Adventures

The title of our blog is Achterkirch's Adventures.

It is accurate to say our family of seven encounters adventures on a nearly daily basis.

And then there are the bigger adventures - the ones that mark a new chapter all together.

We are about to embark on one such adventure - a move to Houston, TX.

So, before the week of final good byes and packing and pushing off,

we've paused to consider the memories we have of our six years in Phoenix.

Here is a brief summary of what we will remember about living here. . .

The landscape - unique to the southwest with a beauty all its own.

{yes, I can call it beautiful now}

these photos were all taken on a jeep tour near the superstition mountains

Horseback riding at Sweetwater Stables

Little league baseball

Firebird football

Making fresh squeezed lemonade from our own citrus crop

Scottsdale School of Ballet

 

Teaching preschool

8th grade graduation from PVCP

Seeing God start Paradise Valley Christian Preparatory High School

and enrolling in the very first class

 a high school literary tour of England

Camping at Big Lake

Boy Scouts and Camp Geronimo

The Thanksgiving Day that changed our lives -

seeing this picture of Wu Yue He and a subsequent

 trip to China to bring our brother and son home 

Figure Skating

Season after season of basketball with Brock Petty

Countless memories with great friends and excellent teachers at PVCP

Chinese class with Miss Karen

Gymnastics with Lacey

Swimming together in the backyard

 Adding two labradors, 

a snake and a guinea pig (not pictured) to the mix

bonfires in the wintertime

A church that was more than a blessing -

they were the family we didn't have here!

Loving, true to the Word, committed to discipleship

We've made good friends here.

Friends who walked with us through the good and the bad.

Friends who watched our kids grow up with us.

Friends who upheld us in prayer.

Friends who made our desert dwelling years an oasis!

We're thankful for this season and we're rejoicing in a new chapter.

A new adventure.  

And we trust fully in God who authors each and every adventure 

and each and every day!