Labor Day Weekend...

Hi all... I've really been meaning to post for quite some time. I still don't have Internet at home and feel bad taking more time to surf the net than I already do.

This summer was pretty busy for us. After Seattle, we sent 4th of July in Ohio. We decided to visit his Grandfather last minute cause he wasn't doing well. He's been dealing with prostate cancer for almost a year now and the doctors have pretty much done all they can. In spite of that, he has been doing much better lately. The last I heard he was getting up and around a lot more than he had and we are so thankful for this turn of events. He really didn't look well when we were up last.
Between now and then we had a couple of small trips and a nice week long vacation at the beach with my family. The summer went so fast, which brings me Labor Day weekend. The in-laws were in town, which mean lots of talking and entertaining for us. Overall I think it was a success and I'm pretty sure they had a good time, but let me tell you I'm very exhausted. I need a holiday to recoup from the holiday weekend. They stayed in town till yesterday, which extended the weekend a little longer than usual. Anyway... I survived.

Well I guess there isn't much else to say. Things are good. Sounds like you all are busy with changes in your lives - new puppies, new homes, new babies... What an exciting time for all of us. I just wish I could join in the fun. Soon enough I'm sure.

Talk to you all soon, until then keep it real.

Back again....

So i realize it's been far too long since I've blogged, so here I am. Things have actually been quite insane here with us since June when we closed on the house. The home we bought was a foreclosed house, and the previous owners took pretty much everything with them before they left (appliances, even the air conditioner!). So we had tons of work to do. We actually since have tons of work to do, but it's coming along. We had a lot to do before we could really even live here, and there was a rush to get it done because my parents had summer company, and we were taking up the guest room. Anyway, much of the inside is now done, which leaves us with some decorating, and the formidable task of the landscaping. I need to finish taking the "afters" of the before and after pics, but once I get those taken, I'll send them to everyone. We definitely are happy with the house, despite the work. The up-side to buying a house that needs work is that when it's done, it's exactly what you wanted, so that's nice. And the house is also only 7 years old, so it's like new now.

On other news, we also bought a puppy, as if a new home and all the work that comes with it wasn't enough for us. Her name is Bella and she's a Yorkie and she's just over 12 weeks old. I will also mention I think she's more work than many children sometimes. But she's starting to come along with her house training, so that helps matters quite a lot. I hate to leave her home while I'm at work:(

Which brings me to the topic of my employment status. After being unemployed for many months, I got a job as a preschool teacher, which I was more than happy to leave after a couple months of that. Not my calling. I just now started my first full week of school in my new job, which is great so far. I got a jobs as an elementary resource teacher in pretty much the best school district in southern Michigan. It's going to be an interesting year, as this city is one of the wealthiest in the country! I've even already had parents look me up online to check me out. But it should be fun. I'm happy to be back in elementary again and am looking forward to getting into the swing of things and finding my groove there. Also on the job front, Nathan is still enjoying his job. Things were very busy there for a while, adding to the stress of renovating and moving, but they've calmed down a lot now. So we're in the process of settling into our new life in our new home with our new jobs and our new little puppy. :) I wish it was really as idyllic as it sounds:) lol. I guess things like that never are. But we're enjoying the new adventures!

I've read the blog and kept up on everyone's life, even though I haven't posted, and it sounds like everyone is doing quite well. Kim, you'll also have to post pics of the new place. And let us know how the pregnancy is progressing! Jamie, congrats on the new position. It sounds right up your alley. How do you like having different kids all day? I love it. Julie, how's life in Ohio? You also need to post pics of the new house. Ok, I've gotta go work on a paper. I'm only 2 classes and comprehensive finals away from my Master's!! Whoo hoo!

Updates

So things went better than planned with Shawn's job - he's not hired on contract basis but on part time basis with a verbal agreement to work full time starting in December, which includes a renegotiation in salary at that time. Not bad at all. We're very happy with it. He's starting on Monday, so for the next week or so he'll be doing both jobs and school.





We went to MN over the weekend and had a great trip aside from the food poisoning from Taco Bell that put a damper on our first day there. Other than that, it was wonderful to see everyone...Shay is very pregnant and very ready to have little Madeline Loveday Rohde in this world. I can't wait to see what she looks like. We also went to dinner with bunch of my dad's side of the family after the shower - lots of cousins that I haven't seen in a long time. So, now I'm back at work and glad it's just a 4 day week! I have big plans of cleaning and organizing this weekend! I am actually very excited about it. I may even start on Friday night. :-)

Thank You for your prayers

Chad went home yesterday afternoon! The doctor has told him that he can return to college in January but Chad has decided he will prove the doctors wrong and be back by the end of September. The doctors have been amazed at his recovery and are shocked they sent him home so soon!! There is nothing left to do except praise God!

update on Chad

Hi girls,
I'm so glad today is Friday. I hope to take several naps this weekend as I had something going on every single night this week. I'm exhausted!
Wanted to give you all an update on Chad. The surgery was yesterday and the hospital staff all say it went as good as can be expected. The GREAT news is that Chad started moving his extremeties immediately after surgery. PRAISE GOD FOR THAT!! Chad took out his own breathing tube, another good sign. He is currently in ICU. Prayer requests at this point would be specifically:
1. that his previous symptoms would reverse
2. for there to be no swelling or bleeding as these are the two major concerns
3. quick recovery
4. Chad's emotional state
I'd like to use this time to say how much I love coffee. I'm serious! I LOVE coffee. It's getting me through these days!
So, Nobu is nearing on the 60 pound mark and has more and more energy every day. Funny, it's been raining for a week straight here and this "water dog" will not go for a walk in the rain. He also has to be coersed to go potty in the rain. honestly, it's not fun walking outside first thing in the morning, wrapped in a towel, and stand in the rain waiting for your pokey puppy to take a poo. Yes, this was the picture of us at 6 AM today! (we have a fenced in yard, i was covered!)
So Hobby Lobby has scrapbooking paper 50% off this week - i stocked up! I purchased $52.80 worth of paper, for only $26.40! How amazing is THAT!
And here's my final piece of breaking news. I just can't take it anymore. I've been keeping a secret from my blog reading friends (personal blog). This is a great feat for me since I have always been known to be a terrible secret keeper. You may think i don't deserve credit, because i haven't kept the secret from everyone. But, I'm taking baby steps here (big baby steps in my mind!) Oh, and most of you already know, so it's not really that big of a secret... On Saturday, September 1st, we get to bring home this cutie to join our family!!! Everyone, please meet Fujiko!

Life seems a bit crazy!

I've been thinking a lot about you all. This week started my third week of school and things are crazy. I love my new position as the Tech teacher. I'm really busy all day, but I spend it all with kids. I see the Kindergarteners - 6th grade. Each grade has it's uniqueness about it. My 2nd graders have to be the cutest. They are so poliet. They always ask how my day is going and tell me regularly that they love me. :) It is so cute.

My 5th graders are pretty good, but are starting to get attitude. :) My other favorite class is 6th grade, but that is only because they were my kiddos last year. I'm learning lots about computers and I'm really busy with school now. I've laid low the last few years and didn't get very involved with what happened at school. All has changed this year. I'm running lots of after school classes and committees. I'm going to love my break when it arrives.

Nick's family is coming for Labor day, so that will be exciting. I'm hoping that I will be prego by then, but nothing to report yet. It's been tough the past few weeks with the pregnancy stuff. I have a few friends around here that have gotten prego on the first try. I know God has a plan, but it is a little hard when you don't know His plan fully. I know you all understand that.

I love reading about what is going on in your worlds!! I'm praying for each of you daily. Keep posting!!

Kim...send pictures of your new house!!

Hi girls - It sounds like its been a pretty rough couple of weeks. I, too, have missed hearing from everyone, but I understand that life just plain gets busy sometimes. Kimmie, I am so sorry to hear about your Grandmother. I am keeping you and your family in my prayers more than usual this week. Juls, I am so glad you're close to your family right now. I would love it if you were here still - I could really use you around about now! - but I am so glad that your family is close to help you get through this challenging season. I really wish I was able to make it up to Ohio for the shower so I could see both you and Kim.

Thanks to all of you for all your birthday wishes! It was a good birthday, but I hope this year is even better than last. Things are looking up in the Cobb household. Shawn just has one semester left of school (yay!) and we just found out yesterday that the job situation is going to greatly improve. He will start next semester working on a contract basis (part time) for a company here in Tulsa as a Controls Engineer. When he finishes school in December, he will (hopefully) be signed as a regular salaried employee of the company. That's the plan, anyway, and it sounds like a great plan to me. Once he starts working full time, I can look at just working part time and going back to school. The financial burden will not be nearly as great, so that is music to my ears. That means more time and money to go visit my family and my Sapphires.

We are heading up to Minnesota over Labor Day to see my family. I am throwing a shower for my sister in law and my (soon to be) niece. The Dr. bumped her due date up to October 2. It's getting so close, I can hardly wait! We also got to spend some time with Shawn's niece and nephew and his mom last weekend. It was fun! But I would have liked it a lot more if we weren't all crammed into our tiny whiney apartment. :-)

Ok, well I suppose that should be all for now! I love you girls, and I think about you all the time. Let's get better at blogging, ok?

Adios!

sorry

Hi Girls,

Kim, I'm so sorry to hear about your grandma. I'm sure it's hard even when it's kind of her time and you've been expecting it. I'm sure it's especially hard because you can't make it into town for the funeral and stuff. That would be really hard. You and your dad are in my prayers.

I hope all the rest of you are doing well. People haven't been posting much since Seattle. I think maybe we all got our talking and updating out of our systems when we were together. =) I miss you all though. We've just been getting settled into life in Ohio. Josh is working all the time, about 90-100 hours per week. So we don't get much time together. The kids are good. They're getting big and staying busy and active. I'm still babysitting 3 days a week. We're still trying to find a church and I'm still trying to find friends and activities to do with the kids. That's about it for us. I've been going to my parents' house a lot when Josh is on call and that's been a huge blessing for me with his work schedule. I'm really glad that we're near family for residency. I don't think I could have survived otherwise! Love you all!

Another update

Things have been a bit hectic around here lately. My dad called me on Friday, informing me that my grandma had passed away. It wasn't unexpected -- she was 90 and had been sick for a while. For the past five years or so, she's had dementia and hasn't really been herself. And then about a month ago, her health really started to deteriorate. She quit eating and couldn't even get out of bed. Since she was DNR, all they could really do was wait.

They're having the viewing today and the funeral tomorrow. It was such short notice that I couldn't get a plane ticket. I would have had to fly through the night last night, and I know the baby wouldn't have liked that. I would have been a zombie when I got there. So Adam and I decided that I would stay home. I'm having a hard time with it because most of my Wilson relatives will be there, some of whom I haven't seen since I was a teenager. I really wanted to be there for my dad, though. Times like this make it very difficult to be far away from your family. Of course, if I really had to be there, I could be there. But with buying the house and the million other things going on right now, a last minute plane ticket just wasn't in the budget.
So I'd appreciate your girls' prayers -- especially for my dad. I think he's having a pretty hard time. Not that it wasn't her time to go -- I'm sure she's at peace now and not feeling any pain. But it's still got to be horrible to lose your mother. And he and she were very close.

In other news...Nancy and Ken (Adam's parents) have been here since Thursday, helping Kendra get ready to move into the dorms. Yesterday we piled all her stuff into about three carloads and moved her in. It really made me think of our ORU days. Of course, the University of Washington is a bit different than ORU (none of those Jetsons buildings) but the overall feeling was the same -- so much excitement and anticipation and meeting new people. Her little dorm room looks like something out of the Pottery Barn catalog. It helps that her roommate actually did her shopping at Pottery Barn. It's all very pink. We spent the afternoon there, helping her put things together and put clothes away. It was a lot of fun but exhausting. I came home last night and crashed. The in-laws are here until tomorrow then it will be just Adam and me again for the first time in over a month. We're a little excited about some alone time. And being able to walk around naked again, of course.

Ok, I'd better stop before this turns into a novel. I love you girls and miss you so much!

pray

Girls, please pray for Chad. Chad is the youngest son of my mom's best friend. The family lives in Seattle. Chad is about 20 years old but they have just recently found he has a birth defect that makes his skull not grow completely, thus blocking off spinal fluid from flowing. (that's basically what's happening but i'm really not well informed with specifics) Chad is going in for emergency brain surgery. He has spent an evening and night having tests done to determine what/when etc the surgery can be done but during that time has gotten worse. To those of us who aren't specialists, it seems he would need the surgery immediatley! So please pray for Chad and his family (one brother and one sister, and his parents) as they get through this day. I'll keep you posted as the surgery takes place and how it went, etc.

Little baby, little house

Hey girls! Hope all is well with everyone. I've been thinking about you all a lot lately. We had sort of a big week last week. First of all, we found out we're having a little girl. Yay! The ultrasound tech managed to get a couple clear shots of her little girl parts but, as always, it's not 100%. But we have both been feeling girl-y, so that just confirmed our thoughts. We'll have another ultrasound in October which should be more definite. It was just the most amazing thing to see her on the screen, sucking her thumb and wiggling around. We got a couple great shots of her profile and her feet. Everything looked normal and healthy. She's about six inches long right now and I've just started feeling her move a lot, especially when I'm sitting still. Adam's been talking and singing to her, which either soothes her or scares her -- we haven't decided yet.

Adam's mom, sisters, and nephews were in town last week to help move his college-bound sister out here permanently. So they got to come to the appointment with us, which was very special. And we got some good quality time with the fam. Lots of good quality time.
So now Kendra has moved in and the guest room has turned completely pink. She'll be staying with us until school starts.

Our other big news is that we put in an offer on a townhouse last week. The couple who is selling had to move to Ireland suddenly and are just trying to get it sold as quickly as possible, which means we're getting a pretty good deal on it. It has three bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms and is about a year and a half old. Hardwood floors, fireplace, and a teeny tiny backyard. Right now, we're just waiting for our financing to finish going through as they examine every little detail about our past. It's a very exposed feeling, as those of you who have bought a house before know, I'm sure. But in the end, we'll have our own place and will no longer have to deal with pot-smoking landlords. I cannot wait.

Oh, back on the baby front, my family and Julie are throwing me a shower in Ohio in September. You'll all be getting invites soon, just in case anyone happens to be in that neck of the woods or feels like journeying to exciting Ohio. :)

Love you girls!

Camping!!!

So, Nick and I went camping for our anniversary. It was our first camping trip together ever and my first time cooking over a camping stove and fire. :) We had a great time!! And I felt super successful at this adventure. We drove up to an area called Grand Lake on the out skirts of Granby and Rocky Mountain National Park. We found a spot on the edge of Mountain Shadow Lake. We got the last campsite and set up. We have the cutest little tent that we got for our wedding and I've never used it!! We took a long hike one morning and then spent the afternoon doing homework. Well...Nick did homework, I read my Rachel Ray magazine. I even made pancakes one morning!! I kept thinking of you all!! We should go camping. We can make it super nice for those of you that won't camp. There was an incredible RV parked next to us. :) Just an idea to throw out there!

back from trip No. 2

Hey girls,
I'm sad that no one is posting! Has nothing happened in the last 3 weeks? Well, Chris and I just got back from Montana. We used a friend's wedding as an excuse to see all the beauty that Montana holds. After the wedding was over, we spent a day and a half in Glacier National Park, just the two of us for the full day. We saw mountains galore, went on a hike at the top (about 4 miles?), saw a bull moose, mountain goats, sheep, and a ram. The goats and sheep we saw while on our hike and several times we were close enough to touch them (if we were crazy enough). I'll send you all pictures soon, but there's one I took where Chris and a goat are in the same picture. So crazy!! We saw a ton of deer too, but that was nothing new to me. I have one picture too of me standing on a mound of snow in my tank top and shorts. Parts of the trail were still covered with snow. We stuck our hands and feet in fresh mountain water, and Chris even had a little sip. Brr... that was so cold! So Glacier National Park is officially on my list of places everyone should visit before they die. I could go on and on about how beautiful it was, and even show you all the pictures, but none of it will do the park justice. Just go there yourself!
I have my second voice student starting in August! I never knew I would enjoy teaching voice lessons so much, and this is a great way for me to get some extra pedicure money. Yeah, I've started a new habit... Pedicures once a month. Hey, if twenty five dollars and 45 minutes of peace is all i require to feel refreshed, pampered, and ready to take on my work-place once again... i'm going for it!

Vacation is like a Coma

This is what I came up with this morning on my way back to the office. I went an entire week without watching TV, reading a newspaper, or talking with any of my aquaintences back home. I feel like i have been in a coma for the last week and am just now waking up. What happened over the last week!!
We had an interesting trip home... We sat by a 10 year old girl with some problems. Steph, I wish you were there to help diagnose. First i thought she was just a wild child and liked to talk. Then she started pulling back her already damaged cuticles and yelling across us for her mom to give her another bandaid. Her mom replied, "People aren't going to talk to you if you're bleeding!" She kept picking and bleeding for a while and ended up with most, if not all of her fingers wrapped. Yes, there was blood all over her clothes. So then, as she was watching a DVD on her travel player, she started talking along, and SINGING along at the TOP OF HER LUNGS. What do you think her parents did at that point? "shh" ...that's about it! oh my goodness. At the beginning of the flight all I could do was laugh. By the time Chicago arrived, I wanted to cry. And guess who showed up at our next gate?! Thankfully they were on the flight after us.

Trip plans

Hey all!

We land on Friday at 2pm. My sister is coming to get us on Tuesday morning to go to Vancouver for a few days visit. We don't fly out until Saturday night. We are so excited to get away from the drama our life has become. :) I'm so ready to see you all!!

Your friendly Seattle weathergirl

The weather forecast for the coming week is as follows:

 

Thursday – High of 65, few showers

Friday – High of 65, few showers

Saturday – High of 63, partly cloudy

Sunday – High of 72, partly cloudy

Monday – High of 79, sunny

Tuesday – High of 81, sunny

 

Be sure to pack a rain jacket and comfy walking shoes. And dressing in layers is usually the way to go this time of the year.

 

See you all very soon!

 

 

our trip

hello ladies! Chris and I get in wednesday evening and get to visit with my 2 brothers thursday. I have to drop off Nobu wednesday afternoon and will likely cry when i have to say goodbye for a whole week! We leave thursday morning, 9:00. We are very much looking forward to getting a break from our day to day life. Can't wait to see you all!

4 days and counting...

I'm very excited to say that I'll see you all this week! Except for Liz, we'll miss you terribly.

I get in to Seattle late Wednesday night and Aaron comes in late Saturday night. We will be leaving for Portland via train sometime on Monday. We haven't gotten our tickets yet, but I'm thinking it will be sometime in the afternoon. We leave from Portland late Wednesday night and arrive home Thursday morning.

Anyway... Can't wait to see you all. This has to be short cause I have a lot to do to get ready for the trip on Wednesday.

See you soon!

Alright, already...

...I can't take it anymore! I look at the same page every day when I check the blog.

Can you believe it's only 8 days until the reunion?!? Liz, we are going to MISS YOU SOOO MUCH! You'll have to give us a good post so that we know what's going on with you. We'll try and call you, too. I can't wait to see everyone! When Kim and Julie were here for Josh's graduation, I felt so complete. I don't feel that way most of the time, so I can't wait to spend time with my girls again. It will be very refreshing!

I was hoping to have some of my wedding pictures by the time I came out, but I don't know if that will happen. I have a small album, but I have yet to go get the pictures that I've ordered. I'm still hoping I can at least get some of them, though.

When is everyone getting into and leaving Seattle? I am getting in Friday evening and leaving Tuesday morning. Just curious...that's all.

Ok, so that's about it from here! Can't wait to see you! :-)

Party business

It's officially less than a month until the reunion! I'm so excited, I could just burst.

 

Below is an approximate list of costs for the weekend. Of course, this could change depending on our spontaneity. But it will give you a little bit of an idea as to what to plan for.

 

Costs

 

Food & drinks:  $50+

 

Space Needle:  $14

 

Transportation (ferry, bus, etc.):  $20

 

Film Festival:  $10 – 20

 

Other possible costs:  shopping/souvenirs, mani/pedi, etc.

 

-----

 

Also, if you haven't already, please send me your flight info when you get a chance.

 

I should be finishing up the scrapbook in the next week or two, so if there are any more pictures you want to include, send them my way.

 

I think that's all for now…

 

Love you girls!

Quick Visit

Kim and Adam and Josh and Julie were here in T-town this past weekend for Josh's graduation. I didn't get too many pictures, but I thought I would share a few. The second one is of our first Sapphire baby girl, Lilah, and her cousinVictoria (Vanessa's baby girl). And the bottom one is just of Lilah being a very tired little girl. She had a long day! :-)

It was fabulous having you girls in town! I will upload more pictures shortly onto Kodak Gallery. Love you girls! See you SOON!

preperations

I do believe that God is preparing me for little boys... little boys who love to play in the mud and get dirty.
Nobu had so much fun today at lunch. He played for a while in his kiddie pool and got sopping wet. Then he ran over to the patch in our yard that has no grass... 100% loose, fun dirt! And just like that, Nobu was a black lab! What do I do but just smile, laugh, and kindly encourage him back into the pool where I tried my best to get him clean enough for the indoors. sigh! But seriously, I'm just glad he was having fun, that made me smile. Plus, he was all worn out by the time I headed back to work so I'm pleased that he will sleep through the afternoon. I love being Nobu's mommy!

Not much...just hello...

Jamie!! I am so glad you are coming up! Sorry for your crappy weather. We haven't been much better though. It's seriously been rainy and/or cloudy for going on about 3 weeks. Tulsa is actually flooding. Its crazy. We've been in a drought for about a year and a half, so now that's over. :-)
Strep is done! It wasn't so bad this time. Just really draining. I was tired all the time.
So...I am so glad that it's not too much longer until we get to see each other! I love the countdown thing on the side of the blog...very encouraging!

Well, I love you girls! Julie and Kim - I can't wait to see you this weekend! :-)

Weather Report

Just thought I would give you the strange weather update from Colorado. We had 3 or 4 inches of snow last night and they are calling for more tonight. Steph -- I'm so sorry you have strep...yuck, I hope you are feeling better soon.

Another update from us -- WE ARE COMING!! We booked our tickets last weekend to Seattle. We'll see you on the 15th about 2pm. I hope to bring this wet weather back to Seattle with us. :)

So unfair.

I have strep throat. In May. It's not fair. Luckily, I only missed one day of work, but still. Who gets strep throat in May?

Number 11

My sister just had her baby girl, Violet. Get ready for this... She arrived at the hospital at 5:30 this morning and delivered at 6:06, just 36 minutes later! Anyway, that's 11 neices and nephews. Number 12 to be born in October!

You make me smile

Hey girls! I don't have much to say right now because there's not really anything new happening this week. My brother got married on Saturday. It was lovely and stressful and exhausting and everything you would expect when your ADD little brother decides to do something like throw a wedding for 400 people. Dan and Lauren are on their cruise now and should return tomorrow. Their flight was delayed the morning after the wedding, which caused them to miss their connecting flight to Houston (cruise out of Galveston). So, they missed their cruise departure and had to fly to Jamaica to catch the boat at its first port. It worked out though because dad got them 2 nights in Jamaica at a Breezes resort for their wedding gift so that they wouldn't have to stay in the ghetto and get their fingers cut off for their wedding rings. Lauren spent the morning crying because they missed their cruise and then spent the evening crying because she was so excited about the all-inclusive resort in Jamaica. I think they're have a good time because Daniel sent us all a picture text message the morning after the wedding with his arms over his head and the title "Victory!" Anyways, after sleeping for like 2 days to recover from all the wedding chaos, I started working part-time doing some copy-writing for a friend of Kim and Adams and that has kept me very busy. I am writing about herbal supplements and I am now dreaming about vitamins and herbs all night long. Although, I'm also thinking about starting on a couple specific herbal regimens. I'm going to turn into a crazy, holistic, herbal supplement popping hippie by the time I'm done with this job. Also this week... we went out with mom and dad and Dave and Ben and Sarah and their kids on Tuesday night. David had a piece of art that was chosen to be displayed at the Young Masters art exhibit in the Troy Haner Center (where Kim got married). So we all got together for dinner and to see his art. It was very good by the way, he's quite talented. Anyways, we were at dinner and my nephew, Owen, stood up on his chair and shouted "Hey everybody! There's a baby in my mommy's tummy!" So, Sarah is pregnant again and is due December 24. I think they were ready and were planning to start trying around now anyways. But now the pressure is on because everyone expects us to follow suit pretty quickly and we're not quite ready yet. We close on our house on Wednesday and will be working furiously to get painting and stuff done so that we can move in ASAP and stop living with my parents. We have quite a bit to do and no money to do it, so that does take some of the fun out the renovations I have to admit. But, I will post pics of our new pad once we get things settled a bit. I feel like things have just been a whirlwind lately with weddings and work and moving and Josh's graduation is coming up. Also, both of my babies are sick and that can be time-consuming because they don't sleep and all they do is fuss and wipe snot everywhere. YUK! Lilah has been up every night for the past week because she's sick and last night she woke up with a 102 degree fever. I think she has developed an ear infection from the nasty cold she's had. The poor thing really feels yucky. Seth is handling it a bit better. So we would appreciate prayers for everyone to be healthy again.
Kim, your blog made me smile because you are able to put such a ray of light on life even when it's not perfect. I hope you get a job situation worked out that you enjoy a bit more. Although I will miss your discount. For the first time in my life, I have nice shoes! I also hope you get pregnant soon. Although, I do love little black babies. They just don't get much cuter. =) I know that God will work something out for you that is perfect and even though it is really difficult to go along with it right now, I'm sure that you and Adam and your future babies (whatever color they may be) have wonderful blessings ahead. And if you do have like quintuplets or something, I'm sure that your Sapphire sisters would be happy to at least help you out with them so you can take a nap or go shopping or whatever. (And I really would take one or two if you want. hehehe... just kidding... no, I'm not).
Love you girls!

Catching up

It's almost the weekend and it cannot come soon enough. I was supposed to have my annual performance review at work today (groan) but it looks like it will be taking place next week instead. I can't believe I've been here for a year already. A whole year of my life dedicated to shoes. It's been a good run but I think it might be time for me to start looking for something else.

 

So there's been some more turmoil on the family front. Adam's step-dad, Ken, moved out and will probably be divorcing Adam's mom sometime soon. This wasn't completely unexpected – he's been a not-nice person for a while now – but it's still been sort of a difficult time for everyone. Especially for Kendra, Adam's younger sister, who is about to graduate from high school. Anyway, we'd appreciate prayers for his family, and for us, because it's a little freaky when almost every adult in your life is getting divorced. Okay, maybe not every adult, but sometimes it feels like that.

 

We're still trying to multiply the Linds – so far, without any luck. My doctor put me on a fertility drug last month, which increases our chances of having multiple babies. But if any more than two come out, we're going to ship them out to you all. 

It is hard to let go and trust that someone has a better plan for your life than you do, especially when you want something so badly. But maybe that's part of the process for us. Needless to say, we will be overjoyed when it happens. And if it never does, expect some little black Sapphire babies to be adopted into the family.

 

I guess that's all the news from Seattle for right now. Hope you all have lovely weekends!

 

The circle of life...

Today I had to take my brother to the dealership to get his truck (it was in the shop). On the way back I went past a farm and one of their little lambs was outside the fence. He didn't seem to mind that much though. There is very tall grass outside the fence and he seemed to be enjoying that. There was another one just inside the fence keeping him company as well and also trying hard to enjoy the tall grass. However, it happens to be next to a busy 2 lane road and I'm just hoping the lamb doesn't get any ideas to wonder out onto the road.
So here's the cool thing, I know the people who live there cause we used to live right across the street. The cooler thing is, my mom is going there today to take one of the Amish ladies to the doctor, so I called my mom right away to tell her to tell them to save the little lamb from its possible fate. How cool is that. I could be responsible for saving a little lambs life today. I'm feeling pretty good about that.

Whoops...

Meant to post that last post on the Healthy glow blog.

Just so you know... I'm praying for all you guys. It sounds like a lot of us are going through some challenging times. I really wish I had some really great encouraging words for all of you, but I'm at a loss right now. Just know that I love you all and my prayers are with you. It's the challenging times that make us stronger and allow us to appreciate the happy and less challenging times.

Can't wait to see you all in Seattle!

prayers

Hey girls,

It sounds like there's quite a bit happening in everyone's lives these days. Steph, I will be praying for you guys and your financial situation. Jamie, I am so sorry to hear about your miscarriage. It breaks my heart to think of what you guys must be feeling right now. Please know you're in my prayers as you and Nick heal right now and prepare for the things God has for you in the future. I'm sure there are blessings just ahead of you. All you girls are in my prayers as I know there are lots of big things happening for everyone. We appreciate continued prayers for our move and everything that entails. Especially that we find a good church in Columbus and that God provides the perfect job situation for me with the kids. I have to make some supplemental income but that's easier said than done when you have kids. (You lose all your income in child care unless you have a really good full-time job. And I really don't want the kids in full-time day care.) So anyways, we are also praying for provision and friends and a sense of community and purpose in Columbus. I'm going to need a lot more support than what I had in Tulsa with Josh working 100 hours per week. On a good note though, we did find a house and we close on it April 25. I will post pics once we get moved in. I think it will work well for our family and it's in a good part of Columbus. So that's it for us. I love you girls and can't wait to see you in Seattle. Again, Jamie, I'm thinking and praying for you.

Missing you all....

Hey everyone! Thank you so much for the birthday wishes. I had a nice quiet birthday with my family. It has been a crazy month for us. We had found out that we were pregnant in the middle of March and then I miscarried about 7 days later. The one thing that I have decided through all this is that God is faithful and He knows what is going on. I know that I will not understand what happened fully, but I do know that I trust Him fully and that is all I need.

The miscarriage happened the day before spring break, so I had a lot of time to recover. We went to GA to see Nick's family on Wed and headed to Destin, FL on Thursday. (I also found out I had strep right before we left!) Two days on the beach, a two week spring break and two novels later I am feeling encouraged and healed.

Nick is also feeling encouraged. We were worried that we couldn't get pregnant, but now we know we can. :) I look forward to the day that I can blog and let you know that we have a little one on the way.

Steph...we will pray that God provides all you need according to His riches and glory. We are approaching a similar time in our life. Nick is going to be working part time so he can complete his internship hours. I am praying that He provides us with the funds to come to Seattle in June.

School is going well. Nothing exciting to report there. I really have missed you guys this past month. Thank you for all the birthday wishes and update. Jen, Nobu is so cute! Thank you for sharing your new addition to your family. :) I am praying for you all! Love you.

Prayers...

Hey ladies!
I know I haven't posted in a while, but things here are good! We're both happy and healthy and doing well! Shawn's about to end his first semester back at OSU and I am working my tail off at CTSA. We had a great Easter with his family in Chickasha, OK. I hope you all did too!!! Jamie, I hope you got my text, but if not, I was thinking of you on your birthday! Love you!

God has been so faithful to provide for us during this time that we should have been nearly broke. We have hit a snag financially (Shawn won't be receiving unemployment anymore) and we're not sure where some of our income will be coming from. He's looking, of course, to start working part time, but I don't want his schoolwork to suffer for it. There is a scholarship that we've applied for, but it is taking a long time to be approved...So that is one of our major prayers - that it's approved and soon! That would take care of the rest of his school and pay some of his travel expenses. Anyway, I know I have some great prayers in my circle of friends, so I thought I would let ya'll know what we're dealing with.

Like I said, though, other than that, things are great! I hope everyone is doing well and I can't wait to see you all in June!!! :-)
Love you!

Counting the days already...

Approximately 57 days till Seattle Reunion! Just thought I'd give you all the update.
Oh, and happy birthday to Jamie! Hope you had a wonderful day yesterday.
Happy Easter to all!

Nobu is home!

Yes, it's official, we are puppy parents! And I must say, he's the cutest little guy you've ever met, i just love him to death! Will post pictures this weekend!!

Baby Liam

Adam and I spent this last weekend in Denver, where we waited and waited and waited for our new nephew, Liam, to be born. I was in the room when he finally came at 3:00 a.m. Sunday morning. The nurse didn’t even have time to put her gloves on before he came shooting out. The doctor finally made it in the room a couple minutes after and said, “What has happened in here?”
And we were like, “We just had a baby.”

But thankfully, Liam and his mom are both fine. It was amazing and beautiful and scary and I’m so glad I was there to witness it.
Adam was with our other nephew at the hotel but he came over to see the baby after he was all cleaned up. It was quite an emotional time for everyone, especially those of us with female hormones.

We came back to Seattle Monday morning and I went straight to work, where I zombie-walked through my day. I’m feeling a little more rested today but still sort of out of whack.

But I’m so happy it’s April. April is such a happy month. Birthdays and Easter and flowers blooming and new babies.

Love you girls!

So, we moved this past weekend from Tulsa, OK to Ohio. It was a horrible, stressful, exhausting week and it just keeps going that way. We closed on our house on march 23rd and immediately started the two-day trek with our children and my mom to help to Ohio. The kids actually did pretty well on the road. Seth had a pretty hard time with the week of the move because everything was changing and it kinda freaked him out. he got really clingy and upset and would just keep asking us if we were going "bye, bye." His little world got flipped upside down and he's just been feeling a bit insecure during this transition time. But everything has gone pretty smoothly. other than when Seth locked Lilah in the mini-van in Greenup, IL (wherever that is!) We were stopped at a Dairy Queen and had gone to the car to change diapers. I got Lilah all situated in the front seat for mom to change her and Seth locked the door without me realizing it. When we were trying to switch places for mom to change Lilah and me to get Seth, the door bumped closed and Lilah got locked in with my diaper bag and keys on the floor of the van for the diaper change. It was 80 degrees outside and the car was probably 100 degrees because it had been in the hot sun for about an hour already. We called 911 and got Lilah out. But she had been in there about 15 minutes and was drenched in sweat and dehydrated and was struggling to breath. It was a disaster and we spent the next hour back in dairy Queen cooling her down. We eventually got home and are now starting the house-hunting process and are staying very busy with that. That's about it for us. I'm going to bed now because it is 2 am and I'm exhausted! Love you girls! (Oh, and I'm sorry Steph, I'm not coming back to Tulsa... but I wish I could because I'm missing it.) Also, sorry I missed you in Ohio Kim. And I'm sorry I never called you back while I was driving. It ended up being really busy and I want to try to call you when I can actually talk. =)

Out there...somewhere

I spent most of last week in Ohio, where my mom was supposed to have surgery. Instead, her surgery was postponed indefinitely because of abnormal EKG results. At first, her doctor thought she might have had a minor heart attack, but the cardiologist she saw didn’t think so. But they are doing further tests in a couple weeks to find out just what is going on.

So instead of spending the week in a hospital, I spent it with my mom and sister and family, just hanging out and doing normal Ohio-type things. I flew back on Saturday so I could get back to work.

Adam was in Vegas for his cousin’s wedding, but he changed his ticket to fly home on Saturday as well. It was all kind of last minute and a little bit stressful (especially my delayed flights on Saturday), but it all worked out in the end and we spent a lovely Sunday afternoon just wandering around like tourists.

Well, I guess that's it for now. Hope all is well with you girls. I love you lots!

are you girls still out there?

So this weekend was spent puppy-proofing the house. I cleared the coffee tables and end tables low enough to be whacked by a wagging tail. I picked up numberous decorations or little odds and ends from the floor and put them in their place (spring cleaning too!), and we purchased a baby gate for the downstairs hallway. We also purchased anything and everything else you could imagine to get ready for Nobu's homecoming. Check out my blog for the most recent photo!
Does anyone else have boxelder bugs covering one side of their home? Ugh, i just gag when i see one of those buggers get inside. I can't stand them, and I especially can't stand killing them because they 'crunch' when killed. ugh, I'm loosing my appetite just thinking about it!
Oh, Chris is up to 30 pounds lost and I've topped off at 15 pounds lost. Girls, this is an unbelievably easy lifestyle!
much love ladies!!

What's that smell?

WORMS! I can't remember for the life of me who said that one day in college, but I think it was Steph? Well, anyway, friday was our first spring rain and it smelled like worms. not really... i don't think i could really smell worms, but someone once said it smelled like worms outside but it was really just rain. i love you girls!

Procrastination

So it’s sunny and warm outside and I really don’t feel like working. So I think I’ll blog instead.

We went to San Francisco over the weekend for a little last-minute getaway (pictures are on Flickr.) Adam flew down on Thursday for a little business trip, and I went on Friday to meet him. It was so warm there, I actually got a little sunburned. We also got to see the Chinese New Year parade, which was vibrant and wonderful. Lots of little kids dressed like pigs.

We were also able to meet up with his stepbrother for a couple dinners, which was fun. He’s working at Google, which we were hoping to get a little tour of. But maybe next time.

If we moved to another city any time in the future, it would definitely be San Francisco. The climate is perfect (read: less rain) and we could live across from the park where they filmed that Full House scene. Well, if we had an extra million dollars lying around. But it must be under the bed, if we do, because I sure can’t find it anywhere.

Other than that, we’re just chugging along as usual. We’ve still been doing some house hunting, but just casually. Nothing has screamed, “buy me!” at us yet.

Seattle has this 25 for 25 thing going on right now where you can eat for $25 at 25 local gourmet restaurants. So I think we’re going to try out one of them tonight. I need to scope out some more good ones for us in June, too, so I will consider this a research outing.

I could also still use some input on the mix cd I’m cooking up. Anyone? Anyone?

Hope all is well with you all – love ya!

Seattle here I come!

Just wanted to let you all know that its official, I'm going to Seattle in June and so is Aaron. I got some really good deals on Expedia. $288 roundtrip each. I fly in on Wednesday night (late) and Aaron flies in on Saturday night. Unfortunately he wasn't able to get the Saturday off cause one of his co-workers had already asked off. But he will be in on Saturday night till Monday. We are also traveling down to Portland afterwards to visit one of my friends from Spain.

Anyway... can't wait to see you all there! Approximately 3.5 months, 15 weeks, or 108 days!

sold!

Hey girls! How are you all doing? Things are good here, stressful, but good. We sold our house and will be moving around March 23rd. So now we're doing some final repairs on the house and are starting the daunting task of packing. I hate packing, with a passion. I enjoy unpacking because I think it's fun to be surprised by the contents of each box when you open it. And I also very much enjoy the opportunity to reorganize and clean everything in my house. I am also looking forward to redecorating a new house. But I am dreading having to actually do the work of painting and other home fixer-upper projects. I prefer someone else to do the work. I just like the creative part of it. So we've been house-hunting a little bit online. It's kind of overwhelming. Also, we've been figuring out our budget for residency and I really am going to need to get a job to help make some supplemental income. Like at least part time. The trick is finding something that pays ok and that works with the kids. Because if I have to put them in regular day care, I pretty much lose my income in child care expenses. So I'm pretty stressed about that. I would appreciate prayers while we look for a house, find a new church and friends, and find a job. Miss you all bunches!

2 years = Electronics

Hello all!

Things here have been slow and steady. We have finally had 2 weekends in a row without too much snow. We had a few inches last night, but they were melted by 4pm today. Yeah for that. We decided to do something a little different this year for Valentine's day...I think this is going to be our new "tradition."

We official have been together for 2 years, and that is the Electronic Gift right? We bought ourselves a surround sound system. Which has revitalized our movie watching experiences. We'll need to have you all over soon. ;)

We also finished our taxes today. I do have to say sometimes I view the government like my personal savings account. We had another year where are getting a nice refund and not having to pay. I have realized that God is faithful to those who tithe. :) Those "donations to charity" do help on the tax refund side. :)

School is going well. I'm thinking about applying for the Technology position for next year. We'll see about that.

My tips for the getting healthy club. We did a 21-day fast at church and Nick and I decided to do a "Daniel Fast" for lunch. That is where I ate raw fruit, vegetables and nuts for lunch. At night we ate Zone. (It's similar to South Beach). As I added in Tae-Bo workouts I found that the fat deposits began to shrink. Now sticking with it all...that's the hard part.

I love reading your posts! (Even the 'boring' ones. :)) I'm getting excited about seeing you girls in Seattle. Nick and I are planning on being there!!

Not So Wonderland

In spite of Phil's (the groundhog) prediction that spring would come early this year, winter seams to have finally arrived for the East Coast. I must say, Liz got out just in time. In our first major winter storm of the year, mother nature decided to be very cruel.

Highlights of the "Love Storm":

• We had approximately 36 hours of snow, sleet and freezing rain.
• What would have been 20" of snow has been compacted into 6-8" of snow and ice.
• It took Aaron more than an hour to shovel our 10' driveway (it usually takes him about 10-15 minutes)
• The nicely paved roads that we are used to, have been mutilated into ice roads. It's much like driving on stone/dirt road with multiple pot holes, except that they are much slipperier and dangerous. In some places its like driving an amusement park car on a track cause the tire have worn through the ice to the road, but a 6" thick slab of ice remains between your tires. I found this quite humorous.
• Accidents on the interstate highway 78 caused a 50 mile gridlock that for some lasted for more than 40 hours. Can you imagine being stuck on a highway, in your car for 40 hours. The National Guard took food and supplies to those left stranded.
• Highways are still closed in that area due to horrible road conditions that could not be remedied sooner.

It was a terrible storm and the aftermath is even worse cause of all the ice. I'll be glad when it warms up. Oh did I mention it hasn't been above 20 since like 2 weeks ago. It's very cold!

Anyone else ready for spring?!

We have arrived....

Well, it's official....Nathan and I both now reside in Michigan. As I said before, we're living with my parents until we find a purchase a house. Nathan likes his new job quite a lot, and I'm beginning to job hunt. It was quite a whirlwind getting here. Nathan was here for 2 weeks while I stayed in MA and finished work and packed up the apartment. Then my parents came out to help us move. It was hard to leave...harder than I thought it would be. We had definitely put down a lot of roots, so it was hard to leave the church, and especially our friends. When you hang out with the same people every weekend (several times), it's hard to get used to not being with them all the time. At least we know a few people here, so it's not like we have nothing and no one to hang out with on the weekends. Like I said, the move was a whirlwind, and I don't want to do it again for a very, very long time (except moving into a house soon). We had a 26ft. truck because the place didn't have a 22 footer, and that was an experience! But it's over now, and we're settling in as much as you can in your parents' house:) I'm definitely having more fun with the house hunt than the job hunt. I was thinking today that maybe I should look for a job half as hard as I look for a house:) Fortunately, the cost of living here is sooo much less than New England, so we'll get so much more for our money. So that's about it for us. Good luck Julie, with your own move and house selling/buying issues.

the match

Hey girls! Hope you all are doing well. We're fine. "The Match" came out today for Josh. This is the day we find out for sure where we will be living for the next 5 years. Josh put all of his residency choices into a computer system and all of the residency programs put their top student choices into the system and today all the choices were matched up in the order they were ranked. So we are absolutely for sure moving to Columbus, Ohio now. We still have the house on the market and we did get an offer yesterday. But it was low so we counter-offered... then they counter-offered... then we counter-offered again and said final offer. We're still waiting to hear back from them. I don't really care if they don't buy the house because we came down a lot for them and if they still can't afford our house, then they shouldn't be looking at houses in our price range. As it is, if they accept our last offer, we'll still lose like $200 on the total investment. We would really like to at least come close to breaking even. So anyways, that's that for us. Josh's sister, Vanessa, had her baby on Friday. She was 8 lb. 5 oz. and 20.5 inches long. She has lots of dark wavy hair and is really sturdy and strong. Her name is Victoria Elise. Vanessa had to have a C section, but she's recovering pretty well. Love you all!

They can find you anywhere

The ORU Alumni Association just called me. On the phone. Like, they actually tracked down my cell phone number. And they know I have a husband. What they don't know, though, is that I have no money to give them. So maybe they should do a little more research and figure that little tidbit out.

 

It appears that our dog is having some kind of back and/or liver trouble. We're getting back the full results tomorrow, so we'll know what to do. She may need to have a liver biopsy. She's been acting like she's in pain for a couple days, and is having some trouble getting around. Hopefully, we'll be able to get everything taken care of without having to take out a loan. But it's not looking good.

 

Ok, so some good news…let's see…it's sunny and 60 degrees here. That's pretty good. And…as Steph happily labeled it, it is Grey's Day.

 

So, I guess that's all for now. Much love to you all!

 

the deep south

If you've seen the weather reports for the Midwest lately, you know that it's been severely cold for the last week or so. Snowy weather I can handle just fine. Ice, we manage. But THIS cold is just unbearable. So this weekend, as we visit Kansas City, it feels like the deep south. We arrived yesterday and said "oh, it's like spring-time here!". Granted, it's 19 (feels like 9) degrees here. But when compared to 5 (feels like -11) back home, this is paradise!!!!
So, Chris is in a meeting on securities right now and I'm sitting in the hotel room watching TLC, which I don't get to do at home. Ah, this is the high life! We splurged on this trip and have requested valet service every chance we get :)
GO BEARS!!!!

house

Well girls, it's official. Our house is on the market for $133,000. We've done quite a bit to it and we are really hoping that it will sell quickly and for a good price. We don't want to come down on it too much. We absolutely have to sell for at least $130 in order to break even on our investment by the time you take out realtor fees and closing costs, etc. It costs a lot of money to sell a house! So, anyways, we would really really appreciate you girls' prayers for us right now that this selling process goes quickly and smoothly as well as the moving and house hunting process. Hope you all are well. Love you girls!

another one on the way!

yea, I just heard my brother and sister-in-law in Seattle are expecting. That's 10 neices and nephews with two on the way. this safely puts me far from the expectations of having children in the next year. whew!

Ice Queen

So, as Steph mentioned, it is icy and cold here in OK. I'm getting really sick of it. I have not left my house in like at least a week. I'm starting to get serious cabin fever. And I have PMS, so I'm in a lovely mood these days being cooped up with my kids by myself with nothing to look at but a frozen tundra. We have read all of Seth's books and I'm seriously considering hiding them all because I just don't think I can read them one more time. Seth has 2 or 3 favorites. And while I applaud his recent passion for reading (or listening to me read), I think I might start losing my mind the next time I read "9 Fruits Alive". I tried to go to the library today to get some new books to get us through the next big storm, but they were closed. I might try again tomorrow. Seth and Lilah are doing well. Lilah is getting really fat. It's pretty cute. And she's the smiliest baby I think I've ever seen. Seth was a laugher (still is), but Lilah just coos and smiles. Seth has started really noticing Lilah and is taking a serious interest in his role as big brother. Last night after we put Seth to bed, Lilah was crying. Seth hadn't fallen asleep yet and could hear her. So, then I could hear Seth on the baby monitor in his bed saying "is ok Lala, is ok Lala..." He loves to give her kisses and never enters or leaves a room without greeting her or bidding her farewell. I've also recently caught him trying to wipe her mouth with her burp cloth the way I do and covering her up with her blanket and giving her toys. This morning while I was changing Lilah's diaper, Seth went and got her teddy bear and one of his diapers and tried to change the teddy bear's diaper. It was a pretty rough attempt. Lilah loves Seth too and has started smiling whenever she sees him. They are definately developing a little bond just the two of them. Lilah is close to rolling over. I think she could do it by now if she wasn't kind of lazy. She's not the most motivated baby physically. But that's fine with me. I don't have the energy yet to chase after two of them. I 'll give you girls the tip on getting healthy. Have a baby, then have another one right away... and just try to survive, and you should burn off a pretty considerable amount of fat fairly quickly. Also, you'll probably stop eating because it's no fun to eat when you have a toddler. Everytime I get a snack or lunch or breakfast or even a freakin cup of coffee, Seth is right in front of me with his mouth open like a bird begging like a dog. By the time I share all of my food with him I have very little left. And what is left is always cold or soggy or melted. I often give up and just throw my food away or I don't eat in the first place simply to avoid the annoyance of having Seth draped all over me grabbing at my hands and mouth. Although I have to admit, I'm still working on my extra plumpness from Lilah. The weight is not coming off quite as easily this time. So, I have started trying to work out at least 4 times each week. Nothing super intense, but I've been doing pilates and a couple different aerobic workouts pretty consistently. My motivation is that I have to be in my brother's wedding on April 14 and all the other bridesmaids are like a size 2-4. I'll still look like a mammoth compared to them, but I'm hoping to at least not look like a flabby mammoth. I'm also trying to cut out regular soda, just diet now. But that's about it. I'm watching my portions and stuff but I'm not dieting. I can't live that way. But I figure at least working out regularly should help quite a bit. So, I guess I'm kind of joining Steph, Ang, and Jen on the healthier lifestyle thing. Yay for all of us! I don't know that I will be joining Jen in the bikini though, too much flabby baby skin. I'll just be happy if I'm not too jiggly everywhere in my swimsuit by this summer. Well girls, that's that for me. Miss you all! Oh yeah, congrats on the new job for Nathan and the move and all that Liz. We'll be praying for you guys during this big transition. Steph, let us know if you need any help moving when you can finally get into your new place. Happy puppy adopting Jen. =) Love you all!

23 days

23 days until we hear of our little puppy being born! I just heard from the breeder today and they performed an ultrasound yesterday on the mommy. The pregnancy seems to be going perfectly and she is carrying 8-9 little pups! We have a guaranteed spot for a puppy but we are hoping and praying for a chocolate male. Please join with us in prayer for that :) Actually, Chris told me he was praying about our little puppy just the other day, and asking God to help the pup to be healthy, happy, and show us how to better love each other and our friends unconditionally. How sweet is that!?
It's been a while since i've posted, even on our personal blog so fortunately (or unfortunately) there is much to say! Here are the highlights in short form... Chris started a second job as a financial consultant for Primerica. He's currenly in training but will be going strong sometime in February. Christmas choir went really well and we've started rehearsals already for 2007. It's our goal this year to be up to singing once a month, whether that be a special song, or just with the worship team. I'm really busy with that. I've been scrapping a lot lately, catching up on 2006 events. Actually, I'm way behind and just finished Angie's wedding! Here at my office, December was a record breaking month. And we hit 4.5 million in funding at one of our banks, so they gave us a rebate, which i got a little piece of as a bonus, yea! We're going to Kansas City in a couple of weeks for training on Chris' job and to get away from it all and relax. Anyone know anything exciting to do in KC? eh, what am i saying, i'll probably sleep most of the time anyway. I'm good at sleeping. This monday night I'm leading worship at our women's ministry ladies night out (happens every year in January). I'm a bit nervous. Please pray that the women will have a wonderful time and be refreshed and ministered to. Speaking of church, it looks like we will be in our new building middle of March. Check out www.harvestbettendorf.org for details :) We are averaging over 1000 per sunday now and are really packed in there in the high school auditorium. My sister is pregnant with her third and they just heard they are having another girl. They currently have a boy and girl. This is the sister in Texas, Hanneke. She makes really cute kids. I think that's all the main points, I'm getting really excited about Seattle. I'm anxious to see all the sights and visit with all my friends! love you all!
Oh, one more thing... about being healthy... Chris and I have started the South Beach "diet". Chris lost 9 pounds during week one. I've lost 5 pounds now as week 2 comes to a close. But most importantly, we feel great, don't have any cravings, and my pants fit better! I'm so proud of Chris though too. He's been playing raquet ball at lunch with friends from the office, and swimming after work half of the week too. He's really dedicated to getting healthy. So there's my recommendation for a healthy lifestyle - South Beach! oh yeah, and my gut is shrinking! I'm excited for bikini season!

Love It

So I love the new look! It's fun to see pictures of everyone and remember how beautiful you all are.

I'm joining Steph on the pursuit of a healthy lifestyle. If anyone wants to join in, let either one of us know. OR, if you have pointers on how to do it, i.e. self control tips, etc..., please let us know.

Ummm... i know i don't ever write, but you see, i don't ever feel like i have anything good enough to write. Sometimes i lay in bed at night and have these wonderful ideas of what I'm going to write in the blog, but somehow, between the bed and my computer the next day, those thought are erased. So I suppose you will have to just deal with the boring, non-exciting news of all is well in PA.

Love you girls tons and miss you lots.

Yay for the new look! :-)

So this is exciting...pictures on the page!

Just a quick update from the land of ice and cold weather - yes, Oklahoma.
Things are going pretty well here. The only thing that's on our plates is that we need to move and we can't. Stupid cold crappy weather. So our original date of Jan. 19, will be moved to Jan. 26 pending any other weather related issues. It's really just to icey to chance driving a huge truck into little areas, and we're supposed to get some more snow this weekend, so that put a huge damper on things.

Other than that, STILL working on trying to get some Thank You's out in the mail. Work is going well, although there are some changes within the company that I am not fond of. Don't get me started on that. :-)

Ang and I are trying to do a healthy lifestyle change to lose some of our plumpness. Hopefully we'll have good results. That's about all, I think.
Love to you all!

Yay for fun time wasting activities

Or, at least, I thought it was fun trying to guess whose survey I was reading before I got to the names. J

 

So … it looks like everyone is okay with doing a three-day weekend instead of two? Because I think an extra day would give us just the right amount of time to see everything, and still have some downtime for relaxing. So if it's okay with everyone, let's plan on doing the Friday to Tuesday stint. Of course, if anyone does need to leave early, that's fine too.

 

And based on responses (don't I sound so official), it looks like we'll try to keep the whole weekend pretty conservative in the cost department. Cheap meals and inexpensive activities, and such. Once it gets closer, I'll let you know specific costs for the different activities I'm planning.

 

If all the husbands do come that are planning on coming at this point (four of them!), we may just give them the house, and us girls will find a hotel or cabin to stay in.

 

I tried to talk Adam into making some invitations for the guys, but for some reason, he didn't want to. Oh well.

 

Since you all are paying for plane tickets getting here, I'll take care of the accommodations if the need arises. I'll start doing some poking around, just in case we do need to reserve something, since that is a popular tourist time and things fill up pretty quickly. How fun would it be to stay on a houseboat? Sleepless in Seattle, anyone?

 

Ok, well, hope you all have a great weekend!

 

Love ya!

 

Big News

Hey all...it seems to be that everyone is posting about their holidays, so I'll give a quick synopsis of ours. Our Christmas was wonderful. Nathan and I went into Boston and spent the night before Christmas Eve there. We stayed in the old Police Headquarters, which is now a nice hotel. We also saw The Nutcracker on Christmas Eve. Christmas day was nice, and I accomplished cooking my first turkey! That was exciting for me.
In answer to the gift question, I'd have to say my favorite gift was also a diamond necklace from Nathan, which was also very unexpected. We were not supposed to really be getting anything for each other since we had agreed upon a joint gift of a camcorder.
Anyway, in addition to all this, Nathan and I have some big news. It turns out that we are moving in less than a month! A little bit ago, Nathan put his resume out there in Oregon and Michigan just to see what would happen, since we know we won't settle down here, and it could take him a while to find a job. Well, it turns out that there was a company in Ann Arbor, MI that was very interested in him, and who pursued him quite aggressively. To make a long story short, they flew him out for an interview this week, and made an offer the next day! The offer was awesome, and everything really just fell into our laps quite unexpectedly. Seems like God's always got the good stuff for your when you are least expecting it. Anyway, they want him to start in 2 weeks, so he'll be gone from here by then. I'll follow about 2 weeks later, since we'll need more time. So, we're a bit overwhelmed right now to say the least, but very excited.
We'll stay with my parents for a time due to the expense of buying out of our lease when we leave here. But we'll be shopping for a house as well as a job for me once I get out there. So life is more crazy than ever, but very exciting as well. So much to do, so little time! :)

Christmas went fast

Hey guys! I figured it's time for an update. Christmas went really quickly. It was a nice Christmas though. We just stayed in Tulsa. It was kind of fun trying to start our own family traditions and stuff, but it was a little mellow for my taste too. I'm used to being with so many people for the holidays. I kind of missed the chaos of my family. It confirmed my decision that we want more than 2 children though. Two kids is just too quiet. We need at least 3. It just adds that extra touch of drama to family get-togethers. =) But Josh's sister and dad came over Christmas day, so that helped spice things up a bit. Although, Josh only has one sister, so it was still pretty low-key. But Christmas was good and it was watching Seth open his presents. Unfortunately, Seth was sick Christmas day. He had a horrible virus with runny, stuffy nose and coughing and then he got an ear infection. He was sick all week and then Lilah got it the next week, as did me and Josh. I think everyone has it though. It's just going around. We did end up getting to see my family for the holidays though because my grandpa died the Friday following Christmas. So my whole family flew in for New Years. (The funeral was here in Tulsa) I wasn't super close to the grandpa that died. He had an aortic annurism (sp?). He had been in the hospital for Christmas with pneumonia, so we did get to visit a couple days before he died. I'm very thankful for that. We had a very nice visit with him and he was doing well and was released from the hospital on Thursday, and then died Friday. He was a Christian and was passionate about Christ and I'm grateful for that. So, we know where he is now and that certainly makes death easier to deal with. It was sad circumstances, but it was still nice having all the family come in. So, that's about it for us. The kids are well and I'm just catching up from the holidays. Josh takes his next round of Board exams on Jan. 18th. So, we'd appreciate prayer for that to go well. He's been pretty busy studying. Hope you all are well. Love ya!

Digging out just in time for the next one!

Hey girls!!

Things here have been, well, snowy. I haven't seen this much snow since I was about eight. There are the upsides to this snow, like SNOW DAYS!! We've had 6 so far this year. Whoever thought we'd have so many. Plus a longer Christmas break, we had almost 3 weeks off.

Christmas was great. We made it to Denver between the blizzards and fresh snow. Our backyard had no snow, while our driveway had a 4 1/2 foot drift. Nick did all the shoveling during the first blizzard. It was lovely having only one shovel. We did only do one side of the driveway and used his car solely during Christmas.

We heard there was a 12 foot drift of snow on I-25, but as we drove up to Denver we never saw it. The road crews did an incredible job getting the snow off the highways and a horrible job on our street. It took a long time to get our road cleared.

Christmas was fun at my parents house. Everyone made it home. My sister, Carolyn and husband Jason, who live in Canada, surprised my parents the Monday before Christmas. So....it was a FULL house. We broke the toilet, garbage disposal and my sister, Tori, wrecked my dad's car. To say the least, our Christmas was not boring.

My favorite present is a tie between a Nintendo DS from my mother-in-law and new pots and pan from my husband. I love to cook.

Kimmy I read your blog about cooking, and I just want to throw out that I would LOVE to cook during the Sapphire weekend.

I miss you all!! I hope you have a great January. If any one needs some snow...I can send it to you in a box. :)

New year, new hole in my head

January is such a sad, little month. Coming right after such an exciting holiday as Christmas, it doesn’t really have much to offer. Add to that the grey skies and rainy season, and I’m pretty much ready to move to Hawaii. Anyone else?

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Years! Ours was spent doing a lot of traveling and visiting a lot of family. Miraculously, the bad weather everywhere didn’t affect any of our flights (although we were kind of hoping to be stranded in Philly so we could visit Angie and Aaron!), and we made it home yesterday morning safe and sound. Then we slept. Pretty much all day. Oh, how I missed our bed.

Now that the holidays are over, I can focus the part of my brain that likes to plan things on the Sapphires reunion. Because a tiny part of me is OCD, and also because sometimes I get bored at work, I’m going to send out a little survey for some ideas and suggestions for the weekend. I want to make sure everyone has a good time, or at least acts like they’re having a good time.

So I think my favorite Christmas present to get this year was … a diamond necklace from Adam. Not so much because it’s a diamond necklace, but because it was such a surprise.
Oh, and my new domain name: http://www.kimmysue.com/. Tee hee. Right now, it just points to my blog but maybe I’ll get creative and do something else eventually.

My favorite present to give was probably the little princess chair I bought for our Angel Tree girl – so cute.

How about you all? What were your favorite presents?


And here’s my delayed act of teenage rebellion in the form of teeny tiny, cubic zirconium. Not sure how long it’s going to last, but Adam is warming up to it.

Love you all mucho!