The Newell Adventures Continue

2012

Seriously. A whole year has gone by since I last updated this blog. I had done so well during the first 3 years we lived here in Austin, updating every month. So sorry for the long silence. I think one reason that I didn't update the blog sooner was because I didn't want to cover up the last blog I wrote...the one about our trip to Bolivia. It was so special to me and I wanted to savor it longer. Well, I think a year is long enough to savor it and now it's time to keep moving. So, here's the latest on the Newell clan. 2012 has been a good year. We continue to homeschool our 3 cool kids which has been such a blessing to be able to walk through every day with them, learning how to love each other and love God. Pete is enjoying his job as a water engineer and is thankfully staying very busy. This year we have taken on a few more responsibilities at church which has been a bit hectic at times, but good. We are finding ways to love on people around us as we spend time shopping at grocery stores, hanging out eating bagels at Panera, visiting a nearby nursing home, hanging out with kids in our neighborhood, playing sports, and simply making ourselves available to go where God wants us to go and talk to those He wants us to talk to. Life is truly an adventure!

Lily: self-portrait. July, 2012

Pete and Silas went on a father/son weekend with a few other cool dudes. They enjoyed a weekend of fishing, shooting, hiking and being boys together.

B celebrating her birthday in August. She was queen for the day with 3 sweet little interesting looking servants.

Pete's "company picnic" this year was held at Sea World in San Antonio. We all had fun enjoying the shows and seeing the awesome animals.

Opposite day: the kids all dressed up in each other's clothes. Lily squeezed into Joe's shirt and pants and the boys are sporting Lily's cute clothes.

October camping trip. What a great weekend we had at Inks Lake: fishing, playing, hiking, eating yummy food, sitting around a campfire and enjoying God's creation with great friends.

Lori was blessed by a wonderful trip to Boston, Maine and New Hampshire with her sweet mom, B.J.. We enjoyed rich history, beautiful scenery, tasty food and fun times together. THANK YOU MOM!!!!

While Lori and B were away in New England, Grandad joined Pete and the kids in Austin to take over the schooling. The kids loved their substitute teacher for the week.

Put 'em up! Lily, Silas and Joe are always playing, imagining, acting and having fun. One of the joys of homeschooling...LOTS of time to play together.

These three superheroes visited us one night. We felt very safe while they were here.

A family photo taken at Lori's cousin, Cody's wedding in Houston at the beginning of November.

Rockstars!

We took a quick trip to Indiana for Thanksgiving. Silas' birthday fell on Thanksgiving day, so he enjoyed a day of eating and partying with all of his cousins. He wanted a scavenger hunt so here is one of the teams: Newell and Joe.... pretty cute.

All 12 cousins lined up together in Indiana. What a crew!

Pete and I were invited to go to Spain at the end of November to help our Children's Pastor facilitate the children's program for our missionaries' regional conference. We had a 24 hour lay-over in London and spent the day in Oxford with our good friend Pete Howard and his sweet wife, Angela and new baby girl, Cornelia. We had an awesome time walking around this amazing town rich with history. Here we are sitting where C.S. Lewis and J.R. Tolkien would sit every Tuesday morning to discuss their writing. Pretty cool!

We made it to Spain and enjoyed 4 days with these little people(2 were napping at the moment), teaching them all about the treasures we have in Christ. We were treasure seekers every day, dressing up like pirates and going on fun adventures. We had a blast! The biggest blessing for me(Lori) was to be able to work as a team with Pete and see him do an incredible job teaching and loving the kids.