WARNING: This could be a VERY long post!

Ay-yi-yi!!! It's been so long since I posted what's been going on, and so much has happened, it's a little overwhelming!
I guess I'll try to start where I left off (with our anniversary trip) and try to catch up from there. I'll also try to post pictures where appropriate.

After our anniversary trip, we have spent most of the time working like crazy to try to catch up from being gone so much the last few months. The first major thing that happened after we got back was that our church had their annual YOUTH CONFERENCE. They had, I think, around 1,400 teens come for the conference. The theme was Mission: Accomplished, and it had a space theme. Here are some pictures of the decorations:

It was awesome!! There were MANY decisions made by the teens to follow Christ in their lives, whether it was salvation or call to full-time ministry, or just allowing the Lord to have control. One of the things that I LOVE about our church is that they love children and teenagers.

On August 10th, a new niece was born into the Mitchell side of the family. She didn't want to come out, apparently, so her mom had a rough time (from what we hear.) They sent pictures, and she is adorable. We are always excited to have new members added to the family! Congrats to them!
Our next big events were our birthdays. Chris turned 32 on August 11. It is so amazing to me how God works in even the littlest ways in our lives, even we don't even know to ask Him to do so! A week or so before Chris' birthday, I had asked D's mom if she would care if I took D down to Chris' work on Chris' birthday in order to surprise him with a Dairy Queen cake. (I had to work that day, as did Chris.) D's mom thought it was a great idea, and readily agreed. I arranged to have the cake made and picked up that Saturday morning. (Chris knew nothing about this!)

I had already picked up the cake and was driving down to the dealership when Chris called me. He said, "You're never going to believe who just called me!" Come to find out, our good friends Jeremy and Misha Frazor were traveling through from Northland to Tennessee, and asked Chris if they could do lunch for his birthday. Chris had told them that I wouldn't be able to be there because I was working... little did he know!! :-) Of course, I had to fib a little bit and tell him, "That's really cool for you, but I'm so bummed that I won't be able to see them," while the whole time inside I was freaking out! I just kept thinking that only God could have planned all of this to work out perfectly at the right time!

So, Chris gets off the phone with me to give Jeremy directions to the dealership, and I call Misha to fill her in on what is going on, and to get them to stall for me until I arrive. They were able to stall, and I surprised Chris by showing up! We all went out for lunch, and D was SOOOOO GOOD the whole time! (He usually goes wild for his mom when they go out to eat!) After lunch, we went back to the dealership (this is almost 2 hours later) and had DQ Oreo Blizzard cake. Chris&Heather Mitchell; Misha, Corey, Jeremy, and Tommy Frazor

Corey & Tommy Frazor, and D - three blond-headed boys checking out the cars from the window!

The Frazors had to leave, as did I, so Chris was left to go back to work! At this point, he had missed about 2&1/2 hours of work time since he had gone to get a haircut in the morning. As I drove away, I prayed and asked the Lord to please help Chris sell a car in spite of the fact that he had been gone so much time during the day. Not 2 hours later, Chris called me to tell me that he was filling up a car with gas that he had just sold. Thank you to the God who answers prayer!

That night we had a birthday party for him, combined with an open house party. We had 5 couples come, and we had a cookout. It was a lot of fun, and really only the 3rd time we've had company since we moved here last September. We enjoyed hosting the party, and it was a good time of food and fellowship!

Our pastor and his wife, Bro. Lonnie & Mrs. Nancy MattinglyLuke, Stella, Beth & Lacey Kendall, John&Heidi Winders (and baby on the way), our SS teachers, Bro. Ed & Mrs. Sheila Sneider, and Heather & Chris Mitchell

Our music pastor&wife, Gina & Bill Todd (it was their anniversary, so they came over after going out to eat by themselves!)

Chris&Heather - Happy Birthday, Chris!

The other little thing that God provided for Chris on his birthday was homemade apple pie. Now, I don't cook much, and I definitely don't make pies. (I mean, I had to work that day ~ you can't expect me to be Martha Stewart or anything!) I know that Chris loves apple pie, so I arranged with my dear friend, Beth, (who loves to cook and entertain) for her to make one for me. Well, Chris and I had been so busy that his party was in some ways a surprise, just because I didn't have a chance to tell him all the details. :-) Anyway, he didn't know about the pie. His mom called while we were all going through the line getting our food, and he stepped out to take her call. While he was on the phone with her, he told her that he REALLY wanted homemade apple pie for his birthday. WISH GRANTED! He had his apple pie and it was WONDERFUL! Beth made it with a crumb topping, then melted caramels and butter together and poured that over the top... (is this making your mouth water? Mine is!) It was fabulous. Chris got a hat from the 2000 PGA tour that was held here in Louisville, a gift certificate for 9 holes of golf at a really nice course, and we both got gift certificates to Cracker Barrel and a joint gift of a programmable thermostat for the house. All in all, it was a great day for BOTH of us!

The following Saturday, August 18th, was my birthday. I turned 30 years young! :-) Being 30 doesn't bother me, especially when most people guess that I'm 23-24 years old. Can't complain about that! Both Chris and I had to work again. Chris had tried to get a bunch of people to come over for a party, but no one could make it. However, some friends of ours from my former church in Hinckley, MN, brought their daughter down to attend our college that weekend. We wanted to get together with them anyway, so we had a party with them (and their 4 out of 8 kids that were with them!) They bought me a cake, and we had a cookout. It was SO good to catch up with them and spend time with them. Here are a couple of pictures:

Chris and I in front of our new house
My birthday cake
The rest of the party! :-)

My gifts...yes, I'm a convert... I am now a Red Sox fan, though not a fan-addict like my hubby. I've been brainwashed, it's true! :-) I still root for the Minnesota Twins, but know more about the Sox than the Twins. I was thrilled ot get a new phone - my old one was breaking and the battery was almost gone. My dear friend sent me the stamps... the bigger one says, "What if the Hokey Pokey really is what it's all about?" Cracked me up!

Since then, college and school have started up here. I've had the opportunity to go out with a few of the college girls a couple of times. It keeps me feeling young, though I am SO THANKFUL that I don't have to deal with college life anymore. Now, I do miss the comraderie of girlfriends and late night talk/giggle sessions, as well as the opportunity to just make time to get together with friends at a moment's notice if you haven't spent much time with them in the recent past. Now, all of my friends live far away from me! I DO NOT MISS getting passes to go to Walmart, rules :-), living in the dorm and trying to get along with roommates that you didn't like or had nothing in common, and dating! Well, I still feel like I'm dating my hubby, but we don't ever have to say goodnight and leave! Anyway, it's been nice to just hang out with them, and try to be a blessing to them. 3 of the girls came over Thursday night for dinner, then stayed and we watched Beauty and the Beast. Since Chris is gone until late most nights, it was nice to have the company. I enjoyed the opportunity to be a blessing to them just by allowing them to get off campus, eat real food, and relax at my home.

Last week, we had the annual regional Sword of the Lord conference at our church. Dr. Shelton Smith preached both services on Sunday, then Monday night, I was privileged to hear Dr. Raymond Barber speak. The amount of Scripture that he has memorized and utilizes is amazing! Tuesday night, Dr. Jack Schaap preached. What a great opportunity to hear great men of God preach God's Word. I'm so thankful I was able to attend. Also, the choir sang both nights, so I was able to do that as well. One of the things that I LOVE about our church is the music program. The songs that we sing are just a great testament to our Lord Jesus Christ and what He has done, and does for us. There's nothing like good, Godly music accompanying a powerful message in lyrics about God! I LOVE it! I also love the fact that there is a huge variety of music that is used. In previous ministries we've worked in, we've used mostly Majesty Music or the Wilds music. They both have great songs, but if that is all that you sing/play/hear, it all starts to sound the same.

Well, I think that's all for now. We don't have any big plans for the Labor Day weekend, since we both have to work Monday. Next weekend, I get to attend our Ladies' Retreat at our camp. I am excited. The weekend after that Chris and I are going away for a 2 day quick trip as well... more details to follow after we go!

There are a few other major things going on in our lives right now, but I just can't share them with you all yet. It is exciting to see what God has done and is doing in our lives.

Thanks for putting up with this super long post! Hopefully I will be able to keep it up to date more now that I'm finally caught up. Oh, yeah, I finally joined Facebook, so I've been spending way too much time on there getting back in touch with friends from years gone by.

Have a great holiday weekend!

A new friend in the blogging world....

Just in case any of you are interested, my dear friend, Shirley Reese, has started a blog. Check it out here: http://reesespiecesgang.blogspot.com/

I love the way blogs connect people and help us share in each other's lives in a way that we probably never would have done before!

Chicago sights part 1 ***Edited***

I love taking pictures (in case you haven't noticed yet!) One of the things that I loved about Chicago was the awesome architectural details of the buildings, and how the architecture of older buildings was so vastly different from that of the newer buildings. However, both old and new architectural styles are fascinating to me! On top of that, Chicago also has the natural beauty of the landscaping in the heart of downtown, the parks and fountains, and God's hand in the creation of Lake Michigan. So - here are some of my pictures of architecture and nature... Stay tuned for more!

Chris and Heather 2007 ***Edited***

In honor of our 7th Anniversary, I am posting these pictures. These are just a few of the pictures from various events that we have done in this past year. Enjoy!

Anniversary Trip to Chicago 2007 ***EDITED***

Here are some pictures of Chris and I from our anniversary trip. We had tons of fun... you can see my posts below about the trip itself. I loved the surprise aspect of it, and it was nice to relax and just spend time together.

Stay Tuned...

I finally made it back into cyberspace... after a month of not having internet access at my fingertips! So - stay tuned as I attempt to catch up over the next few days... maybe weeks...! :-)

More Anniversary Details...

So - on Monday morning, we slept in again, ate breakfast at the little deli by the Hancock Building, and then walked down Michigan Ave some more. We then took a bus to the Shedd Aquarium. In my opinion, for being the 2nd largest indoor aquarium, we were very disappointed. Most of you know that I LOVE dolphins, and I was even disappointed in the dolphin show! It was more "tree-huggin', whale-kissin' " (as my dad would put it) earth-friendly plugs than it was about the dolphins. On the way to the Aquarium, we walked through Grant Park and saw the Buckingham Fountain. We also saw a few bunnies in the park, which I thought was pretty funny for the city. They do have beautiful parks, though.

From the aquarium, we took a water taxi over to Navy Pier. We walked up and down the Pier, then did a little shopping. By that time it was time for the White Sox game, so we took the bus down to U.S. Cellular Field. The lady I sat next to on the bus was very nice, and we had a good conversation. She was actually reading her Bible on the bus in Lamentations 3, so I made a comment because my life's verses are 22-23 of that chapter.

We arrived at the game, and had a great time. As we were getting ready to leave, we were asking the guy next to Chris if we had to have exact change for the "L" to get back to the hotel. He reached into his wallet and pulled out a card with $4 on it and gave it to us to use. He said, "Happy Anniversary!" It was such a blessing to not have to fight all the crowds to get the cards, and so nice of a stranger to just give us the card!

Tuesday morning, we dragged ourselves out of bed and to the airport to get "back to life, back to reality!" We had a blast spending time together and just relaxing and sleeping in!

Now, on to other stuff... When we got home, we had to go back to work. I've been working since then to try to get the house unpacked and decorated, besides working to make up from the time I've been gone.

Yesterday, I finally finished decorating the house. I wanted a cohesive design, but as I was unpacking everything, I just couldn't bear to part with a lot of my stuff, so the kitchen/dining room is cohesive, and Chris' office is pretty cohesive, and the rest of the house is eclectic! I think it looks pretty good, though! :-) Again, when I can get the internet up on our home computer, I'll post pictures of the house, too.

Tomorrow is Chris' 32nd birthday, so we're having a party for him and having an open house party as well. I got the house done just in time! :-)

I'm still having internet issues with the computer at home, so bear with me if I don't get posting done consistently.

Other events... we have a new niece she was born this morning! She didn't want to come into this world, apparently, b/c she didn't come after her mom was induced, and they eventually had to do a C-section. I'd put more info and pictures of her on here, but I haven't asked her parent's permission, and they are pretty careful about stuff posted on the internet (which I totally respect and honor that!) We are very excited about this new little one and hope to meet her sometime soon.

This coming week will be busy for me. I'm working 5 days a week now, so that takes away some of my free time. Monday night is a stamping party, but I'm not buying anything this time. I mostly just go to stamp and enjoy the fellowship. Thursday, I get to see one of the little boys that I used to take care of when we lived in Maryland. His family is from here, and they are coming down for a visit. I'm excited to see them again! Then on Saturday, some friends of mine from MN are coming down to drop their daughter off at the college that our church runs. I have not seen them for 4&1/2 years, and am so excited to visit with them! Also on Saturday, I celebrate my 30th birthday! I know, it's hard to believe that I am 30 already, but I'm actually kind of excited about it (I know, I'm really weird!)

Oh, yeah - one more thing... my parents are moving! My dad has a job as an administrator of a school in Waupaca, WI. They are very happy to be moving back to the midwest, looking forward to settling there, and being a lot closer to the grandkids! :-) I was telling my mom that I'm glad I don't live with them... they are loading the truck on my birthday! Much of my life we were always moving or at camp on or around my birthday. Not a very great birthday present!

Well, I gotta get going! Please bear with me as I attempt to get our internet issues resolved. I PROMISE to post pictures as soon as I can, but I can't promise when that will be!

Internet Issues

I know, I know... I keep promising to get this up to date, however I've been having some internet issues. I wasn't sure if it was just our home computer, or actually the internet connection. I think we've figured out that it is the internet connection, but I'm still not sure.

So - here's the summation:

July 16 - we signed our lives away to buy a new house! :-)
July 17 - Two Men and a Truck company came and moved our stuff from our apt to our new house. I was VERY impressed with their service, and the fact that the two men were in their early 20's and were very careful with our stuff, as well as being very polite and respectful. I would highly recommend them!
July 21 - We left to go on our anniversary trip.

Our anniversary trip was AWESOME! I still didn't know where we were going until we were standing in line to board the plane! Chris had handed me my boarding pass to go through security, but said, "DON'T LOOK AT IT!" I was a very good girl, and didn't look! So we were standing in line (we flew Southwest, so you get your seating first come, first serve!) and they announced boarding flight whatever to Chicago. I looked at Chris and said, "We're going to CHICAGO!?!?! SWEET!"
We ended up arriving at our hotel in Chicago around 7pm. I took my first taxi ride ever to get from the airport to the hotel. We stayed at the Whitehall Hotel (which is in the National Historic Preservation Society) right off North Michigan Avenue right by the Hancock Building (for any of you that are familiar with Chicago.) The hotel was REALLY nice, with a HUGE fluffy bed that made just want to run and jump into it (which I did later.) The hotel also had bell hops... another first for me! I promise I'll post pictures eventually!
We were going to go to Giordano's for their world famous deep-dish Chicago style pizza, but the wait was 3 hours (and it was already 8:30pm.) So we walked a few more blocks and got into Gino's Pizzaria East for the deep-dish pizza. We ended up starting up a conversation with 6 older gentlemen that came in and sat at the booth next to us after they asked us to take a picture of them, and they returned the favor for us. One of the guys actually ended up pulling up a chair and sitting at our table talking with us until our pizza came! Pretty funny that a total stranger would just pull up a chair to our table, but we didn't mind. Come to find out, they work for the Reader's Digest, and meet for conventions. While in the area, they try to go to as many of the Major League Ballparks as they can (just like we are trying to do!) They actually were at both the Cubs game on Sunday and White Sox game on Monday that we attended as well!

Sunday morning, we slept in, then went down to a little deli just below the Hancock Building for breakfast. They had a really cool fountain down there, too. We walked down Michigan Avenue and just looked at all the buildings and stores. I love the architecture of the city buildings, both old and new. We went into Niketown and bought flip flops (neither one of us have had them in AGES!), then to the Sunglass Hut to buy Chris some GOOD sunglasses to protect his eyes while he is at work on the car lot. We then headed back to the hotel and dropped some of our stuff off, and headed to Wrigley Field.

We had a great time at the game, though the ballpark was a lot different than most of the parks we've been to so far. It was really neat to see them change the score on the scoreboard by hand, and I think it's probably the only ballpark that doesn't have a jumbotron. The Cubs ended up losing to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

From Wrigley Field, we decided to walk over to Lake Michigan and walk down the shoreline. We kind of just meandered down the path (where we decided that EVERYONE in Chicago goes to exercise.) We ended up walking back to our hotel from Wrigley Field, which was about 6 miles of walking as far as we can figure.

We got back to the hotel, changed clothes, and then went back out for our anniversary dinner. We ate at this really cool Italian restaurant, and actually ate outside. The ambiance was really cool, and there was a street performer playing his saxophone across the street the whole time that we were eating. It was really neat. We finished the night by walking down Michigan Ave to the Chicago River and back to the hotel.

Well, I hate to leave you hanging, but it's late, the laptop battery is dying, and I need to go to bed. I promise I will finish this ASAP, complete with pictures, as soon as I get all my internet issues taken care of.