A Good Time at Home

We spent John's spring break in Oklahoma and Colorado Springs. The Lord was very good to us! We got to do everything we wanted to do in Oklahoma and were able to find a place to move into right away in Colorado Springs. It was an extremely busy trip, but a good one!

We arrived Saturday and spent the day hanging out at Mom and Dad's. Then we headed to FSBCDC Sunday morning for church. It was great to see all of the wonderful things going on there. We had lunch at the house and Granny and Grandpa were there. Granny looked better than I expected and it was good to have a visit with her. We went to Grace for church Sunday night. I enjoyed their new building and getting see friends there, also.

Monday morning, John, Bryce and I hit the road for Colorado Springs/Denver to look for an apartment for me and John. We got to stay with Regina and Garry, which was great! I hadn't had a good long visit with them in a long time and enjoyed catching up with all that is going on in their lives. We spent Tuesday morning looking at apartments. We looked at six places and ended up putting a deposit down on the first one we looked at. It is a 2 bedroom 2 bathroom with washer/dryer hookups. More than I thought we would ever get on our budget! God is so good! We then went up to Focus on the Family. John and Bryce enjoyed the 3-story slide and I enjoyed the bookstore. :-) That really is an amazing place! We spent that evening enjoying more time with Regina and Garry, watching movies and talking. We got a special treat Wednesday morning. John had called ahead and made an appointment to tour the Broadmoor, so they were expecting us at 9:00. We had a great time walking around the main campus of the resort and learning a little of the history of the place. We got to see some of the kitchens that John will be working in. I think Bryce was most impressed with the golf course.....or the ducks on the lake. Either one. :-) It made John super excited about starting his job there in May!

Thursday, we got to see all of the grandparents. This was especially wonderful for me! We had good visits with all of them....I even got to sing for Nanny at the nursing home during their chapel service! It was great! Then, Thursday night, John and I hung out with my ABC sisters. We went to Cheesecake Factory for dessert and got to see Brooke in action. We had a great time! I always enjoy getting to catch up with my girls!

Friday, we spent the day relaxing and playin on the Wii. We went to Ted's Friday night with the Gibsons and Pepa....yummy!!! Good Mexican food is hard to find in PA! Then we went bowling with all the kids and had a great time doing that. It was a great way to cap off the week!

Here are a few pictures of the Broadmoor and one of me and Nanny. I wanted to get a picture with all of my grandparents, but the batteries went out of the camera, so that was that......


Bryce took this one....its a little fuzzy. :-)


Ducks on the lake.


Buffalo head in the main driveway.


Front of the main building.


In front of one of the old carriages in the carriage house.


Me and Nanny

Update

Well, hello out there. :-)

We have been enduring here in PA. John has gotten off to a good start in school, I have seen more snow here in a 3 week time period than I did my entire time in OK, and we are excited about things to come.
Just to let you know, it is now officially official that we are moving to Colorado Springs in May. John signed his paperwork last week. I have been a little frustrated with this whole process. If John were a single student, it probably wouldn't be a big deal. But, he's not and there are a lot more things for us to consider than the normal 19-20 year old college student. But, God is in control and we are happy to follow where He leads.
We will be heading to OK February 28 to spend some time with the fam. We will also be driving up to Colorado Springs to scout out the town and hopefully find a place to live. It will be a quick trip, but should be good. Mom and Bryce are going to come with us!
Anyhow, we have lots going on and it hardly seems like there is enough time to squeeze in all the things we want to do here before we leave. I'm not even sure when we are going to pack! But, we are excited about this spring and what the Lord has in store for us. Pray for wisdom and stamina to finish well here in PA. God has taught us so much here and provided in so many ways. We want to finish on a good note!

Love to all.....

Well, not much is going on around here. John started school Monday and is enjoy his first block. They are working with chocolate, so I'm looking forward to any projects he might bring home. :-) He is in the home stretch and I know it will pass quickly. It is going to be a busy spring for us, but I know God is faithful and we are trusting Him to provide for everything we need.

Right now, it is about 8 degrees outside with a wind chill of ????.....very cold! This little cold spell is supposed to last the rest of the week. My little Oklahoma trained mind and body are just not used to this! I'm ready for some sunny days, but probably won't get them for a while. It snowed all afternoon yesterday...my boss made the comment that it looked like we were in a snowglobe! She was right, just a nice peaceful snow until about 4:30, when the wind started to howl and drive the snow. This is of course the time when we leave work and I had to walk two blocks through this mess to get to my car! Not exactly what I would call fun, but I made it without falling or freezing, so we're good!

I have a three day weekend ahead, so we are heading to Pittsburgh to be with John's parents for the weekend. That is always fun for us. I imagine we'll be spending as much time as possible with them in the next few months. Mom and I will be working on a quilt (yea!), that she is going to make for John and I. I have given her some of my scrap fabrics and we are going to work on coordinating and trimming things up so she can get started on it this summer. I'm really excited! This will be a charm quilt (no fabric used more than once in the same position), so it will be really colorful and fun!

We'll, I've got to run.....time to get ready for work. Lots of love....

Beautiful snow and Christmas program

Well, I said I would post a picture of the beautiful landscape here after it snows, so here goes.....










These last two are in our pastor's back yard.....very quaint!

Our Kids Club Choir did "Angel Alert" last Sunday evening. I must say, I was very pleased with how it turned out. God is so good! I had lots of help getting costumes together and getting the stage set up.....two things I was not prepared for! I had no idea how involved these things could be.
The kids did a great job singing and acting. With such a wide range of ages (3-12), I usually have no idea what to expect. I had my usually little "mishaps" with some of the younger ones, but for the most part, they did great! And they SANG OUT! I was so excited!!! Usually, I have to beg them to sing loud, but they were really getting into it and did fantastic! Here are a few pictures from the performance. I wish I had more, but I was a little busy.....


John, the wiseguy....I mean wiseman. :-)




Some of the kiddos....

I'll talk to you later.....lots of love!

Update

Hey everyone,

Well, lets see.....I have a monster cold, it is monstrously cold outside, John is almost done with school for the semester and if we can make it through December 14, we'll be doing GREAT!

Tonight, my kids choir got to sing at a Christmas dinner for international students at IUP. I was extremely proud of them. This choir ranges in age from 3 to 12, so sometimes it is hard to keep everyones attention and get things accomplished, but they are doing so well. We will have our Christmas program (its called Angel Alert) on Sunday night December 14. I think they are going to do a really good job and I hope everything comes together as planned.

John is on the homestretch for this semester. I am really proud of him. He has worked hard and done very well, even though most of the things he is learning are really hard for him. I have had more opportunities to help him this year than last year....we make quite a team! Its funny, but all of the training in notebooks and essay writing that I had at CHA have really come in handy! We are both looking forward to the Christmas break. :-)

As I mentioned before, I have a horrible cold. Its been a while since I've had one and trust me when I say, I am not enjoying it! At least I don't have a sinus headache, which is usually the case.......then I would be absolutely miserable!

We are in for quite the weekend weather wise. It didn't get out of the 20's today and is not supposed to warm up for a few days. We are also supposed to have snow, but so far, not much. I'll try to get some pictures whenever the snow does come....it really is pretty here when it snows.

Well, thats it....have a great weekend!

A Great Thanksgiving!

Well, what can I say.....we had a great Thanksgiving! John and I travelled into Pittsburgh Wednesday night to John's parents and awaited the arrival of the rest of the family. Thursday was a busy day of cooking and eating and catching up. We enjoyed hearing about Julie and Brian's new house and all that they are doing with it and it is always great to see Jim. We had the added bonus of having Brian's brother Lance with us this year. Also, Jim's girlfriend Lisa was able to make it down from Detroit on Friday.....we had a full house! The only downside for me was I had to go to work on Friday. So, I made the trip back to Indiana Thursday night, worked Friday and drove back into Pittsburgh after work. We met up at the movie theatre to watch James Bond....that was fun!
Saturday was really just a day of relaxation. Some went into downtown to explore Pittsburgh a little bit, but John and I decided to stay at the house....we've seen Pittsburgh from about every angle. :-) We were able to celebrate John's birthday Saturday night and all watched Kung Fu Panda together. That is a great movie....I laugh every time. :-) After that I was graciously allowed to watch the very end of the OU/OSU game....BOOMER SOONER! John and I travelled back to Indiana early Sunday morning so we could make it to church.......and pretty much crashed for the rest of the day. It was a long, but very good, weekend.



Jim and Julie



John blowing out the birthday candles! Yes, there were 28 of them. :-)


Mom, Jim, Lisa and John

Hmmmm....what to say...

Not much is going on here. A fairly non exciting few weeks. John is plugging along in school, I'm plugging along at work. It has been unseasonably warm this week for the first of November, but we have been promised a brutal December, January and February by some guy that apparently always has an accurate winter forecast. The election was a bit of a downer, but nothing I was surprised at.....I was just hoping. :-) We are trying to gear up for the holidays. We'll spend Thanksgiving at John's parents and I think they are coming to us for Christmas. That should be fun!

Today, we have nothing planned, which is unusual. Usually our Saturdays are pretty full, but this is one of those rare weekends when we can just relax and stay at home. So, I'm wondering what to do with my day so that it won't be a completely lazy day. Cleaning is always an option, but we all know how much I love to do that. :-) I have to go to the grocery store, but that's about the only thing that has to get done. I'm pretty sure that if OU is playing today, it won't be on TV, so I won't get to watch my team. I guess I'll have to settle for the other Oklahoma team and hope they can beat Texas Tech....although I won't be openly rooting for them.

Okay, that is enough rambling for now....

Love to all!