Christmas

The past week has been busy with driving and seeing multiple families and groups of friends.  

On Thursday, 12/18, we drove to Nashville for the Andrew Peterson Christmas concert at the Ryman... Friday was lunch with friends... Saturday was breakfast with the Hendrixes and supper at Caroline's with last minute Christmas shopping with dad in between.  Sunday was church and lunch with Nana... and then a drive back to ATL to wash clothes and regroup for the next trip.  Monday we drove to Thomasville but then went to Winston to see some NC friends.  Tuesday we had lunch with Phillip and then went to High Point for the play of the 1946 radio show of Its a Wonderful Life.  Wednesday was lunch with Ric and last minute Christmas shopping... then cooking for Christmas.  Thursday was Christmas!  In the afternoon we went to Doug's cousin's house, with 25 other relatives.  Friday we left at 5:30AM (4:30CST!) to hurry to Nashville for my family Christmas lunch and presents... and then my mom's family came over for supper.  Saturday was Christmas in Centerville with my dad's side of the family.  Sunday was church and after-Christmas shopping and a couple movies at home.  Monday was errands, lunch at 5 guys, car serviced, and supper at Stan and Leanne's.  NOW, it is Tuesday.  Nothing to do... we might actually rest a little bit before we meet friends tonight at Calypso for supper.

NC

This past weekend we went to NC... we had a teacher workday Monday and election day off Tuesday, so I took off Monday so that we could stay for several days. We went to South Fork Sunday night and afterwards went to a young couple's house with some friends and were introduced to Rock Band. Although we both had our doubts, as neither of us enjoys "video games," it was incredibly fun. Doug talked about it all the way home. He wants to get PlayStation just so that he can get Rock Band! Monday I had breakfast with Sarah and lunch with Leslie. We visited Doug's Granny Monday afternoon. She had a knee replacement last week but seems to be doing well. His Aunt Iris flew in from Oklahoma to take care of her.

My computer at work has not been behaving at all. I can't open Explorer, Word, Outlook, Powerpoint, or Excel. So basically I can't do anything. The computers in the labs aren't bringing up my documents, so I feel quite behind. I really need to send out an e-mail about the Haiti meeting on Sunday, but I can't access the spreadsheet that has all of the team member's e-mail addresses.

Next week Alison Winstead and Jennie Rickleton are staying with us. That will be fun.

Doug takes the GRE Monday! Pray for him!

Nashville

5K in Germantown Saturday morning...

Trip to Centerville Saturday afternoon... with lunch at the Beacon Light...

And Joanna's wedding Saturday night

Precious Charlie

5K- not so easy!

Doug and I had a big surprise at the 5K yesterday!  We had both been running quite a bit, so we felt really prepared.  We knew that it was going to be a "cross country" course, but we had NO idea how hilly the course would be!  It was SO hard!  We still both got medals- I was 3rd for my gender age group and Doug was 1st for his gender age group.  Next week's 5K in Nashville (on the road!) will seem like a piece of cake!

September

September flew by for us.

First was a semi-relaxing Labor Day weekend...

then a not-so-relaxing Magazine Sale at GACS...

and my birthday weekend with a visit from Jess, AnnaRose and Jenny...

and there was the REI scratch and dent sale...

(6 pairs of shoes between the 2 of us)

and our trip to Colorado to the French World Missions Workshop...

(Castle Rock)

(Our wonderful host couple)

(mountains)

(weird airport)

and finally, my parents visited the last weekend in September!

Our October plans:

1st weekend: 5K at GACS

2nd weekend: NASHVILLE! (our first visit in nearly 3 months)... 5K, visit family and friends, Joanna Tenpenny's wedding

3rd weekend: ??

4th weekend: Jenny visits

Les Jeux Olympiques

Doug is enjoying our home entertainment center (antenna) by watching lots of olympics.  

This weekend we went to Greenville to Vicky's wedding, Thomasville to spend the night, church with the Williams', packed up Doug's bedroom furniture, stayed for his aunt's 60th b-day party, got stuck in traffic at the SC state line, and didn't get back til 10:15 Sunday night.  Yuck.  Monday we unloaded the furniture and rearranged the apartment.  The guest room looks REALLY good now!  It actually looks a lot better than our bedroom looks.  

This weekend the newly acquired furniture will get its first use with Amy and Crystal's visit.

Anyone else want to come visit???

Home Entertainment Center

After a year without TV, Doug broke down and bought "rabbit ears" for $9 so that we can watch the olympics.  The picture is not so great, but the sound is good.  We feel a little bit more connected to the outside world, but it doesn't seem like we have been missing much.