Recent Happenings

As the semester draws to an end, life has been a bit more chaotic than normal. Here are some highlights from the last few weeks:

•Girls' night at Carrabba's to celebrate Jaimie's birthday. Happy birthday, JZ!

•Beautiful fall colors. The leaves are so pretty this time of year. We were able to marvel at God's creativity last fall, but just today Ryan and I had the joy of raking up all the leaves after they fell. Seriously, we had so many leaves in our yard. I wish I had stopped to take pictures of our enormous piles of leaves, but we were trying to beat the impending thunderstorm. God so graciously held off the rain until the moment we were tying up the last bag of leaves. Thank you, Lord!

•I had a few days off from work, so Ryan and I made a day trip to Indianapolis (aka: "Indy"). We walked around downtown and along the canal. It was a relaxing way to spend the day.

•Fellowship at the McHardy's for our monthly small group meeting. The McHardy's live in a large house provided by Operation Appreciation (a ministry that reaches out to soldiers stationed nearby). I don't think you could ever run out of things to do at that house--ping pong, darts, air hockey, foosball, pool and so much more. It's incredible! We also had the privilege of babysitting Abigail and Nathan Giddens that night. It was fun getting a glimpse of what it will be like to one day expand our family.

•Thanksgiving at the Willemses'. We were so blessed to celebrate with the Willemses, Carey's family, the Giddenses and the Borns. It can be difficult to be so far from our family, but what a blessing to have such a great family of friends here. The feast was incredible, mostly provided by Carey's mom. The dessert was so good too. I think we had every cake/pie/cookie/brownie imaginable! For those of you who know me well, you know there were no objections on my end when we were sent home with a sampler plate of all the desserts.