Small Group Surprise

This past Sunday night we headed to the Dorrell Home for our small group meeting. This is the first time since September that we've had a chance to attend small group due to our travels - not to mention the fact that Shane was a bit apprehensive about re-entering the group that led to his exposure to H1N1... not cool. But in any case, we arrived a bit tired and not sure what to expect - only to find that our group is AWESOME!! I was pretty excited about it from the beginning, but Shane was a bit skeptical (as usual). You know that feeling when you're trying to force a friendship, or a spiritual conversation just to feel like you're making a connection? Well... we've had experiences like that before with small groups and just didn't want to have the same happen this time around. After we sat down, we were very pleasantly surprised to know that the group had decided on reading a VERY profound and interesting book - A.W. Tozer's Pursuit of God. Shane was excited from the moment he found out. We were anxious to hear what people brought to the table, hoping that we could truly be ourselves and feel like we still somehow fit into the group. I'm thankful that ALL OF THIS HAS BEEN THE CASE! We had a blast getting to chat with these people, finding common interests and just joking around. There was no hidden agenda, no need to walk on eggshells for fear of offending - just a group of people having discussion about life and how God is changing each of us on a daily basis. I'm grateful not only for our small group, but First Alliance Church as a whole. We are constantly blessed by the preaching of the Word and the fellowship we continue to find. PRAISE GOD!

And on a TOTALLY different note - CONGRATULATIONS to my cousin, Kristen (and her husband, Kevin), on the arrival of their second child, Kate Ann Yaiko! She was born on November 15th around 11:30am in a Hungarian hospital, weighing in at 7 lbs., 11 ounces and measuring 21.25 inches long. Kate is doing VERY well and Kristen is feeling good after the delivery. Unfortunately, as of today the other members of the family are very ill. Their son, Seth, came down with a bad case of the flu and is now in the hospital himself receiving fluids and antibiotics to help his fever come down. Kevin is sick as well, though I don't think he's quite as bad as Seth. Kristen experienced some of the sickness, too - but has been cleared to go home with Kate. PLEASE pray that each member of the family continues to get better as Kate arrives home. The family wants to be together, but this nasty flu is making it awfully hard for that to happen. Here's a picture of Little Miss Yaiko ;)

Anticipation & Other Updates

We leave on Friday afternoon to make the drive down to Orlando, Florida. Why, you ask? Because we'll be spending ALL of next week in Disney World with the DeHaven Family!!! I am so excited about this trip and wait with anticipation for Friday to arrive! Have you ever noticed that when you look forward to something, it takes that much LONGER to happen? Ugh...

In other update news, I was able to fly to NY (thanks to my mom!) for Houghton College's Homecoming a couple weekends ago! My dad was inducted into their Hall of Honor for his accomplishments as a student athlete as well as his continued contributions to the school since his time as a student. It was a great time for him and my family - I feel so blessed that I could be there for it! And while I was there I got to meet Molly MacDonald for the first time. Molly is my sister's niece on the Luckey side of the family and is absolutely ADORABLE! Here are a couple pictures of her from our little visit. (Check out her "Future Highlander" onesie in the 2nd shot!)


Is she not the cutest child ever??! I was also able to visit with my friend, Cherith, for a bit since they've moved back up to Houghton. They are doing great in their new place, and it was nice to be able to catch up a bit while in our old stomping grounds! The rest of the weekend was spent with my family and we just had a blast together. The weather was great and the fellowship was sweet - I couldn't have asked for a better time!

Here's looking to Friday...

"I have a feeling it's gonna be one of those days..."

Why is it that every time I find clothing items that fit me perfectly, they're way too expensive?? This weekend I went shopping with my friend, Kate. After a great breakfast shared with our friend, Natalie (who soon after had to go to work), Kate and I embarked on our Mall Adventure. I call it an adventure because we both did more shopping than we expected to! Also... anytime you go to the Fayette Mall it seems like an adventure because you just never know what you're in for. We started off at Old Navy and ended in Banana Republic. Along the way we also stopped at Express, Gap, and Victoria's Secret... just to name a few. Just minutes into our shopping "spree", Kate looked at me and said, "I have a feeling it's gonna be one of those days. One where you find the exact thing you're looking for, and where pretty much everything fits." Thankfully we both found some great sales on things that fit, and had some coupons to redeem. While we found a ton of cute items, my most favorite was at Banana Republic (of course). When Kate first said she wanted to stop at BR, I thought, "oh boy... this isn't going to be good." The only reason for that thought was the fact that I typically love everything I see in there, but can never afford them. The item I'm referring to is a gray short-sleeved dress, perfect for work, church, fall events... anything, really! Why did I even try it on? Not only did I try on the $110 (SALE PRICE) dress, but another sweater dress that looked fantastic. I wasn't planning to try it on, but Kate insisted - NOT allowing me to look at the price tag before going into the dressing room. I think that somehow my body is shaped in just such a way that the only clothes that fit it perfectly are those that I cannot afford. In the words of the elusive "David After Dentist" - why is this happening to me??

The happy ending to this story, though, is that we found white trouser pants at BR for only $14.99!!! Kudos to Kate for finding them! We each bought a pair and that became the grand finish for the day. We had such a blast together, and although Shane might not like to hear this... I think I'll go shopping with her again! :)

Why do I do this to myself?

So last night we watched the Bills take on the Patriots in the first Monday Night Football game of the regular season. I was pleasantly surprised by the Bills' defense, and pretty happy with Trent Edwards' performance. What I was NOT excited about was McKelvin somehow managing to fumble the ball with only a few short minutes left in the game. How hard is it to get your knee on the ground? Better yet - HOW HARD IS IT TO TAKE A KNEE IN THE ENDZONE? There was no reason for him to take it up the field, especially when he wouldn't have gained any more yards had he actually managed to hold on to the ball! I stayed up to watch the end of the game, hoping beyond all hope that they would FOR ONCE pull it together. I guess I should know better by now... the Bills will always break my heart. Will this stop me from watching them again? Certainly not. Why, oh why do I do this to myself?

Poor girl...

Apparently Kentucky is ranked as one of the top 10 states for the worst allergies. Ever since we moved here, our dogs (NOT US) have had horrible problems! This year is no different... poor Maggie is having a tougher time than ever before. After we thought she was getting better, her condition became far worse and we had to take her to the vet to be put on prednisone - AGAIN. We went through this at the same time last year (almost to the day!) and the medicine just makes her tired and ridiculously thirsty. Oh - and let's not forget the best part of this... the aforementioned need to quench her thirst = crazy urination. No matter how many times we let her out, we inevitably still have to change her blankets about 3 times a day. Not only do we change her blankets, but she needs baths as well. Can't wait to see our water bill this month...

As much as I hate giving her any kind of drug, thankfully she's starting to get better after about a week on the meds. She's also acting more like her normal, playful self. And just as I think we're coming to a close of another 2-week laundry marathon, Maggie sits drinking her entire bowl of water... at 9:15pm... AWESOME. I didn't think it was possible for this state to give me any more reasons to want to move away. But alas, Kentucky - you've done it again.

Something old, something new, something borrowed... and something blue/blew?

Typically this phrase brings to mind a fond wedding tradition. And while a wedding is a part of this post, the meaning of the title brings both fond and furious memories for me. I guess I should start back about 2 weeks ago for you to understand the whole story. My family came to visit us over the 4th of July weekend - YAY! This was their first trip to Kentucky since we've lived here, so I was excited to show them around and have them experience life as we know it. The day before their arrival, Shane approached me as I was getting ready for work with the following statement: "Umm... so..." - which, history tells me, means he either has something not-so-good to tell me, or he is hatching a plan. Thankfully it was the latter; the plan was to paint the upstairs half bathroom during his day off prior to my family's arrival. I was ecstatic to hear this plan, as it's something I've wanted to do since we moved in! So we picked through some paint colors on Sherwin Williams' website (awesome, by the way), and we decided on a few different hues from which he could make the final decision. So I headed off to work and soon began receiving picture/text messages with the "progress" being made. And as I watched the blue paint being applied to the walls, all I could wonder was this... "Has Cookie Monster taken up residence in the bathroom?" The color is called "Flyway" and is such a great color - but it was a tad brighter than I (or Shane for that matter) had anticipated. After all was said and done, it looked very nice and we had decided on what kinds of things could help break up the mass of color. :) We opted to toss out the old rug in front of the sink as well as removing the items we had sitting around the sink, since none of them fit with the updated color scheme. When Mom, Dad, Jordan and Tyler arrived the bathroom had been completed, though the walls were still blank. So Mom and I went shopping for some new items to place on the walls - ocean/beach scenes to put in white frames. While we were out we found some other small items to help tie everything together. My parents also bought us a huge new piece of artwork to display above the couch on our open wall - it looks fantastic! Thanks, Mom & Dad!! We had a great weekend together, hanging out, eating Shane's famous ribs, and just enjoying each other.

After their departure we had a week of work before heading off for more summer travels. We had made plans to go to Canada this past weekend for the wedding celebration of our wonderful friends, Kate & Robert. We have come to know them well during our time at Asbury and are so thankful for their friendship. In any case, since the trip was more than 10 hours in total, we opted to stay at Shane's parents' house on the way so we didn't have to spend 2 nights in a hotel room. Before leaving, we chose to take my car up to NY/Canada so that my father-in-law could take a look at a couple things. It had been doing some funny things, but nothing too major.

Once we were in Bemus Point, we took the car up to the garage on Friday afternoon for Dad DeHaven to put it up on the lift and check things out. Rather than wait around through his very busy day, we decided to take his car back to the house and hang out for a bit. But when he got home from work that day he had this news to share with me... MY CAR NEEDS A NEW TRANSMISSION. Are you kidding me?? So not only does this mean we need to fork over some money (which, thankfully isn't as much as it COULD be due to our service contract), but we also can't take the car over the Canadian border for the wedding. My father-in-law was not confident that it would make it the 4 hours up and 4 hours back necessary to get it back to the garage. If we broke down in Canada, he could come get us... but not tow the car back with all the new laws in place. So needless to say, I was quite upset about missing the wedding and not being able to share in our friends' special day. When I think about it, though, I suppose it's better that we knew beforehand and didn't end up stranded in Canada without a way to tow us back! What if we blew the transmission and caused an accident? I'd hate to even entertain that idea any further... And for those of you wondering why we couldn't have borrowed a car from my inlaws or off the car lot, they all have dealer plates. Translation - we are not covered on their insurance to drive any of their cars across the border. AWESOME. So we missed the wedding, have to get a new transmission, and have to leave my car in NY for repairs during the next two weeks. The silver lining around this jet black cloud is the fact that we have borrowed a car off the lot to drive in the meantime.

So there you go... something old, 3 somethings new, something borrowed, and something(s) blue/blew. While they didn't fall quite in that order, I believe it's still fitting. Pictures to come of some new and blue things. That's all I have to say about that.

Just for a minute...

I have to brag on my husband a little bit. :) He's not going to be pleased when he finds out I wrote this post, but I don't care! He just finished his busiest semester yet at school (4 full load classes, working 3 part-time jobs, not to mention everything he does around the house during his "in between time") - and accomplished the feat of receiving ALL As!!! I am unbelievably proud of him and how hard he has worked. I'm thankful that this semester is over - and I know he would say the same. He deserves a break and will finally get one during his fishing trip with his buddy, Rob, all next week. CONGRATULATIONS, BABY! YOU ARE AMAZING! :)

Ode to my Mini...

I have a new laptop. It's not just any laptop... it's a Dell Mini. It is possibly the coolest laptop EVER :) Shane and I needed something smaller to take to class (him) and to record minutes at Board meetings (me). This laptop also has a built-in webcam and microphone - which means I can talk to my brother in Africa - or anyone else for that matter - via Skype. (Sidenote: Skype is stinkin amazing!)

The only thing I'm having to get used to is the apostrophe/quotes key being in a different spot. In order to keep this laptop so compact, the keyboard has been scaled down just a bit. I saw an HP laptop (similar to my Mini) that has a keyboard with all the keys in the same spot as a normal board, but it's not as small OR as cute as mine!! :) I can deal with one measly key being in a different location if it means I get to tote around a laptop that fits IN MY PURSE! Yes... that's right - this Mini weighs only 2.25 pounds and is the same size as a day planner. AMAZING.

So, here's to my Mini... the cutest little laptop on the block ;) Here's the Mini in front of our standard size laptop - are you kidding me?!

Family Photo Shoot

One of the Christmas presents we gave to Mom & Dad DeHaven was a family picture. They've wanted an updated one for some time now, and in September Kristen joined the family - so we thought it only appropriate to have some pictures done while we were all together! Here are a couple shots that my dear friend, Rachel, took of the family:

That's what she said...

Okay - so I know this is old and fairly ridiculous... but the "that's what she said" phrase is one of Shane's favorites. (I can't lie - I still enjoy a good zinger every now and then as well!) While we were in Jamestown for Christmas there were so many good phrases that were soon followed up by "that's what she said" by either myself, my darling husband, my brother-in-law, or my new sister-in-law. Like I said before, I know we're retarded... but it's still pretty funny. Here are some of the things that were heard over our Christmas vacation:

"Squeeze from the back to the front... it comes right out."
"I'm on top of the wood!"
"I gotta put the snake all the way down the hole."
"Can you feel my suction on it? Yeah, I can feel it!"
"Release it and see what happens..."
"I just want to put something in my mouth."
"What's wrong with this weiner?"
"Here... you take the weiner and roll it tight."

Context is everything for these statements. If you want to know, just ask! There's really no other purpose for this post than to make you laugh... so if you're reading this and find any of it funny- let me know! :)