Eric and Lisa

This past weekend was the Bethel homecoming and 5K that we've been training for for several months. We had a great time with family and friends and enjoyed being away from home for a couple of days.

On Friday night, we were able to connect with our friends Chris and Rose for dinner in Mishawaka, after which we stayed the night at Aunt Judy and Uncle Jeff's house before the race, since it was closer to Bethel than Eric's parents' house. Jeff and Judy were actually not staying at their house that night -- they were staying at our house in Bloomington for IU's homecoming! We had a nice house-swap going on, and it worked out well for both families. (Thank you, guys! We enjoyed your lovely home!)

On Saturday morning, we woke up bright and early on a cold, very windy morning, and headed over to Bethel for the 5K race. Ian was all bundled up in his stroller and ejoyed most of the race, except for the last half mile, during which he grew tired of the cold, blustery wind and began protesting loudly! He was crying as his Nana pushed him across the finish line, and everyone around laughed sympathetically. He was fine, though, and Pam enjoyed pushing him in his stroller for the walking portion of the race. Eric, Nate, and I all ran in the race and none of us did too badly. Nate had had a terrible cold the previous week, and was still battling a froggy voice and a slight cough that morning. We were amazed at his ability to push through the effects of the cold and wind and finish with a decent time. I didn't make my personal goal, but only missed it by 50 seconds. Eric, on the other hand, did the best of all of us. He finished 18th in the race with a time of 23 minutes and 50 seconds. It was a good experience for all of us involved.

On Sunday, we went to church with Nate and Pam, and when I was dropping Ian off in the church nursery, a really cute girl came up to me and asked, "Are you Lisa?" I was surprised to look up and see one of my campers from when I was a counselor at Camp Mack eight years ago! Of course, she was no longer 12 years old, but was a beautiful college woman, instead. It was nice to catch up with her and see how she's doing. I also got to see her for a few moments on Monday, when we stopped by Bethel's campus for chapel. Ian got to experience his first chapel, and seemed to enjoy the worship portion, but he kept wanting to talk during the sermon, so Eric and I had to take turns standing with him in the back. It was a nice treat, though, to be on campus again, and see so many people that we love. We were able to spend some time with our good friends, Fred and Shannon and their five children while we were there. It's always such a blessing to see them; Shannon is very encouraging to me.

After all of that, we packed up our little Sunfire and started the long drive home to Bloomington. Ian was fairly tired and uncomfortable for most of the trip, so it felt a littler longer than usual. But, we made it home in one piece and were able to enjoy relaxing a bit before heading to bed where we all got a good night's sleep.

--Lisa

While tomorrow marks Ian's 6-month birthday, today marks exactly the end of his 26th week of life outside the womb. What a fun six months it has been! If you check out Ian's personal photo album on this website (off to the right, and the second photo album from the top), you can see a backwards progression of his development from today all the way to his ultrasound photos before he was born.
In the past 26 weeks we've learned a few interesting things:

* Poopy diapers are NOT as fun as one might think, but it sure is fun to yell "Poopeeeeeee!" when one occurs.
* Crying fests from 10pm until 2am are not exactly our first choice on how to spend an evening, and we're glad they only lasted the first couple of weeks.
* Five-hour car trips with a tired/hungry/bored three-month-old = no fun at all.
* The discovery of the thumb as a sucking tool is the best thing since aromatherapy (and also good for the afore-mentioned five-hour car trips)
* Even the littlest boys are very interested in what goes on "down there."
* A clear, empty juice jug with some rubber balls inside of it is WAY more fun than a $50 store-bought toy.
* When crawling is merely an elusive challenge, rolling around the room is sufficient (and quite fun, too!).
* Laughing for no reason at all is the best pasttime on a Friday night.

All in all, it's been a wonderful half of a year. We never thought that our lives could change so much and that we'd be happy for the change. Thank you to all of our close friends and family who have been such a wonderful support in this new phase of our lives. We appreciate you more than you know.

-- Eric and Lisa

It's been a busy one-and-a-half weeks! We've had a wonderful time with many visitors -- but not too many! It all started on Friday, October 1st, when my Uncle Jeff and Aunt Judy stayed at our house the night before an IU football game. Their son, Kyle, is in the IU marching band, and they have season tickets, so we get to see them every couple of weeks during the fall. We really enjoy having them over -- they're great to talk about sports with!
After they left, Eric's parents, Nate and Pam came to visit with their Yorkshire Terrior, Sassi. Nate had continuing education classes here at IU (he's an optometrist), and Pam came to shop and hang out with Ian. She sure did a lot of both! In the evenings, we were able to spend time with Nate and Pam, and just hang out. It was really nice. We're looking forward to coming up their way on the weekend of Bethel's Homecoming and 5K in a couple of weeks.

So they left on Thursday afternoon, and then late Thursday night, our very good friends Jeremy and Andrea came from North Carolina with their lovely Border Collie, Maple. They were all able to stay for four whole days and some of a fifth! We were very excited to see them and spend some quality time with them. They used to live here in Bloomington, but abandoned us for greener pastures in North Carolina! Andrea is pregnant and is half-way through her pregnancy, so it was fun talking about baby stuff with her. The first two days they were here were spent lounging and playing games together. Then on Sunday, they treated us to our first-ever Colts' game in Indianapolis. Eric and I are pretty big Colts fans (I LOVE Peyton Manning!), so that was an exciting thing for us. On Monday, we were able to enjoy the fall weather at a nearby apple orchard, where we had a nice picnic lunch, walked through the animal farm there, and picked out various fall-themed produce. Sadly, on Tuesday, our dear friends had to get in their car and drive the long 9 hours home. We miss them already.

However, on Tuesday night, we had yet another round of visitors! My parents, brother, and grandparents came down to stay the night and have an early Thanksgiving meal on Wednesday. We celebrated the holiday early because my brother is in the Air Force National Guard, and he had received orders that he was to go to New Mexico and work on a base as a security guard there; therefore, he'll miss Thanksgiving with our family for the second year in a row. (Last year, he was stationed on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.) It had been over a month since our family had gotten together, and my parents were especially glad to see Ian and discover how much he had grown since they last saw him. It was a nice, relaxing day, and the Thanksgiving dinner was one of the best that my mom and I had put together.

Now that everyone is gone, our house feels very quiet. It will be good, though, to get back into the swing of a regular schedule. It sure was fun entertaining and hosting guests all that time -- We felt like we were running a bed and breakfast! We love our family and friends, and we're glad that they feel comfortable spending time with us in our home.

--Lisa