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