Spring time!

Happy Easter weekend to all!

It's been a great holiday weekend for us so far.  With Nate working nights last week and the upcoming week, it's been a little tricky for him to adjust himself and his sleep schedule with the festivities and will just have to go right back to adjusting for the next week...BUT we have enjoyed the extra time together  and the beautiful weather we have been having the last two days.

Today we spent some time spiffing up the car.  A good cleaning, wax, and detail on the inside.  Nate has been picking up miscellaneous items he feels will give the car some real star power!  So still to come cleaning up the headlight covers and new bulbs, and I think he is chewing on how to clean up the rims, as they have received quite a bit of wear and tear prior to our purchase of the car.

We have been enjoying the Easter season with the local church as well.  This year I participated in my first Maundy Thursday meal which consisted of finger foods, and the intent was to help try to imagine what the passover meal might have been like that Jesus had with his disciples before his crucifixion.  We hosted that with the large amount of space we have in the basement of the house and put paper roll down along the floor in the shape of a cross.  We gathered on the floor, enjoying one another's company, and also read from the scriptures of the account given of Jesus's meal.  We also sang a few songs before officially utilizing the chairs around the room.

Tomorrow, we will have breakfast with the church before service and then we will head over to Nate's Aunt and Uncles for Easter dinner that evening.

As we enter into April our calendar free's up considerably as March has been filled to the brim with activity.  We had Pat and Becky visit us from the Indianapolis area early in March and the following weekend had our friends Adam and Renee and their two kids join us from the same area.  It was so great to see friends from "home" since we have not been able to get back for any visiting while we've been in Ontario.  We have now seen Niagara Falls in every possible season as we've had visitors up in the fall and winter and enjoyed trips ourselves in the spring and summer in years past as well. :)  Although, I have to admit seeing the Falls has not gotten tiresome for me.  It really is different every time we've been there and it's quite the majestic sight.

Kid's Club wrapped up last week with a reptile show that was a big hit with the kids and I especially enjoyed watching their fascination and pleasure in the creatures.  I was a great time being a part of the volunteers this year with Kid's Club and working with the little ones.  I was glad I was able to help out in that way.

We move out of our house sitting role next weekend and back in with Nate's parents for the time being.  We look forward to getting outside more and enjoying some more time with friends as our April calendar begins freeing up more and the temperatures continue to climb.  We have  been exploring job options and are hopeful and prayerful that we are headed in a good direction.  Until we hear more though, mum is the word.  ;)

We hope to have many more updates on work in the next month or two to come.

As far as we know, our belongings have begun their journey back from Guam as on the 27th this month and will be arriving back in Indiana in the next 6 weeks.  I'm confident that whenever we might begin unpacking our lives, we will be thrilled and dismayed at what we find:

"Oh, I love this ______!"

"Why, on earth did we ever pack THAT?!"

But, I'm guessing it will be right at the one year mark or after that we shipped off the last few boxes to Guam that we will be reuniting with things from our former life as we unpack and find places for them wherever God might be sending us next!

Ten Thousand Villages

Today, I piled into a van with 6 other ladies and headed to the Ten Thousand Villages, an international fair trade market that supports people all around the world who hand craft many items.  Everything from coffee to Christmas ornaments.

So as I roamed around the room admiring the wide variety of option available for sale, I stayed true to my purchasing mantra these days: small and travel size!  So for me it was a pair of earrings and a necklace.  Easy to pack and take anywhere. ;)

The hosts of the event even set up a small cafe where you could stay and have soup, coffee, and desserts.  The group of us did stay and did just that and were able to visit more before packing up our bags of purchased goodies and heading home.  It was a lovely morning and lunch and fun to be a part of the group.

Tonight, I am also excited to visit with friends from my hometown who are in Canada visiting family.  I know them from growing up next door to them and being best friends with their daughter.  I'm blessed to have a friendship with her that goes back to when we were 4 or 5 years old and continues today and I enjoy the times I can reconnect with any part of the family, as they are all dear to my heart.  So tonight we are both taking a time out visiting our individual families, to get together and visit one another!

Good Times and Good-bye's.

Nate's parents came down last week on Wednesday night to have a mini get-a-way and to get a visit in with us.  The couple of days was full of work and papers for the two of us but we were still able to  have a full evening together on Thursday night.  And because Nate was on spring break this week he was able to get enough assignments completed to spend the day Thursday with his parents.

Having Nate's parents here also made it possible for me to make it to another important milestone for my mom.  After 32 years working for the electric company....she has retired.  Her retirement party was on Friday afternoon.  This so happened to also fall on the same afternoon that Nate had his own graduation ceremony for his chaplaincy unit at the hospital he has been working at for the last school year.  So by Nate's parent being here and willing, I was able to work a half day and take the car and drive to my hometown for Mom's retirement party, and then afterward meet Nate's parents only a small distance from my hometown to get Nate and then the two of us were able to go the rest of the distance north to our friends, Alisa and Kyle's.

A while back we decided we wanted to spend a day in Chicago and when we were looking at available weekends, we decided it would be great to go up on St. Patrick's Day when they have the extra festivities.  This year, St. Patricks day actually fell on a Saturday which is the only time the parade and dying the river green is done on the actual date of the holiday.  Normally it's done the Saturday before whatever day St. Patrick's day falls on.

So we had our plan (and so did thousands of others)  Now, I really was expecting crowds but I have to admit the size of the crowds was more than I anticipated.  I'm sure, the numbers were partially strengthened by the gorgeous weather we've been having.  It has been sunny and unseasonably warm this week and last.  And Saturday was no different.  So when we got on the train to ride into the Chicago, we quickly found it was already full...which meant we stood for the 2 hour trip.  Thankfully the spot we camped out in had a window ledge at the end of the car by the doors, so Alisa who is 37 weeks pregnant did catch a break and was able to sit, although I'm sure it was far from comfortable!

At our arrival we worked our way through the crowds to the river which looked fantastic.  It was a brighter green than I had even imagined, and with the sun shining it was quite an unusual and beautiful sight.  We enjoyed walking along the river and stopping for several different vantage points along the way before making our way back down Columbus to catch a bit of the parade.

Now, I if you can imagine what seemed to be a living green organism made up of people in constant motion working it's way into a few blocks to get seats for the parade, you would not blame me for putting the breaks on and wanting to stay on the edge of the parade route.  So we could see the intersection where the parade "ended" but didn't get closer to it than that.  I did not want to get stuck in the middle of that!  We just found a nice grassy spot in the park and enjoyed some time sitting down and getting off our feet.  So we saw some floats, heard some bagpipes and then were onto our next mission: Lunch.

And not just any lunch but Chicago style, deep-dish pizza!



It was a long but worthwhile wait and the pizza more than satisfied our hungry stomachs.  Pepperoni and mushroom never tasted so good!!

Once we finished with lunch we decided to hit the park again and see The Bean, more accurately: Cloud Gate, up close and personal before we headed back, but sadly there must have been some type of disturbance that led the police to usher everyone out and close the park to anyone coming in.  We could see maintenance working to clean up broken glass.  So we saw it from a distance.

We got to the return train early to be sure we got seats on the way home!  They had put a double decker on the line to help with the extra flow of people and even being there 30 minutes early we got some of the few seats left in the last 2 cars.  Whew.

But all in all it was a great day, and I think we all slept really well that night!

Sunday was spent visiting Alisa and Kyle's church before getting in a good visit with my brother and sister-in-law and of course the niece and nephew!!  It's always so good to have one on one time with them and see what new and fun things the kids have started doing.

Mid-afternoon we got back in the car to make our way back home.  As we got close to passing by my hometown, we gave Dad a call to see if he wanted to do ice cream.  We ended up connecting and doing just that.  And we also got to see Brandi one more time.  Brandi is the dog we got when I was a sophomore in high school and Dad has had her with him for the last 8 years since the divorce...she was right around 12 years old.  She stopped eating a few weeks/months ago and it was found she had a mass in her throat that was removed and biopsied.  It was found that she had aggressive cancer and wouldn't have much life left.  Brandi greeted us in a very un-Brandi like way.  Quietly.  Slowly.  If you have ever been around her, you know she was a "talker" she got incredibly excited when people came to visit and would whine and bark her pleasure in being near you and being petted.  So to see her so mute and thin, and Dad reported she had mostly stopped eating in the last few days, I could see even before he said it...it was time to put her down.

I cried knowing after so many great years of having her loving and sweet face looking for her belly to be scratched or a pet on the head when we visit, this was coming to an end..  I know she has been a great dog for Dad and know he will feel her absence much more acutely.  Good-bye's are always hard, even good-bye's to our furry loved ones.

Pain in the Back

Sadly, Nate has been dealing with another bout of intense pain this weekend.  What we thought was slowly healing over the last few (5) months, has flared up worse than ever.  Frustrating for us both as we looked at one another bewildered as there had been nothing different to cause such a change, and it happened so quickly!

So now we will begin pursuing additional counsel.  Nate has been going to the chiropractor for the last 5 months starting at 2 x week and then had been reduced to 1 x week for the last month or so as adjustments were getting easier and he seemed to be responding to treatment.

He has an appointment scheduled with the family doctor a week from Tuesday, but it might be that we try and move that appointment up to this week if at all possible.

As a spouse, it sure isn't easy to see your loved one suffering.  Options to try to "help" are so limited.

"Can I bring you more pain medicine?"

"Have you done your stretches?  If not I can help..."

Today, after church I was on a quest requested by Nate for new pain medicine (as the Aleve no longer seems to making an impact) and a cane from Goodwill if they had one.  However, after answering questions as to where Nate was, I collected an assortment of items from concerned friends including the business card for a massage therapist, a cane (checkmark), a ...uh...roller tube?...I'm not sure of the technical term...but it helps with stretching, and a set of crutches...just in case the cane was too short.  Above all we know Nate is being prayed for by friends.

So while it's difficult to watch Nate be in pain, it's good to have the reminder of friends who love and care for us.  So as we continue to pray for relief for Nate, we are not alone in our prayers, we are thankful for friends who are there to support us too.

Hidden Treasures Along the Way

Fall has been good to us so far.

We have definitely stayed busy and have had some downs (mostly Nate struggling with pain in his back) but overall it's been a great time.  We even got a camping trip in with our friends Jon and Holly.  The photo above is from the park we were camping at.  The weather couldn't have been any more perfect.  Warm during the day and cooled off just enough at nice for perfect sleeping.  We took a walk around the campground and checked out the lake.  I really enjoy the colors of fall and the smell of fall.  That great dry leaf smell when you step outside and take a deep breath, you literally smell fall in the air.

I had a great drive up when I went to visit my family this weekend and had a good amount of time to soak in the sun as the beams where shining in through the windshield.  Nice dry roads and the hum of the tires  to sooth away any tenseness in the muscles.  We have been having those perfect days that warm up just enough during the day but cool down nicely at night so that we just this week broke out the winter comforter again much to my delight!  Oh boy, do I love to cozy up under that thick warm comforter!  We have to be careful not to cook Nate however, so I let him make the judgment call to determine when it's cold enough for it.  Until then, I layer blankets on my side of the bed.

I'm also looking forward to a small road trip to Ohio this weekend.  We are going to visit family and plan to leave Friday afternoon once I finish work and Nate finishes class.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that the weather stay as delicious as it has been the last few days.

Road trips are always a fun time for us to talk and dream together, to listen to a new album or new Vinyl Cafe, to pop into an undiscovered coffee shop or lunch stop.

Here's hoping we find a hidden treasure along the route this weekend.

Fall

I saw something today.  It's the first time this year I've noticed it.

A few leaves turning red.  

A few leaves on the ground.  

Fall has arrived.

It's such a great time of the year and today was beautiful.  No wait, I think that was yesterday.  I suppose that is another indicator of the change of the seasons; weather that is unpredictable.  Right now it's raining and I'm curled up on the couch while Nate reads.  I'm dreaming of all the things I hope we get in this fall: camping, hiking, motorcycle riding, fall festivals, holidays with family!

We already kicked off the fall festival season with our friends David and Caitlyn, by going to the Tipton Pork Festival.  It was a great time.  

However.  

We arrived at the festival during some type of insect plague.  The second we got out of the car there were little flying insects the size of flies or a smidge smaller, aimlessly floating in the air.  So strange, don't you think?  They had no purpose or direction, so as we walked around we found ourselves fanning our hands around our heads trying to keep them from bumping into our faces or getting caught in our hair.  But, each time we would duck into a craft tent or food tent, the insects were blissfully absent.  

After a little bit, we adjusted to their presence and tolerated them for the length of our time there. 

And of course, like it always seems to happen in life, as we were walking back to the car to leave they all disappeared.  

We have yet to kick off the fall season of motorcycle riding, but I'm sure we will get some good ones in.  We are both getting a handle on the new school semester schedule and once we get into more of a routine I anticipate some good motorcycle rides in our near future.  The question is always: What direction and where?  Do we go somewhere we haven't been before or do we head down to Brown Co. on a similar ride we did before and enjoyed?  Either way, it will be a great time. 

These are just a few things I'm excited about this fall.  

I hope fall finds you planning some special times of your own.