Over the River & Through the Woods to Grandmother's House we Go!

For Thanksgiving this year K, IB, J and I drove to Illinois - to my parents' house. Let's just say it was a bit of a tight squeeze - IB and J had to share the backseat with each other along with other items we packed. Our original plan was to leave EARLY Wednesday morning (like 4am) and get to my parents' early evening, but thankfully a few of K's co-workers suggested we leave Tuesday after K got off work. After discussing the pros and cons, we decided to leave Tuesday - which was for the best. The motel we stayed at in Newton Falls, OH is where I'm sure they filmed the movie Identity with John Cusack and to make things "worse" it was raining....Identity 2 anyone? In reality, it wasn't that bad - I'm not too picky when it comes to staying in a motel/hotel for one night. I'm glad we did leave Tuesday because we were able to surprise my mom and dad by arriving a lot earlier than expected.

It had been almost a year since I'd seen my siblings and their families. It was so fun Thursday morning when my nieces met their youngest cousin for the first time, they totally loved on her ALL weekend! "Auntie Erin, can I hold IB now?...Auntie Erin, is it my turn to hold IB?...Auntie Erin, where's IB?" Later on Thursday my 2 brothers, their families and my great uncle came over, what a full house - 11 adults and 12 kids 9 years old an younger!

Unfortunately, my grandma couldn't be with us on Thanksgiving. A couple weeks ago she fell outside of church which resulted in a hairline fracture in her hip, so she's been staying at a Senior Living community where she's getting rehab. Even though she couldn't come to us, we all took turns going to visit her.

My mom, sister and I were worried we may not be able to do the generational picture, but turns out we were able to. How many people have been part of a 4 generation family picture? My guess is not too many - boy, am I blessed!

While in town, I was able to meet up with my best friend and two other very close friends! Even though it was a short trip, I made it a priority to see E, A and K. What I love about these 3 girls is that we can go weeks without talking and months without seeing one another, yet when we are together it's like we saw each other last week. That's what I call true friendship. I think the most exciting part about seeing my friends was E meeting IB for the first time! I had been WAITING for them to meet.

On Saturday we took part in some Forced Family Fun, which meant getting together with my aunts, uncles, cousins and second cousins. With some of my family, I can't remember the last time I saw them - that's pretty sad. I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say we had a great time! There was bowling, food, laughing, food, kids running around screaming, food, catching up - oh, did I mention food? Hopefully it'll be sooner rather than later when we're all together again.

Now we're back home, after another long drive from IL to VA. Despite long hours in a car, cramped seating, stops to feed and change IB and stops to let J stretch, it was ALL worth it! This road trip gave me time to sit back and reflect on what I am truly thankful for and family and friends are certainly a part of that!

Life Lately

A very good friend told me on Facebook that I need to update my blog (in fact, the same friend that told me to start a blog) because she wants to know what's going on in my life. You will notice some changes in my writing - I am no longer using the names of people. To sum it up, due to a recent comment on my blog I do not feel comfortable using names. So if you're at all familiar with my life, I'm confident you will pick up on who I'm talking about. Also, I apologize ahead of time for the LONG post...after all, it has been a good amount of time since I've posted actual life updates, rather than just moments or thoughts. And if this helps, I've titled each section, so read what you want.

BIBLE STUDY:

You may recall a post back in August when I wrote about a Bible Study K & I had been doing together. Well, I am pleased to announce that we completed the "40 day challenge" - granted not 40 days in a row, but pretty close. It was really interesting to go through the Bible, sequentially, and learn things I never knew before. You might say I'm a tad more confident in what the Bible says - more than just your typical Sunday School stories. After we completed that journey, we wanted to venture on to a new study. We decided to use the book "Quiet Time Bible Guide: 365 Days Through the New Testament and Psalms" - a devotional book I got in 2005 and managed to stick with for only 18 days. Turns out I stuck with it longer back in 2005 than K & I did - we got 15 days into it when K said he doesn't really like it and wants to try something else. K suggested we pick a book of the Bible, individually read one section (heading) a day and then discuss it together. The book we chose is Romans - not the easiest book to read, but one all Christians should be familiar with. We've been reading Romans for the past several days and already there's SO much material! K likes to read the passage, think about it, ask his own questions and read the commentary. As for me, I need questions to answer so I found one website that had some good questions, but it only had up to a certain verse then you had to purchase the remainder of the study...no thanks. K, knowing how I do devos, found another website that has Bible Study questions for all of Romans - way to go, babe! 

BABY GIRL:

IB turned 8 months old today! Where has the time gone? I'll save you the "I feel like just yesterday..." IB has grown up quite a bit in the past 8 months. She has her two bottom teeth and now I'm just waiting for the two top teeth to come in. You read in a previous blog that she started solids - well she's tried a whole bunch of foods! Carrots, green beans, peas, squash, sweet potatoes, bananas and now pears. Wednesday we'll be starting apples. Thankfully, unlike her mommy, she has yet to be picky about what she eats. With the first few bites of some of the veggies I thought they'd be on her "I don't like" list, but turns out she pretty much enjoys it all - guess she's more like her dad when it comes to what she'll eat. One of my favorite things is to watch IB make herself laugh. She'll be sitting or laying on the floor playing with something and she'll just start to laugh - it's nice to know she can entertain herself already. Originally I wasn't planning on

getting a Halloween costume for IB, but K (easily) convinved me otherwise, so I purchased a cow costume at a consignmnet sale for like 3 bucks. I guess it was worth it, she did look rather adorable! On Halloween we met up with another couple and their daughter and took the girls to a Trunk or Treat at a church nearby. We walked around checking things out - basically we wanted to show our cow and fish off. IB hasn't quite picked up on the concept of crawling forward yet. She's able to "crawl" backwards and rotates herself anywhere between 0-360 degrees, but no forward motion. Eh, she'll get there. Plus, why rush it? At least right now when we put her down and leave the room for a minute we'll know where she is when we return.


SOCIAL LIFE:

MOPS - I have really enjoyed being a part of MOPS! It's nice to have 2 hours with other moms every other Friday, not to mention play dates on the weeks we don't meet. Having more experienced moms around is nice, too, because I can learn from them and also know that what I'm doing as a mom is what they have done as well. I also think it's been good for IB to be around other babies her age - get her used to being around other kids.

GAME NIGHT - A couple weekends ago K & I hosted a game night at our place with our small group. It had been quite awhile since we'd all been together - the leaders recently had a baby, so they've been a bit busy. I made chili for the first time, which turned out pretty darn good if I do say so myself, while all the other couples brought sides, desserts, chips and drinks. I really enjoyed myself - it was nice to all be together again. We ended up playing Battle of the Sexes and of course us ladies won. Woot woot! :-) Hopefully we'll be together again sooner rather than later.

THANKSGIVING - Thanksgiving is coming up and I'm SUPER-DUPER excited! It may be because of all the yummy food, but mostly because I get to see the people I care about the most. With Turkey Day festivities coming up, I've been making plans on who I'm going to see and when - so many people, so little time. But there are truly NO WORDS to describe my excitement!

WORLD RELIGIONS/CULTS CLASS - K & I have been taking a World Religions and Cults class at our church over the past 9 weeks (this Sunday is the last class). At the first class the teacher asked, "What's the purpose of taking this class?" The purpose is for us to have a basic understanding of the people we are trying to share the Gospel with. The class has covered Islam, Protestant Aberrations, Roman Catholicism, Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Hinduism and Buddhism and will end with New Age. What an eye opener this class has been! Mainly because I have really comprehended that SO MANY people are on the path leading to eternity in hell all because of their non-Christian beliefs. With having taken this class, I can only pray that God will give me the opportunities and courage to speak to people so I may plant seeds with an end result of Jesus Christ saving them from hell. Possibly more to come on this topic once I've gone to the final class.

Well, there it is...life lately.