Vacations are so much fun… but doesn’t it feel good to be home at the end of them? We spent about a week and a half in Oregon (read more about it here) and had the BEST time, but being settled in our house and our beds (or, in Ruth’s case, the floor) is so nice.

But before we dive into this week’s post, we want to remind you of an upcoming event – our Batts Abroad Brunch! Join us at our house on November 3rd from 9:30-11:00am for some yummy brunch foods, an update about the orphan ministry in Togo, and a time of prayer. If you are local, we would love to have you join us! Contact us if you need more information.

Now, here are some favorites from the week:

First off, we celebrated Allen’s birthday!

Now, this birthday did not go as planned AT ALL… we had hoped to fly home on Monday night and celebrate him all day on Tuesday. Instead, because of terrible weather, we had to reroute our flights home from Oregon and ended up overnighting in a hotel in Seattle. As soon as we got settled in the hotel room (at about 12:30am on Allen’s birthday), he got a stomach bug and was up all night. Rather than exploring Seattle for his birthday,  we hunkered down in the hotel until about 2:00pm, went straight to the airport, and flew home that evening. We finally arrived back at our house at about 10:45pm (23 hours later than originally planned) and just crashed. So no, we don’t have any pictures from his birthday.

Allen is feeling better now, praise the Lord. AND we slept all night Wednesday night!

We had a great time sharing at Bonanza Community Church last Sunday in Oregon. We set up a table, spoke for about ten minutes, and were able to connect with several people after the service. Pastor Willem and his congregation welcomed us with open arms. It’s always fun visiting other churches, worshipping with them, and seeing how the same Spirit unites us all. Pastor Willem preached about spiritual gifts from 1 Corinthians 12 and how, in spite of diversity in gifting, they all come from one Spirit for the edification of others and the glory of the Father. We left church feeling so challenged and encouraged.

Plus we made an epic video on the way to church that morning. If you don’t follow us on Instagram yet, you’re kind of missing out. I say that in TOTAL jest, because we are really just ridiculous in all of our videos.

Our sweet friends Thomas and Lesley watched our dog Oggie while we were out of town. After Allen picked her up, he sent me the above picture. What a sweet, happy girl!

Part of Allen’s birthday presents was a small box of Legos… which Ruth promptly started playing with. She put all the “baby Lego” people to bed, played with the cars Allen had made, and just loved it all. Apparently, she deemed one Lego person me and kept trying to give me coffee to drink. I often wonder what our kids will remember most about us as they grow up… and apparently Ruth will associate me with coffee. I guess there are worse things.

Ruth woke up while I was getting ready for work on Thursday and snuck into our bedroom without me hearing her. All of a sudden, she just grabbed my legs and started hugging me! So before heading to work, I sat down with her on the couch for some snuggles. Clara woke up too, so she joined us. I ended up being a few minutes late to work that day (sorry, Luke!) but those sweet snuggles were so so worth it.

Finally, a highlight of any week involves just talking with friends about life. And this week, I had the chance to get together with a new friend. While our kids ran around her house, we drank coffee and talked books, podcasts, and some of the harder questions in life. I am always thankful for how the Lord meets all of our needs, but especially our need for fellowship with like-minded believers. So here’s to humbly doing the next God-ward thing, whatever it may be.

Happy Friday, friends. Enjoy your weekend!