Ok, it's been over a month since I've posted anything, so I'm going to give the Reader's Digest version of our life over the past 32 days. Here ya go!
Dec. 14: We went to a Colts' game in Indianapolis with my parents as a Christmas gift from them (thanks, Mom and Dad!) It was our first time in the new Lucas Oil Stadium (a.k.a., "the Luke") and Ian's first Colts game ever. Fun family times all around!
Dec. 21: We hosted the Amstutz Family Christmas....not just my immediate family, but my Dad's whole family. Yes, the ENTIRE family (modulo my sister and her husband, who thought the drive from Alaska was just too far) descended upon our house! A total of 38 people came for a potluck (or a "pitch-in" for you southerners)
dinner of mammoth proportions. Wonderfully enough, everything went without a hitch, there seemed to be plenty of room (I love our new house!) and a good time was had by all! Eric and I thoroughly enjoyed hosting this year!
Dec. 24: It's me and Eric's yearly tradition to make Chinese food for Christmas Eve dinner, and this year, his family got to enjoy it with us! We made a homemade Chinese FEAST! Coupled with present-time with three toddlers, it was a fun day!
Dec. 25: A nice, relaxed Christmas morning at home where Ian played with his new wooden Thomas track for a marathon 3 hours (an eternity for a toddler) while Eric and I sipped tea and packed for our big trip to Charlotte. After lunch, we drove to Fort Wayne to celebrate Christmas evening with my parents and brother.
Dec 26-Jan.3: The best vacation we've had since our honeymoon! Thanks to our best friends, the Dunn's, we had a relaxing and pleasant ten days away from home in Charlotte, North Carolina. We got to meet their brand-new daughter Kestrel, and Ian and Taliesin had plenty of time to get
to know each other and learn about sharing. Andrea and I (who love to cook together) experimented with jalapeno pepper jelly and homemade tamales. Both were huge successes! Eric and JD spent time playing video games and doing "guy stuff" on their deck. Also, lots of "Settlers of Catan: Cities and Knights" was played and
enjoyed by all. Even though some games get heated, we all coming back for more! The trip ended with us being delayed for about three hours while we got a gas leak checked out at a very kind and helpful Charlotte Pontiac dealership. Thankfully, Audrey (our Sunfire who rolled over 175,000 miles during that week) was good enough to drive home. She's been a good car, she has.
Jan 3-4: We made a stop in Kentucky on our way home from Charlotte to break up the trip into more manageable portions...and to see our dear friends the Long's! Time spent with them in their home is always refreshing and encouraging. We hope if we have 5 kids someday, that our home runs as smoothly!
Jan. 6: Ian's first Bethel Basketball game...the first of many, I'm sure. Bethel's ranked nationally at 2nd in their division (NAIA Div. II) and is quite fun to watch! Go Pilots!
Jan. 8: First day of Spring Semester for Eric. I won't be teaching this semester, as Bethel doesn't have a course for me to teach, but I will be tutoring some of my students from last semester, getting more involved at church, and beginning home preschool with Ian. It should still be a full semester for me! And it will definitely be full for him. Next week is the first big council meeting to determine whether the TESOL program is a go at Bethel for next year. Eric's been spending hours and hours planning, researching, collaborating, and revising the proposal we're going to take to the council. In fact, as I type, he's working on the finishing touches of the 36-page report for the council to review. While our future at Bethel rests strongly on the outcome of this proposal, we're not worried. God has us here for a reason and He's always taken care of us!
That pretty much takes us up to today, which was spent switching around some of our bank accounts, taking care of some administrative details, playing basketball over lunch at Bethel, and finishing up some of the details on the TESOL proposal. The weather is frigidly cold and snow is piling up like crazy, so we're taking it easy and enjoying a more relaxed pace. Life is good.
Today marked the end of a cold snap we've been having this week, with temperatures in the -teens. (Thankfully, temps didn't get as cold or last as long as poor Sherri and Adam had to deal with in Alaska recently.) We'd received a lot of snow along with the colder weather, but weren't able to enjoy it due to safety reasons. So, today, we suited up and took advantage of a balmy 21 degrees to play in the fluffy white stuff. Unfortunately, it was still too dry for fun things like making snowmen and forts, but we made the best of it and made trails through our backyard instead. Believe it or not, it was Ian's first time of really playing in the snow. We never got much snow in Bloomington, and because of that, we didn't buy him a snowsuit until this year. But now that he has one and we live in a place that does get snow, we'll be spending much more time outside this winter! (Hallelujah!)
