Busy Summer Travels...

New Orleans

 Our old stomping ground for the Southern Baptist Convention...

 We enjoyed time with friends (with Shauna above), both old friends and new friends...

Our view of the Big Easy from our hotel (below)...

 Mulates with friends...

 Laissez les bons temps roulez...

 (Below L to R: Tara, me, Shauna)

 (Below L to R: Philip, Stephen, Tony, Matt, Jamie, Landon)

 Tony on one of his panel discussions...

 Ministry Wives Luncheon with Mary Kassian... lovely, delicious and edifying...

 Sweet NOLA friend Liz...

 On the SBC floor for the historic vote of Dr. Fred Luter as SBC president... love that man and his sweet wife, Elizabeth!

 Few dry eyes...

 Revisited the campus of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary with the Dowdens... 

 It was entertaining for Tara and I, ha...

 Some re-enacting...

 Three dissertations: 

Dowden, Merida and Platt

 PhD study carrel

 Reunion dinner with friends at II Tony's on the Lakefront...

 Sharing digits...

 NAMB breakfast panel on adoption...

 Wives' Adoption Panel hosted by Lifeline Children's Services and Lifesong for Orphans...

 "Leavin' on a jetplane, don't know when I'll be back again..."

 Returned home to these silly sisters...

Unprompted "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil", ha...

 Another silly sir...

 Centrifuge Camp at Ridgecrest Conference Center

Tony took the boys (minus Titus who was hoping to steal away with them) for the weekend...

 Joshua in the green room wearing Matt Papa's famous jacket, ha...

 Back in Wake Forest

We girls got haircuts...

 Exploring the different hair color options... oh my

 Baseball season is over (until the fall that is), but here's a cute souvenir of Joshua's first season...

 After church Sunday, the girls and I loaded up and headed out to join Tony and the boys at Ridgecrest 'Fuge...

 What a lovely drive (helped by Matt Redmon and Shai Linne)...

 Ah.... Ridgecrest... many a memory here.

 View from the balcony of worship...

 Mountain madness...

 Workout while kids watched cartoons...

 Ice cream in Black Mountain...

 Hike up Rec Hill...

 For some Putt Putt golf...

 More ice cream... this time at the Nibble Nook.

 And some more ice cream...

 As well as a few arcades...

 They loved playing on the hillside...

 Backstage for worship....

 Back stage/on stage, behind the curtain while papa preached...

 Before me and the four youngest left Thursday...

Instagram fun:

 Great minds think alike (ha)...

 Loving on papa before hitting the road...

 Stopped for Wendy's near Winston Salem on our trek back... thought this was precious.

 Finally back home... missed this little guy.