Grandpa Steve, meet Grandpa Steve

OK, so they've met before, but not since Luke was born.

Dad came out today, only to get mad and drive off tonight. What a tool.

He actually flew into STL to drive our truck back to MD. It's holding the bulk of the stuff we wanted to hang onto - whether it was too important for the movers to take, or we just needed it for this month, he's got quite a load of stuff. Plus our dog.

He left greater Salis about 6am-ish and finally got into STL at 2:30pm.....Philadelphia strikes again. (Actually I hear people from Philadelphia have smaller brains than the rest of us. That's scientific fact. Just look at that Rocky Balboa guy.) There was lots of fog on the east coast, so he got delayed several hours. He was supposed to arrive here at 9am. So he got about 1.5-2 hrs with Luke, who he hadn't seen since July 4th. He left a little after 5pm, with Riley in tow. She looked a little confused as to why she was going for a car ride and why Mindy and I were outside the car waving, but she'll be fine...especially when she meets Mom and Dad's new dog, Kaley (sp?). So wish Dad luck as he drives back across the country. He needs to be back for choir practice tomorrow night. (Update: Dad made it to the Interstate, which was in question when he left here, and now he's on his way east. Also, he said Riley keeps looking over at him and wondering "who are you and why are you taking me somewhere?" Good stuff.)

Here's a few pictures of the two grandpas and their pride and joy.







And since Mindy won't let me do the Illinois Christmas pictures yet, and since we probably won't blog until we get to MD on Tuesday, here's one more sneak peek...

We are so Illinois-an

Chris here again with another exciting update from the great state of Illinois. Today was a grand old party with your three heroes finding themselves in a sticky situation once again- with a visit to the Jerseyville Community Hospital! Hooray for sickness. Mindy finally had enough and convinced me to take her and Luke to the doctor, so we figured that since Tricare wanted us to go as expensive as possible, we'd go to the ER and have them run a battery of tests on everyone. Luke got labs done, and made his first visit to Radiology! Wow-eee! Actually it was pretty painless (except for Luke when they drew a gallon of his blood- he started to look like that guy in Hot Shots) and it was really just a long wait. Oh well....diagnosis: ear infections for everyone! We got some antibiotics and some other goodies and were on our way. All said, a great way to kill 5 hours in southern Illinois. All the farmers around here are doing it.

Last night was Illinois Christmas, a Festivus-like celebration involving poles and feats of strength. OK, it was really just opening presents with the Shotts. Luke got lots of sweet toys, and I would tell you all about it, but someone in my family (hint: not a male) decided that I couldn't yet. So I tease you instead.



Now you want to know what I got, don't you? Too bad!

So instead of all that, I'll throw some pictures at you. The first is of the worship team from the Manhappenin' Church of the Nazarene on Mindy's last day there. It's kinda half silliness, half seriousness...John, you know you wanted to choke out Bobby when given the chance. And DJ, I expected more from you.



The next series is Mindy's last time announcing for the service. She decided to be funny (good job, honey!) and took pictures of the congregation from the stage.

The left side:


And the right side:


Things to note are the smug jerkiness I'm displaying in the back, the petite man on his tip-toes trying to see over the soundboard, and the absence of children. We don't allow them. OK, I lied, they were behind Mindy since it was the children's Christmas program that morning. Not pictured: the precariously leaning Christmas tree.

We are homeless

Well, we've officially moved, and now we have no home. We are a traveling band of circus people - that's actually the new job I will be taking. I (Chris) got everything packed, loaded, cleaned, and cleared (with help from the packers, movers, helpful friends, and Picerne Housing) last week, and after a short stay with the Crawford family, I left Sunday and arrived in Brighton, IL, just NE of the STL. Everything went really smoothly and I'm glad that part's over. Thanks be to all those who helped.

I basically walked into the sick ward here, as Mindy, Luke, and my father in-law are/were all sick upon my arrival. Luke had a fever (which seems to have broken today) and some congestion, Mindy has a cold/headache/earache, and Steve had a cold. I am doomed. Anyway, we tried to get them both to visit the doctor today, and we eventually gave up. Thank you Tricare, for making it as painful as possible to get medical help when you're out of town. I think I'm going to call the OMB and tell them that Tricare would rather I go for an expensive hospital visit than take them to the Shotts' normal family doctor, which would be much cheaper. If anyone ever wonders how much money the Army wastes per year, you're probably not even close in your estimate, trust me. Luke's fever broke not long after my marathon phone session, and Mindy ended up just going to the drugstore to get ear drops. Our government hard at work for you, soldiers!

We'll try to get another blog in before we leave STL for the cold, white north. So wish us luck. For those that don't know, we're here until this weekend, when we go to Michigan for a few days, and my Dad will take the dog and the truck back to MD to meet us there when we arrive early next week. Then after Christmas, I head down to GA to find a place to live, and my class starts on 4 January.

Keep it real out there. Props to my crew back in the Little Apple. We out.

I am so far behind on my blogs! =)

I am soooooooooooooooooooo far behind on my blogs!!! I should have some time to play catch up here over the next few weeks - but right now Luke is screaming, so I'll leave you with this...

This time last year (December of 2005)....



Trying on maternity pants...




Going Christmas shopping in a beat up wheelchair at Wal-Mart... =) Chris was so embarrassed to push me around, but I seriously couldn't walk around that long at that time (ahhh, the joys of pregnancy and being sicker than a dog because of it...) The basket was nice! =)


and now (December of 2006)...



A beautiful baby boy... he'll be 6 months tomorrow! It's amazing how much can change in a year.

I'll blog more later!