actual birthday our crew gathered together to throw her a princess party. I bought tons of food and Jess helped me cook it all! Some friends hung out with the kids and everybody chipped in to make it a really great day.

The birthday girl eating her homemade Mac n' cheese by request.

"Daddy has your last present at the park," I said just before Raegan took off down the porch steps and into the sand. As soon as she saw her new pink bicycle she screamed and squealed in delight. Surprise!! Thank you to Raegan's Great Grandparents for making Raegan's birthday bike wish come true.

(these were taken as daddy ran in the house to get her new matching helmet. I forgot to grab it in all the excitement. But rest assured all readers, my daughter always wears her helmet!)

And while I'm telling all, I have to insert somewhere just how much I missed my parents and dear friends. Ava, Claire, Isabelle, Jane, Hadassah, Reiya~ thanks for being some of Raegan's favorite friends, even though you're far away.

September 28th!

Disneyland is decked out for fall!

Grandpa Boley was stopping through town and joined us at Disney for the celebration~

A melodious birthday song especially for Raegan.

Beautiful face paint for a beautiful girl. Thanks Grandpa Boley!

Raegan and mommy did Autopia together and laughed the entire way down the course. I pushed the petal and she drove. It was so funny as we skidded around every turn!

I just love this shot of our two sisters enjoying each others' company as they waited in line to meet Tinkerbell. Thanks Gramma Tracey for the special princess outfits, they are our favorite!

It's A Small World~

Anabelle's fave! She sings and bops her to the beat all the way through.

We like the last room of the ride where all the dolls of the world are in white, dancing and singing together in unity. Did Walt mean for it to look like heaven? I'm gonna google that. Anyway, I peaked up just in time to snap the quintessential "small world" shot- a cowboy and an Indian making sweet music and smilin'.

We stood in line at the Fantasy Faire and met Ariel and Belle!

In Toontown, Raegan and Grace posed with Daisy Duck and the boys hit Goofy's Go-coaster.

After the sun went down, we sat on the Main Street curb for the parade. Aurora and Snow White waived right at Raegan from their float, and Ariel even blew her a birthday kiss!

It was a truly Magical day.

Happy Birthday Raegan Johanna, my treasure.

California.

So, we're in Orange County, California now.

A little review:

We've moved 6 times in 9 months. (Not including hotels or trips)

Anabelle is 18 months old, and Raegan just turned four!

Since Christmas time we've traveled to Hawaii, Texas, Washington, Minnesota, Missouri, Iowa, and California.

We currently have no airline tickets booked anywhere.

It's kind of a nice break.

We're helping staff an extended outreach team here in OC, and following in good Boley fashion, it's been a great adventure so far!

I'm in love with the crisp California air here on the coast. Newport beach is our latest "home," (temporary winter vacation rental) and we have the privilege of sharing it with our dear friends! Having 5 young children and 2 families under one roof has its challenges, but at the end of the day we are a very thankful bunch having a very fun time. My girls basically inherited 2 brothers and a big sister, and we love them so much! Raegan is sandwiched in age between the boys, so we've got 1 1/2, 3, 4, 5, and 7. Yes, it's loud here. But there's never a dull moment.

Look at those beach-blondies!

We've been making friends with many local churches and ministries in the area, serving them in any way possible. Last weekend we were invited to attend a huge Korean church and it was a really cool experience. Unsure how Raegan would do, I was pleasantly surprised when she, holding Grace's hand of course, happily checked into the kids ministry room. Smiling but cautious, they were assigned to the duck group for the morning and kissed us goodbye from their mini orange chairs. (Anabelle stayed with mommy)

We attended the English speaking service. The young pastor is a wonderful man, and he honored our group at the end, inviting us on stage to pray for us and introduce us to the congregation.

When we picked Raegan up, I asked her what she noticed about the church. (Did she notice that everyone and everything in the room was predominantly Asian? Did she feel like a minority? I was so curious!) Her answer: "It was fun! We made these puppets, mom, and sang songs." Living at the University of the Nations in Kona, immersed in world languages and different cultures, not only changed me, but helped shape Raegan's view. She didn't even notice that her blonde hair stuck out like a wildfire! All she saw was joyful people serving the Lord and jumped right in!

So many more stories to come!

Iowa trip take two

There are just so many beautiful Boley girls! I cannot believe how grown up my nieces are. One highlight of the trip for me was sitting in on Emma's middle school choir class. I pulled up a chair right next to her, borrowed some music, and sang to my choir-geek heart's content! We also cheered on Emma's volleyball team and Claire's soccer team- such a proud Auntie.

Another highlight was staying in Jered and Christy's home. We laughed a lot and experienced the most extravagant gift of hospitality I've ever seen~

Thank you Christy!

Goodbye Iowa.

Bye Henry the horse and Charolette the cow.

Love you Boleys.

Turtles and blue jeans

If a turtle is the analogy for carrying your home on your back, that your home is where you are, so to speak, then I'm a turtle. A happy mama turtle with a big ol' shell on my back. It's not like I'm homeless, in fact, I feel like I have a handful of places I call home. It's funny when somebody asks where I live these days... well... today I'm in Iowa, yesterday I was in Missouri, and I came from living in Hawaii, but I grew up in Washington, and I'm headed to California.

We finished an amazing summer staffing a YWAM school. Jordan headed to Los Angeles with a crew of 220 young people to bring the heart of God to the city. I brought the girls at the tail end of the two weeks for a taste of the excitement! We love it there. (I'll admit I had my doubts, but as soon as we got there, we just knew.) We love it there so much that we've decided to stay. There is a small community of us left over from the outreach group that feel called to continue what's been started. For many reasons, this just fits for our family. One thing I love about YWAM is how much it values people and wants the best for them, and we feel like we're growing a big family around us of people with that same heart and a common goal in L.A. I'm pretty excited to be on the mainland too- more accessible to family and friends, which are so important to us. We feel super blessed to be running with close friends, the Ord family. Raegan has a sweet older friend in Grace! My daughter now has friends in 3 states!

Currently we're having a fun time visiting the Boley clan in the midwest. Overnight, it went from almost 100 degrees and muggy as all get out, to fall! One order of crisp air with sunshine please. It's my favorite. This combo doesn't really exist in Hawaii. There aren't really seasons there. But here, I've been wearing JEANS people!! I want to shout it from the rooftops for all to hear: I'm wearing long sleeves and I LOVE it!

A few fun photos so far that capture the trip:

My sister in law never ceases to amaze me. Christy made us homemade pizzas on the BBQ grill a few nights ago! Truly homemade from the sauce down to the dough, it was delicious. Now that's what I call a pizza party! I'm getting cheesier in my old age.

Pun totally intended.