Yuck

Julie, I am so sorry to hear about the drama on your homefront! I am praying that by now you are all over that nasty stomach flu. I am also hoping God gives you the grace to deal with your mother-in-law during this trying time.

Things here have been pretty busy, but not with anything really important. The last few weeks have been a challenge - I was sick with a stomach bug at the beginning of last week, then Tuesday of this week I got a TERRIBLE urinary tract infection, and Wednesday I woke up with a nasty head cold (still dealing with that). In the midst of all this, my work put on a food drive on Halloween so we had to set up and work a "Spook House". Thank goodness, Shawn was involved a lot this year so I didn't have to do so much with the stomach bug hitting at the same time. We bought a 1997 Honda Passport from our friends Frank and Kori (photographers at our wedding), but before you get too excited, we still have to find a transmission for it. Shawn and a friend will be doing all of the labor since they work on cars regularly anyway, and they know the guy at the salvage yard, so we're getting a sweet deal, but we still haven't found a good one and time is ticking away. I would like to have it ready before it starts to get too cold.

We are celebrating our anniversary this weekend by staying home (yay!!!) and watching movies. We are going to dinner at Ti Amos on Sunday just because that's where we had our first date, and we may do some Christmas shopping, but other than that, we'll be at home. I would have LOVED to do something bigger, but money is still tight and with Christmas right aroung the corner, we just didn't think it would be smart.

Also, right around the corner (in 7 days to be exact) we'll be making the trek up to Minnesota to spend a long week with my family. I can't wait! We'll be exchanging Christmas gifts (but not opening them, of course) at that time too so we can all save on shipping costs this year. :-) This also means that I finally get to meet my niece, Madeline, for the first time! I can't wait to hold her!

I hope all of you are doing well! Liz, thanks for the email! I haven't gotten back to you yet, but I will soon! I'm glad to hear things are going well with the baby. Kim, we are counting the days with you until Violet Ann arrives! Take care of yourself! I miss all of you girls so much! Love you!