Pumpkin Carving and a Surprise!

Wednesday night Tim and Lindsy and Billie and Derek were planning on coming over to carve pumpkins. We have a tradition to get together to carve our pumpkins...we've been doing it since before Jonathan and I were even married! It's so much fun to have traditions like that with friends. I made some White Chicken Chili and was waiting for everyone to get here when I got a call from Billie telling me she thought her water had broken!! Wha??? A week and a half early on your first child?? So, they were headed to the hospital! How exciting!!!

So Tim and Lindsy got to the house and we ate and carved our pumpkins...the entire time wondering how things were going and how far along Billie was and oh my goodness she's having her baby!!! We had a great time with T and L! Our pumpkins turned out cute. Jonathan did the witch, I did the ghost, Lindsy did the cat, and Tim did "Tool Time" (because they were decorating their trunk for trunk-or-treat as an old TV show so they did Home Improvement.)

Here are some pics from Lindsy's camera. I loaned mine to Billie and Derek, so I haven't downloaded the pics from pumpkin carving yet.

Billie labored all night and Eli was born Thursday morning! (I skipped work on my last day at the bank so I could be at the hospital...well worth it if you ask me!) She did so well and Eli is so precious. I'm so happy for Billie and Derek!

Feed My Starving Children

We attend Southland Christian Church and are so blessed to be a part of such an amazing community! (And I'm so blessed to be able to work there...starting next Monday!!) The leaders have such wonderful vision for the church and what we can do to make a difference in our city and in the world. How can we show God's love? We started a "Hungry" Series last week that really got us thinking about all those who are physically and spiritually hungry in our world.

This week our church partnered with Feed My Starving Children to package meals for hungry children in poverty stricken countries. All of the normal sporting events at the church were cancelled, so instead of going to play volleyball tonight we met our volleyball team at church to volunteer together. It was amazing to hear about what FMSC is all about and what they do to help so many children!

We all put our lovely hair nets on to enter the room and learned how to make the meals, then started 2 hours of work! It was great! Everyone had great energy and they played fun music! We filled rice, soy, dehydrated veggies, and flavoring with nutrients into plastic bags, sealed them and packed them. The guys were all on "warehouse duty" lifting the boxes. Billie was putting the bags on the funnel and I was in charge of measuring the nutrients and veggies into the bags! (They had at least 80 different stations doing this same thing)

Here's a really lovely picture of us! LOL! (Who would think that a 38 week preggers would be volunteering on her feet for 2 hours...ahem...in heels!! Billie is superwoman!)

Sorry the picture is grainy but what can you expect with a phone?? :)

The church has morning and evening shifts Monday through Friday this week for people to volunteer. As of last week the online volunteering sign up was full! I'm guessing there were about 800-ish volunteers during our shift and we ended up making 157,032 meals which is 430 kids who will eat for a year! Wow! That's a serious impact! Did you know it only costs 17 cents to feed one child one meal?? It makes you think about how many starving kids you could feed with your extra change laying around. Kinda makes you rethink the dollar menu too (if the nutrition facts haven't already done that.) The church's goal is to pack over 1 million during this week and I'm positive that we will surpass that! Just to think of what this food means to these kids. It's not just a meal, it's a chance at living.

I just feel so blessed to be a part of such a wonderful, giving community with a heart for the less fortunate. What a great way to spend our evening! Can't wait to do it again next year!

Applesauce and Pumpkins

I love fall! I love the colors and the smells and the decorations and going to the orchard and making applesauce and and and... The last couple days have been overcast and rainy, which is the part of fall I don't like! My parents came in town on Friday and we had plans for the weekend to go to the orchard and to make applesauce. Well Saturday was supposed to be nasty so we decided to make applesauce and hold off on the orchard until today.

Billie (and Eli - only 2 more weeks!!!) came over to make applesauce too!! (Tim and Lindsy were out of town for Lindsy to run a marathon today!!) My parents brought the apples in town because they found an orchard that sold bushels of "seconds" (the apples that have fallen) for $8!! So they brought 3 bushels for us to make...that is a WHOLE LOT of applesauce!!! 56 Ziploc bags to be exact:)

This is 2 bushels because each of these bags was a half bushel, so you get the idea of just how many apples were in 3 bushels...

Billie and I hard at work!

Here is a pic of all of us except Jonathan...he preferred staying behind the camera instead of making the applesauce.

The applesauce turned out well after a bit of an accident. The apples that Billie and I used for our last batch of applesauce were very tart so we had to add a cup of sugar to it to sweeten it up. After we got our bowl about half filled with applesauce, I added a cup of sugar and then we tasted... I will always taste first in the future! The apples we used this time were sweet apples and we didn't have to add ANY sugar to it! Oops!

Today was a beautiful day. Blue skies, sunshine and a great temperature so we headed out to the orchard after church. We ate a hot dog lunch there and had delicious apple dumplings for dessert. Yum! We strolled through some of the orchard to get an apple to eat, picked pumpkins, bought homemade cider, and took pictures. What a wonderful way to spend a Sunday!

Here we are looking for the perfect pumpkin...everyone was giving me a hard time because it took me the longest to find the perfect pumpkin to carve!

We think we found the right ones!

All of us couples trying to get a great portrait...too bad the sun was shining right on the sides of our faces making some shadows!

Pretty Flowers

I have to share the picture of this beautiful arrangement that we brought home from the funeral last week. It's still beautiful on my dining room table. It has this wonderful citrus scent! I thought the way they put the lime and orange halves in the water was so creative and beautiful. There are even orange peppers in between all of the flowers! I wish the colors in the picture would have turned out closer to the actual colors. Maybe I need a new camera:)

My parents are coming in town this weekend to make apple sauce. Yes, they are bringing 3 bushels of apples...THREE!!! I think we have our work cut out for us! We're also going to go to the Orchard and pick pumpkins, so we've got a full weekend ahead of us. I'm sure I'll have lots of pictures to post! :)

Good News!!!

And NO I'm not pregnant! HA! I had you all going didn't I? My good news is that I gave my resignation today at the bank!! I have known for a while that banking is not my long-term career...it's just not for me. Now, I've been working at a bank since I graduated college in 2003 and I feel like I'm good at it, but when I look at my life and what I'm doing, I just didn't feel enough worth. It was kinda one of those things where I looked at my life and said, "I'm almost 30...is this all there is to life? What do I want to be when I grow up? I thought I'd know that by now in life!!" I felt like I could be using my skills for so much more. Also, after a merger I found out a couple months ago that my position at the bank as an office manager would be eliminated so I needed to choose a different position (none of which were particularly interesting to me.)

I sent my resume to my church back in August for a finance job. (My church is large and when I say large, I mean 15,000+ members.) So it was more than a month before I heard back for an interview because there were so many applicants. After 2 interviews I was offered a job as a Financial Associate Director last week!!! Can you tell I am excited??? Should I use more exclamation points??!! :) I won't go into what my job responsibilities are, but just know that all of my banking skills will be used and I feel like they are finally being used for a good purpose...not for just hitting sales goals and a positive profit margin like at the bank!

So, even in this time of turmoil, God has provided for us. He has a plan! Next Thursday will be my last day at the bank and then I will start at the church the first of November. I'm just so excited. I might have to do some fashion posts though, because my entire closet of dress clothes are no longer necessary since most people wear jeans at the church! Sounds like some time for celebratory shopping!! :)

CASA 10K

Yesterday Lindsy, Courtney, Nevada and I ran the CASA 10K (6.2 miles)! It feels so good to finish a long race. Ok, well it was a long race for me...not for everyone else. Lindsy and Courtney have been training for Lindsy to run a marathon next weekend, so they actually did 4 miles BEFORE the race! Hardcore!

It was 39 degrees and not really raining, but it was kind of a spitting type of rain. Pretty much COLD! When we decided to run this race a few weeks ago, we didn't know it would be this cold already in October! Billie and I ran this race last year on the first weekend of October and we were in shorts and tank tops!! Of course, today is blue skies and sunshine...that would have been nice yesterday!

Nevada and I had a goal to finish in less than one hour, but we ended up at 1 hour 4 minutes (5 minutes faster than last years time). Oh well. Maybe next time. I really hadn't trained much in the last couple weeks, so I can't complain. I will be running the Nike Human Race 10K next Saturday, so I have another chance do it in less than an hour.

Billie is such a good friend! She came out on this yucky morning to cheer us on! How awesome is she?? She also took some pictures during the race. Here are some pics.

Courtney, me, Billie, Nevada, and Lindsy. We had to get a pic with Billie and Baby Eli in it to show that Billie was running with us in spirit! :)

Nevada and I still running! Lindsy and Courtney were way ahead of us as to be expected:)

All of us after the race. We always have to get that really "lovely" after race pic! They had strawberry smoothies for us after the game! Yumm! Too bad that didn't help warm us up!

All in all we had a fun time together although we would have enjoyed warmer weather! :) Always fun to run with friends though!

When it Rains, it Pours

Have you ever noticed that when things are rough in life and you feel like you've been through a lot, somehow more trials come your way?? I know they are all for a reason but seriously...sometimes you feel like you've been pummeled! Somehow God has given us some wonderful moments in our time of trials. Beware...this is a LONG post! :)

Lets back up to last weekend. We were preparing to go to Louisville for Jonathan's reunion the next day. I got home from work around 6:30 on Friday night and Jonathan (the wonderful husband he is) had laundry started. We needed to go to the grocery store so I went to go change out of work clothes. By the time I was ready for the grocery store (yes, we have rip-roaring Friday nights!) Jonathan said he thought we had a problem. Uh oh! Our washing machine was full of water, soap and clothes and the stupid thing wouldn't drain or rinse. J messed around with it for a while but no luck. So we decided since I had bought it second-hand in my single days, it wasn't worth the money to spend on a repairman. All evening we researched washer/dryer combos so that we knew which brands had good reviews etc. I knew I wanted a nice front-load set that will last for years to come, but we needed to find a good deal because we didn't want to spend an arm and a leg. A washer is just not something "fun" to buy.

Saturday we set out early and ended up going to I think 7 different appliance stores looking for possible Columbus Day sales. There was one set I had my eye on from the first store we went to on Friday night. Come to find out, that was the one that had great reviews and we eventually found it seriously on sale! Yay!! We went back to Lowe's (because they match prices, have free next day delivery, and really low cost for their service plan - which we never buy, but thought it was necessary on this purchase.) The delivery guys were very kind and I'm very happy with the service we got there. It wasn't like being on a used car lot (like some of the other stores). Here's a pic of my beautiful new set!!!! I LOVE it! It makes me WANT to do laundry...we'll see how long that lasts! Ha! Coda just had to get in the picture:)

Because it took us so long to make that purchase, we got to Louisville in just enough time to get to the reunion, so J didn't have time to stop by to see his dad, which were his original plans. (I personally think God let our washer break so that we would not be in town early because it would have been horrible if J had found his dad.) God always has a plan right?...not that I really know what His plan is.

At the funeral on Thursday, three of Jonathan's old friends from Trinity (his high school) came. I know that just touched him so much that these guys were there for him. His dad had graduated from Trinity also and they had sent a nice plaque. I told J that it seems like it's a "boys club" that once you're one of them, you will always have them. I know it was very comforting for Jonathan to have the guys there.

Jonathan brought me back to Lex last night because I had a 10K race with my girlfriends this morning (post to come in the near future). When we got home last night we noticed that our light on the front porch was out...3 light bulbs all at once?? J parked in the driveway so he could empty out the backseat of funeral flowers, and luggage. While I was unpacking our bags, J came in to tell me that he car would not turn on when he tried to put it in the garage!!! Are you serious??!! I'm pretty sure we've been through enough trials this week! (In case you're wondering, we checked the light and it really was that ALL 3 bulbs burned out at the same time. We changed two bulbs out but the third was broken off inside...that will be another project on another day.)

Long story short, he figured out it was his battery so he jumped it first thing this morning, took it to a shop and then headed back to Louisville for the weekend to continue going through his dad's house. I wish I could be there for him today and tomorrow, but when you've trained (ok, so maybe I haven't truly trained like I should have) or looked forward to a race, you just really want to complete it. I hope that doesn't sound selfish. I really would have given up the race, but J really wanted me to still do it.

So extremely long story short of our week in a nutshell. I'm ready to have a season of life that is "easy". That's not always how it works, so with God I know that we can endure what comes our way. When we do have more struggles, He will get us through. And on a happier note, I will have some good news next week to share...I'll leave you in suspense!! :) God is good to us through the good times and bad.

PS. Seriously!?! My camera's memory card has something wrong and cannot be read in my laptop. GRRR! I had to hook my camera up to my desktop to get that picture off of it!

Jonathan's Dad

At the end of my last post I mentioned that our weekend did not turn out well. On Saturday as we were leaving Jonathan's reunion, we both checked our phones and had missed calls and voicemails from J's sister. When we called her back we found out that Jonathan's dad had passed away. He was only 62! Needless to say, it was a very difficult drive to his dad's house. (We don't go to Louisville much, so it was a blessing we were there in town that night.)

The coroner said that it looked like he had a heart attack in his sleep and just never woke back up. We stayed around Saturday night until the coroner was finished and then drove back to Lex. (Thanks to Tim and Lindsy for going to our house to pick up and care for Dakota overnight.) We didn't actually get in town until 3am!

I'm trying to be a supportive wife, but it's always hard seeing your husband hurting. J doesn't like to show much emotion, but I know this has really rocked him. It's been difficult because we are young and have thankfully never had to make decisions or any type of funeral plans like this. Because J only has one sibling and he is the only son, he's quickly had to learn about all of the technical aspects that go along with a death, which is sad because I don't think he's had the ability to grieve yet.

The funeral service will be this Thursday, so we will be off of work on Thursday and Friday to be in Louisville with the family. Please be in prayer for Jonathan's family during this time. We appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers.

Round 2

Saturday night was yet another 10 year reunion for us to attend! It was Jonathan's reunion this weekend. He attended Trinity High School, a large catholic all-boys school, which made for an interesting reunion. If you think about it, usually the people excited to catch up at reunions are the girls. Guys just shake hands, ask where the other person works and go to the next person. There is a WHOLE lot less small talk with men! I'm sure that's not a surprise to anyone!

Anyway, the reunion was at a country club and the room we were in was a bit awkward. They had heavy h'dourves (which were delicious but I felt bad going for seconds, which meant that the one tiny plate of meatballs, mini BBQ sandwich, mini egg rolls, and 2 mini chicken strips were crazy expensive at $25 each!) There was a cash bar...$5 for a glass of wine!!! And not a special wine, but the cheep wine I buy for $7 a bottle!!! For about the same cost ($28), my reunion had a 3 course sit down meal! Just sayin...

I met some of Jonathan's old friends, but a lot of his close friends were not there. But it did give me an idea of his childhood/teenage years. At least all of us girls were about in the same situation not knowing anyone! Although I think some of them didn't get the memo for "business casual". It was very interesting looking at how people were dressed. From casual pants and sweaters to strapless cocktail dresses. I told Jonathan that I felt like I was extremely covered up almost to the point of matronly compared to some of the girls. But I really do think that my dress was perfect for the event...and now I have a little black dress in my closet!

Another interesting thing I noticed was that most of these guys weren't married. Most of the girls that were there were girlfriends! At my reunion most everyone was married WITH children (where we felt behind because some people even had 3 kids!) Jonathan said it could be because most of the people we talked to had gotten their Masters and some had their PhD. I guess if you've gone to school this whole time, you'd be less likely to be married. That's the only thing I can think. It was almost like we were at a frat party...I felt too old for it! :)

We didn't take any pictures during the reunion, but here are a couple from before.

I got the necklace and earrings at the 2 Chicks and Co. Barnyard Sale back in the summer for 50% off!

I realize this picture is crooked, but I wanted to get a picture where you could see my cute red Jessica's!

While we were in town, we stopped by to see Jonathan's mom, sister and nephew before the reunion. Here's a pic of J with his nephew. How cute.

Our evening did not end well, but that will be for another post on another day. Please keep our family in your prayers. We appreciate each and every one of them.

10 Years Already??

Remember Romy and Michelle?

Well, back in high school my girlfriends and I watched Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion about a billion times and could quote the entire thing. ("If you need to make a call, I've got a phone." - That just shows you how old the movie is!) There are even certain things like Cool Ranch Doritos and the fun 80s songs that still bring me back to that good old movie. What I never realized was that Romy and Michelle were going to their 10 year high school reunion!!! Back when I watched that movie I never imagined myself actually being old enough to go to my 10 year reunion!! Well, here I am!

Friday night we went to the homecoming football game. Back when I attended my school, Toledo Christian School, we didn't have a football team, so homecoming was always during basketball season! This was my first ever TCS football game so it was a bit weird...no old memories of football games:) We were not prepared for the freezing cold weather that we found in the north! So all that thought that went into my casual chic outfit for the football game was forgotten when I had to wear a coat buttoned up all night in order so I didn't freeze! :) Here's a pic from the game. Jonathan didn't have anything warmer than a track jacket...boy were we surprised by the weather!

Saturday night we went to Zia's for a delicious Italian dinner! It was kinda weird when we first got there because we were only about 10 minutes late (on purpose to be fashionable of course) and everyone was already seated at the tables. So it was a bit awkward to walk into a room when everyone is already seated. Anyway, we had a great time during and after dinner catching up. Here are some pics from the evening.

My friend Karen and her baby Finn

My friends Sarah and Nick (Karen's hubby-high school sweethearts) and Finn. Can you tell the room was hot from how my face is glistening? :)

Jonathan and me - Shirt is from Forever 21 for $10.50. Earrings from For Love 21 $3.80.*

Nick is a wonderful photographer and got some great pics! Black ring from For Love 21 for $6.80.

Silver bracelet from For Love 21 $7.80.

I think this picture is funny! I was obviously very serious about whatever Terah and I were talking about:)

All of the Class of 99 TCS alumni. I only graduated with about 63 people so we had a small reunion.

Then after dinner a bunch of us went out to Starbucks to hang out and talk a little more. I really do wish that all of my old friends could have come to the reunion because it was just so much fun to catch up after so long!

All in all, it was a great weekend! Next weekend we get to do this all over again at Jonathan's 10 year reunion!

*Can you tell my mom and I went shopping while I was in Toledo? Since Lexington doesn't have a For Love 21 or Forever 21 I have to get my fill in when I'm in Toledo:)