Catching up Continues with November Part II

November Part II

Unfortunately, I don’t have the calendar I had been using to keep track of events (since we don’t have our household items yet). So I’m going to have to go from memory as far as what happened in the second part of November.

Visit from Ben and Amber and the Surprise Sunday

Ben and Amber had come from Kansas City to visit Pastor Pat, Judy and Emily, so I had the wonderful pleasure of spending the entire day on the 17th of November with Amber. We had such a wonderful time together! We walked around the mall for awhile, went to the PX, had some yummy Carlos O’Kelly’s, but mostly had a fabulous time catching up and talking. We had such a great time!



That Sunday, November 19th, was a very emotional Sunday. It was nearing Corey and Holly and Chris and my last Sunday and some of our friends where dealing with some pretty big prayer requests. After an emotional Praise and Worship time, Chris and I were surprised to be called up and honored with the NMI Distinguished Service Award. We were completely surprised and incredibly honored! Manhattan has become our home and the church has become like family to us. We will always value and treasure the friendships and opportunities and ministries the church has brought about for us.


Visit from Uncle Randy and Aunt Jamie

Randy and Jamie flew down from Maryland to be with her family for Thanksgiving – who live in Olathe – and since that’s only a couple hours from Manhattan, they came down for a visit. We had a fabulous time and they were able to meet Luke for the first time. The introductions were pretty funny since Randy had a beard and Luke wasn’t to sure of that, but he adjusted pretty quick and loved being with his Uncle Randy and Aunt Jamie. We enjoyed a great supper at Famous Daves, walked around the mall, watched a movie, and stopped at the always yummy Chipotle all in an evening and afternoon. We all had a great time together! Here are pictures from the fun visit!














Thanksgiving

We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving in Manhattan with “the gang” - not everyone in “the gang” was able to be there, but we had a big group nonetheless. We all brought different dishes and we had a spectacular feast! We enjoyed fellowship, games, movies and most of all fun fun fun! =) I also got a wonderful gift from Cherry – a beautiful bright yellow afghan! I LOVE IT!!! It’s so bright and cheerful. Cherry had made one for herself and I just had to have one, so she made one for me too, and it’s absolutely lovely! It was a wonderful Thanksgiving and here are pictures to prove it! =)




Chris and Bobby have always been close...
This was acutally a "dare" in a game we played...



This was another dare...chewing up food and spitting it into someone else's hand...








Farewell Potluck and Christmas Decorating at the Church

On November 26th the church had a Farewell Potluck for Corey and Holly and Chris and I. It was a wonderful time of fellowship with everyone but it was also a bit bittersweet because it really brought home the fact that we were leaving.



That evening we gathered to decorate the church. Chris and I really weren’t much help as we ended up visiting with everyone instead of decorating. But the church looked fantastic with all the beautiful Christmas decorations up! While we were there Lindsey gave us an absolutely gorgeous quilt she made for Luke (and us.) I LOVE IT!!! It is soooo adorable and very meaningful. It is of little barns and there are little animals that you can put in the barns, you have to see pictures!

Saying Good-Bye

Our wonderful friends, Corey and Holly moved at the end of November and it was awful to have to say good-bye. I know I can’t give them a hard time since we left a week later, but it was still hard to say good-bye! We miss you Corey and Holly!!!



Here are some more pictures of Luke taken in November...






Luke would get up on his knees and rock back and forth...
it wouldn't be long until he crawled!





Stay tuned for December's Catch-up Blogs!

Working out the Kinks...

Hey all!

There still seems to be a few more kinks I need to work out after switching the account over...I see new ones each time I'm on...everything should be up and working within the week! =)

We're off to run more errands...whohoo! =)

Catching Up Begins in November

Alright…thus begins the getting caught back up blogs. =) Once Chris wakes up from his Nazarene Nap, I’ll get pictures of the apartment and post those (but they may not make it on today…we’ll just have to wait and see how Luke is, plus we have some more errands to run today…I feel like we’re always running errands! Anyway, back to the blog. =) )

Ok, now lets see…we have to go waaaaayyyy back to November…oh wait, I found a blog I saved in Word that talks alllll about the first part of November…so here is November part 1:


November – Part 1

Hello! I know I know, it’s been a long time. The next few months will be quite busy since we will be moving the first week of December. I can’t believe it’s already the middle of November. I only have 3 more precious weeks to spend here in Fort Riley/Manhattan and Chris only has 4. It’s so overwhelmingly sad I can barely stand to think about it. Soooo…I won’t for today. I know, I’ll have to think about it in a few short days, but today we’re still here. =)

So on to the happenings in November. The 4th of November was a fun day for Chris. Maybe most men are like this, but throwing things away puts Chris in a wonderful mood…especially throwing things away at the dump. Our garage had accumulated some large trash items – rugs, a mattress box spring, tons of boxes, things like that. So we awoke early and loaded the truck full of our garbage and headed to the dump. This was one of those big jobs that had to be done before we moved, so accomplishing that was a big check off the list. After doing that we headed over to the church garage (which held the remains of the big church yard sale) to try to figure out what to take where, etc. We still have at least 2 more loads we need to take to Goodwill, but hopefully we can complete that task no later then next week. Another big check off our list before moving. Luke enjoyed the trip for the most part. He always loves it when his car seat goes in the backseat of the truck, because he can see right out the back window. After the novelty of that wore off, however, he slept through most of the fun. After we had completed what we could with the church yard sale items for the day, I ran in to the church to make copies for our Sunday school lesson. I was almost complete when I heard Chris come into the church. Luke had woke up…and produced an explosive diaper of massive proportions! It was EVERYWHERE! Sooooo, into the church nursery we all went where Chris did most of the icky work…but hey that’s our deal…I feed the boy and he changes him. =) After he was finally all cleaned up, I fed him and we decided to get a bite to eat since it was by this time afternoon and we were starved. So on the way to the restaurant Luke produced yet another diaper! I unfortunately got stuck with that one…but goodnight…how much can a baby really poop in one day…in an hour I should say! We spent the rest of the day running errands and getting done what needed to get done.

I have to mention November 5th because the Dolphins beat the Bears! We actually like the Bears a lot, but we have to stick with our number one team the Dolphins (until they get eliminated.) We had tried to get tickets for this particular game. The day tickets went on sale (way back in July I think) Chris tried to get some, but they were sold out even then. We tried to console ourselves saying that the Dolphins would probably just lose the game and it wouldn’t be any fun…but I guess it would have been! O well…

During the week, Luke started to show signs of a cold. He still seemed to be in good spirits, but he was running a low temperature and we were sucking snot out of his nose like it was a full time job. I started giving him some good ole Tylenol, so that seemed to help quite a bit.

On Thursday, November 9th, we headed out to my parents house in St. Louis after Chris got off work. I love going home…there’s just something about being with your family that makes you feel good. So I was very excited to go home. The car situation was a bit funny because we had to take all the animals. Tiger had gotten sick Sunday night and I finally had to take him to the vet. So he was on medication, not to mention I wanted to be able to keep a close eye on him. So this is what the car looked like. Front Seat – Chris at the wheel, luggage on the passenger’s side floor, and Riley in the passenger’s side seat. Back Seat – Luke, me in the middle, Tiger next to me on the seat and Little One chillin' on the floor of the backseat. Yeah…a bit crowded - not to mention it always looks funny when your wife is in the back seat and your dog is in the front! So we got there around 11pm visited for a bit and went to bed.

On Friday, Riley and Luke both got us up like at 6:30am. Riley just wanted to explore the new backyard and Luke was still sick. Chris finally went back to bed, but I stayed up to visit with my parents. Later that afternoon, we all went outdoors to take some pictures of Luke and throw around the football. It was beautiful out! Luke, unfortunately, seemed to be feeling worse, so we gave up on the pictures. Luke cuddled with mom while Chris, dad and I threw around the ball for a bit. During that brief amount of time, a storm began to roll in. The temperature dropped, so we all headed inside – especially since we didn’t want Luke to catch a chill. Later that evening, Kerri got in – and not a moment to soon! It was great to see her again and I know she was very excited to see Luke since she hasn’t seen him since he was born. The storm that was brewing hit full force and the electricity when out. We waited for it to come back on…but it didn’t. Mom had put a roast in the oven earlier that day – and luckily it had cooked long enough that we still had an amazing dinner…even if it was by candlelight! After the yummy supper, the lights were still out, so we played Balderdash by candlelight too! After the first question the lights came back on, so we finished in a well lit kitchen. Later that evening we watched some homemade movies...always entertaining in their own way. =) Kerri also gave me a beautiful necklace as a birthday present – Thank you so much Kerri, I love it! =)






















On Saturday (November 11th), we all took our time getting up and ready. We headed to the mall early in the afternoon. Dad bought us an umbrella stroller for Luke – something we’ve wanted to get for quite sometime – which was really exciting! Luke only has a few more pounds in his car seat, and the next car seat we get won’t attach into a stroller, so we wanted a smaller stroller to use for the many errands we run and quick trips we make, and the stroller dad and mom bought is absolutely perfect. Thanks Dad! =) After the mall, we were all hungry, so we headed to a Mexican restaurant – which was sooo yummy. And of course you can’t go anywhere without going to Wal-Mart, so we swung by there to pick up a few needed items. We got back and Chris, Luke and I settled in to watch the K-State/Texas game which was being televised on ABC…and what do you know – K-State won! It was a pretty exciting game to watch.

Sunday, November 12th, we had Luke dedicated at dad’s church in Brighton IL. My wonderful Grandparents came over to share in the occasion with us and it was so great to see them! We wanted Grandpa (who dedicated me when I was a baby) and dad to perform the dedication. It was wonderful! It was so meaningful to us. It’s so important to us to publicly show that we are giving the gift God gave us, Luke, back to Him. We’re privileged enough to care for him and be his parents, but he’s really in God’s hands. Each of the dedications meant a lot to us. The one we had in Manhattan was wonderful because Pastor Pat was able to dedicate him, Chris’s parents where there and we were able to do it with our church family and friends. The one in IL was meaningful because my father and grandfather performed the dedication (who also performed our wedding ceremony), my family was able to be there, and mom and dad’s church was able to share in the experience. It was a wonderful day and we really enjoyed seeing and visiting with our family.

Sooooo, that’s the first part of November for you! =) I’ll have to grab a calendar and make another post up for the end of November…here are a few more pictures from the first part of November until I can do that!
















November part 2 is coming!

Changing Over

Hey All!

We are in the process of changing our Old Blogger over to the new Google Account Blogger thingy. I don't think it'll change much of anything as far as reading the blogger, but if things look different right now, just know we're working on it. =) More later!

Getting Caught Back Up…

Helloooooooo all!

Well, Chris and I are finally in Georgia! We are still in the process of settling in and things have been extremely busy for both of us, but we’re here. =) I know I have TONS of catching up to do, so I’ll do small posts as much as I can to get caught back up again. I’ll also take pictures of our new apartment and post those as soon as I can. Luke is constantly on the move and getting into things, so one of us has to be in charge of him at all times. =)

Here are a couple pictures until I can get pictures of the apartment and start my “getting caught back up again” blogs started. =)