Bringin' Home Da Bacon

I could be a vegetarian if it wasn't for the bacon. They are seriously missing out.

Speaking of bacon, I thought I'd give a quick update on the man who brings home my bacon. And speak not of Kevin.

Danny is home full-time now. (Another reason to consume bacon in a spirit of celebration!) After what seemed forever -- F O R E V E R -- God worked out the details of the perfect job for Danny as a network design engineer. You non-tech folks will just have to remain in the dark as to what that means. He is working for the North Carolina Administration of the Office of the Courts. So basically, he's in the IT dept that helps facilitate the network for the ENTIRE state's judicial branch. Impressive!

And better yet, it takes him 20 minutes (during rush hour) to get to his office which is 8.5 miles away. That means on Fridays, I actually shower, fix my hair, put a little make-up on, drive a short 10 minutes to meet him for lunch. Seriously, this is just too nice.

As if that weren't enough, our work week schedule is as follows: we get up, walk the kids to the bus stop, say our good-byes and walk the dog an hour, have coffee and breakfast together and he's out the door by 7:45 or 8 am. Slug no more! Metro no more!

The most wonderful thing is how God has blessed him with several Christian co-workers. And he's in a job that he will continue to professionally grow in and keeps saying "I'm learning so much, my head is going to explode. These guys here are uber smart."

Thanks to many of you for faithful prayer. We also want to publically thank Rich and Darlene who let Danny "stay" with them over the summer while he was still working in DC. Hope they will always know what a blessing they were to our marriage.

GO 'SKINS!

There was chilli. There was corn chips. There was cornbread. There was veggies with dip. There was even chocolate cupcakes AND yellow cake. And to make everything taste better or make the calories worth it, there was VICTORY.

We do not care about the Panthers. We do not care about NC State OR UNC. We, WE are a Redskins family.

All gooey victory feelings aside, we chose to use this game as an opportunity to connect with couples we have recently met in our neighborhood and church. I am discovering that DESPITE my personality/spiritual gifts test results, I do have the gift of hospitality. I'm just kinda bossy about it.

I do love to open my home and prepare a "party" as a way to reach out and connect with people. And so does Danny. Its a difficult thing to do sometimes when all the pictures aren't hung up, and you don't have a living room set yet, or enough chairs for everyone. But I think there is something so vulnerable about sharing your home in a way that says, "I don't have a lot, but what I have, I'd love to use to serve and bless you with."

The other blessing in return for me was to see our family all pitch in. Michael did all the baking. Lauren helped with cleaning and set-up. And everyone was excited to be a part of the fun. Its one of those things where I think we had a successful get together. We had success in our football team. We had success in forging our new friendships. But we shared success as a family unit. Many of you already know what that feels like, for me its a brand new blessing.

PS -- I made a mean chilli :)

A Star is Born

C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S
to Lauren as she tried out for the school play and landed the lead female role!! This is her first production EVER and she is both excited and scared! I'm so proud of her for going out of her comfort zone and going for it! The plays is "Web of Murder" a dark comedy/mystery. She plays the role of Minerva "a forceful domineering woman in her sixties who is outspoken to the point of rudeness. Being the queen of her house, she rules it with an iron hand."

Hmmm.... wonder whose life she'll draw from to give her inspiration for this character.....

Interestingly enough, Michael is part of the Theatre Tech crew so he will be a major player BEHIND the scenes of the production. How cool is all that??!

Lauren's Idolatry: The Tour

I think I mentioned in a previous post that we got "into" this past season of American Idol. What started out as watching TV just for the sake of watching TV, turned into full-blown out obsession for Lauren. Yes, yet another example of my great mother skills.

>>> CLICK HERE TO SEE SLIDESHOW <<<

She fell in love with Jason Castro (seen here), who by the way is a Christian although since he is a dread-head is accused of being a druggy ditz. But we all know it is David Cook ("Cookie") who won. All those in contact with Lauren all spring and summer were bombarded with American Idol this or David that, or Cookie this or Archie that..... It has been an endless detailed conversation of every and ANY detail about them, the tour, and on and on.

As a belated Christmas gift, we got tickets to see the tour in Charlotte. She got to bring a friend. They camped out at the venue at 11 am and got to meet the idols on tour --- got pics, signatures and talk to them. She even got to give Jason and David Cook T-shirts that she and her friends made them. A serious highlight of her summer. But then we swore her to "Stop the Idol talk!" rule immediately after the tour.

It was understandable for a 16 yr old girl to get all "crazy fan girl," but what was most disturbing was watching the 40 plus yr old females acting the same way. Hopefully, Lauren won't be like that at 40!!!

The tour was fun -- all idols are very talented and great in concert/person. The only thing that was cheesy was the low budget light show. But its obvious American Idol could have just had 1 cheap spotlight and the girl fans would still show up. Even the 40 year old ones.

Gardner Clan and Organized Chaos

>> CLICK HERE TO SEE SLIDESHOW <<

The middle of August we made a visit to the Gardner's in SC. The purpose was to see their new domicile and pick-up their 4 kids to take back for a week in Raleigh. This would give Zoe and Stuart some time "alone" -- it was our thank you gift for all of their hard work in our wedding. Plus we just LOVE those Gardner kids.

There is Josh (12) the cool eldest, Macala (11) the prettiest one, Luke (9) the creative sensitive one, and everyone's favorite and least favorite, the famous double jointed mouth, "Bear" (6).

The original plan was that Danny and I would spend time with them. Well, Danny was still working in VA, so it was just ME and the kids. I have a new appreciation for ALL you multiple children families!!! Even with this great kids --- and I do not lie --- they are TERRIFIC kids --- I barely survived the week. We had a blast from going to the lake, the pool, making forts, playing air guitar, baking cake, computer games, movies...... Truly there is no doubt: I AM the *fun* aunt!

Can't wait to play with them again next year!!!

Summer Love

Summer lovin' had me a blast
Summer lovin' happened so fast
I met a girl crazy for me
Met a boy cute as can be
Summer days driftin' away, to uh-oh those summer nights

Uh Well-a well-a well-a huh
Tell me more, tell me more
Did you get very far?
Tell me more, tell me more

. . . . . . . . . HEY! This is a family blog. Sorta. . . . . . . . . .

This summer we got to visit the Gardners. BamBam joined us and well, fell in love with their beautiful chocolate lab Espy. And you can tell why...... that girl is HOT!

July Four + Chinese Five Spice Chicken

We spent our first 4th of July together as a couple at a free concert at the Cary Ampitheatre (a wee bitty version of something similar to Wolf Trap).

We got rained on and missed fireworks. But the best part was a new recipe I tried on chicken drumsticks. Its now a favorite for Danny and I. Its got a killer "kick" to it but it gets dipped into a creamy cilantro sauce. SO GOOD!!

Click here to go see the recipe.

Honeymoon: Duck, NC: June 8-14

>> CLICK HERE TO SEE SLIDESHOW <<

WARNING: There's some SKIN showing in some pictures!!

Danny rented a house for us at Duck, NC and it was less than a 10 minute walk to the beach. Weather was amazing. We had a wonderful time. Started a mean game of gin rummy that lasted all summer. Yes, I won. My score was over 8,000 points.

We would get up and head to the beach by 8:30 and stayed until a little past lunch. Water was so nice. Got to go parasailing......TOO FUN! And surprisingly quiet and peaceful once you're up there.

Beth was traveling thru and met us for dinner. That was a blast!

Anyway, my hubby did PERFECT for spoiling me on our honeymoon. This was the first honeymoon for the both of us. : )

I'm Back

I know, I've been MIA for 3 months. The longer you go without blogging, the more you think you will get back into it..... Well, the summer was crazy fun and I will post various stories/pictures to get you all caught up.

Here is a picture of me and my new personal trainer. Since gettin married, I have put on a couple of happy married life pounds....