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!

Fall Foliage

Here are some pictures of a beautiful PA fall day! Enjoy!

Hello, my name is Becky and I'm terrible at blogging regularly....

So, life in PA is.....well, at times it just is. However, today has been a busy and fun day. I should sleep very well.

My day started by waking up and madly cleaning the house before John's parents came over. I am not the housekeeper my sisters are, so there is usually a lot of clutter. Not dirty, just clutter. So, John and I got busy for about thirty minutes and got things picked up. Then, I drove to Greensburg, about an hour away, to pick up a Christmas musical for the kids at church. I am really excited about doing this. I've never directed a musical on my own, so this should be interesting. But, I think it will be fun and the kids will enjoy it....and I love Christmas, so its right up my alley. :-)

John's parents got here a little before noon. We had decided to eat lunch out, but have dinner in.....but we needed to go to the grocery store. So, we all headed to the grocery store to get food to put in the crock pot. I made beef stoganoff...it turned out really good! Anyhow, we finally got to eat lunch and then headed to the homecoming football game for IUP. Now mind you, this is not the kind of college football game that I am accustomed to. No huge stadium......no $70 tickets....no walking for miles from somebodies muddy yard to see your favorite team play. It was actually a BEAUTIFUL day, we parked in a parking lot that wasn't a bad walk from the stadium....and our tickets were $13. Life is so unfair....

It ended up being a really good game. IUP tied it in the last minute of regulation to take it to overtime and won in double overtime with an interception on the final play. Quite exciting! I was just laughing because John was yelling for all he was worth on one side of me, and Phyllis was jumping up and down on the other side of me. It was humorous. :-) But, we did have a great time.....and came back for yummy beef stroganoff and chocolate fondue!

Now, I am trying to get things ready for tomorrow's children's choir practice. I have scheduled try outs for parts for Wednesday night....I think I might be a little out of my head to attempt to do this in two and a half months time.

And John.....is waiting not-so-patiently for the Nebraska/Missouri game to come on. :-) Okay, its on now.....life can go on.....

It's Been A While....

Sorry I haven't posted in so long. I have been working feverishly on a certain quilt for a certain sister and am almost done with it. :-) Besides, there is nothing too exciting going on in our little corner of the world.....

John finishes his first block tonight with a buffet at school. Since it is in the evening, I will get to go, so I am really excited about that! I'm sure it will be great. I'll post pictures later. :-)

Work is going well. Not much to it....its pretty much just a job, but, I can't complain. My boss has a garden and she has been bringing in cucumbers, pepper and tomatoes for the past two months. I made some salsa with the tomatoes....yummy! It has been really nice to have fresh produce from the garden.

We have endured a weekend of rain and more rain.....although Sunday was pretty nice. It has been very humid, which I wasn't expecting. It has been so cool here all summer and the humidity has been fairly low.....but it decided to rear its ugly head this weekend. But, this morning it is pretty cool and it is supposed to stay that way for the rest of the week, I think.

I will be starting a women's Bible study soon. It is in the evening's, which is nice. The first one is tonight, but I won't be able to attend because of John's buffet. However, I think I am really going to enjoy it. The topic is friendship and the lady who is teaching is someone I really respect, so I am looking forward to it. We are also going to be going to a couple's Bible study on Friday nights. Should be a good time of fellowship and growth for us. There aren't a lot of young couples in our church.....and we are one of two couples without children.....so it will be nice to continue to get to know people in our age group.

Please continue to pray for us as we are still in limbo, technically, on where we will go when John finishes school. Until January, nothing is official with the Broadmoor in CO Springs, and if there is not an opening, we will have to look elsewhere. However, I am learning to trust.....seems like this is always the case.....and trying not to worry about the future. God is in control and I know He will put us where He wants us. We just need to continue to seek Him!

Love to all.....