Thanksgiving

This was such a wonderful week! Jon and I both had off work the entire week and we had a great time just being home together. We made no plans except to be with our extended family on Thanksgiving day. We got so much done around the house - cleaned out the garage, organized the kids' clothes, and went through paperwork - not the most exciting things to do on vacation, but we have such a sense of accomplishment.

Last weekend, we went to visit some friends from college, Brian & Cristina, and had such a great time. We were there over Jon's birthday and they helped us celebrate - our kids had such a great time - they did not want to leave! There's nothing like getting reconnected with old friends!

We are thankful for so many things - most of all for Jesus and for our family, health and friends. We feel so blessed and have really had our eyes opened in this past year as to what we can do to bless others. Our trip to the Dominican Republic in March was life-changing and we are hoping that 2008 is going to be a year we are stretched in the area of giving to others.

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

SCC Concert

Last night Jon and I had a night out without the kids (Thanks Grammy and thanks to my pastors for being cool with me missing a Leadership Team Meeting so I could enjoy this night out)! We went with Kyle & Kim and Bethany & Q to see Steven Curtis Chapman. I have been a big SCC fan since high school when his album "More to this Life" came out. Jon and I have a lot of memories tied to SCC music - hearing any song from "The Great Adventure" or "Heaven in the Real World" takes us back to Pills (college) in a second! I always think of Scott Leffler singing "Saddle Up Your Horses" in the cafeteria or of blasting that CD in my dorm room with Bethany! We also went to the "Signs of Life" concert when we lived in AL in '96 and any of those songs take us back to that time in our lives. His "Music of Christmas" CD is a favorite we have to play every year when we're putting up our tree. We only saw him in concert that one time in '96 (wow - 11 years ago!) and haven't bought any of his albums since "Speechless" in '99 - I was just looking on his web site and saw that he's put out 7 albums since we last bought one - geez, time goes fast when you're buying a house and having babies!! Anyway, it was so cool to be at this concert because his two sons are on tour with him. His 18 year old son Caleb plays the guitar and sings backup and his 16 year old son Will Franklin plays the drums - he is amazing! Bethany and I got our picture with him and I was telling him to not be afraid of the 30 year old groupies :-) It was really a great concert - both entertaining and spiritually challenging. SCC has a great heart for adoption - he has adopted 3 little girls from China and he has such a passion to help the orphans of the world. Hearing him talk about adoption reminded me again of how proud I am of my brother and his wife - they felt called to adopt a little boy from Ethiopia and last year in December they traveled over there and brought Caleb home - he has been such a joy to our family!