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??!