Can it possibly be...?!?!?!

That I haven't blogged since MAY FIRST! 3& 1/2 months later... wow, this summer sure has FLOWN by. And, of course, like many of you, I am totally addicted to Facebook, so that has taken my time from blogging.
Well, here's the rundown of the past 3&1/2 months...
May 2-3, down to Atlanta to "get out of Dodge" for Kentucky Derby weekend. Scratched another baseball stadium off the list, saw my Uncle Dave, whom I haven't seen in YEARS, and caught up with some friends there for church. Rachel, my friend, was actually my roommate at Northland Camp the summer that Chris and I met. It was nice to catch up! :-)

The following weekend, Mother's Day weekend, we flew to Maryland for a long weekend. Ever since our in vitro fertilization/miscarriage, Chris has bought me tickets to go see my best friend in Maryland as a Mother's Day gift. This year, he came along. We had a wonderful time with Kevin and Jos, and got to catch up with a lot of friends from our church there. It made Mother's Day a bit easier for me! I'm so thankful for a wonderful, thoughtful husband!

After 3 trips for me in 3 weekends, we settled down to work, work and more work... with our ministry responsibilities at church added in. We were able to have some fun in there, too!

June was a pretty quiet month for us, though I had a fun opportunity to do a "photo shoot" with my friends, JR & Abbi. They got married in December, and didn't really care for their engagement pictures. I went out with them one weekend while Chris was gone for some work training, and took a bunch of pictures of them. I am by no means a photographer, but I was pretty pleased with the way some of them turned out.

June 12 our church had a "Sister's Supper." It was a ladies' banquet for all females ages 4 and up. It was a wonderful time of fellowship, and God used one of the devotionals in particular to really speak to my heart about something I had been struggling with that week especially. I may have to post about that later.

June 23rd, my dear friend, Shanna had her baby, Mason, at 23 weeks, 5 days along... about 3 months early! It was pretty rough on me, but today he is doing FANTASTIC, and is really a tiny miracle!

On June 30th, my grandparents came down to the Creation Museum in Cincinnati (about an hour & 1/2 from us). I had not seen them in 2 years... to the day! (It was my baby brother's wedding anniversary, and the last time I had seen them was at Nathan's wedding!) I was able to take the day off and spend it with them, which was a huge blessing!

We celebrated July 4th at Indian Creek Baptist Camp (the camp run by our church) on Freedom Friday (which happened to be July 3rd.) Chris had the opportunity to preach in the service... only the second time he's actually had that opportunity since we left Maryland 3 years before. He did an awesome job (I know, I'm a little prejudiced!) I was very proud of him. We took Zack and Dakota with us (Dakota is the little boy I took care of for over 2 years). It was a wonderful night, and we enjoyed it!

July 16th, I was able to head up to Indianapolis for the day to visit with 2 college friends that liver there, Jess and Kelly (and their families.) I so enjoyed seeing them and catching up a little better! I don't live that far away, but it seems like there is never a really good time to go more often. :-(

July 22 was our 9th anniversary. We both had to work that day, but ended up having Friday the 24th off together. We slept in, worked out, then headed out for the day... visited Louisville Mega Cavern, ate at J. Gumbos, went to the Louisville Slugger museum, walked around downtown Louisville (and took pictures), then went to Morton's steakhouse for dinner. It was FABULOUS! We so enjoyed having the day together to celebrate our marriage and our life together.

July 31st, we went to a Louisville Bats game with our friends, April & Scott Mohler. We enjoy the fellowship with them, and wish we could get together with them more often, as well.

The first full week of August brings YOUTH CONFERENCE to Shawnee Baptist Church. This year was the 25th Anniversary of Youth Conference. It was AWESOME!!! We had 1,200+ teens here for 4 days to hear the preaching of God's Word for 3 days, then the last day they spend at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. They usually go to a waterpark on that Tuesday morning, but this year the waterpark came to them... We had a HUGE flood; actually a Flood Emergency was declared for Louisville... basically, if you didn't have to go anywhere, DON'T! It sure made it memorable! :-)

That same week was very busy for me... I worked all week, then was trying to visit with a couple people that were just in town for the week, plus get ready for vacation! I was blessed to be able to see a good friend from MN, Dawn, who was down here meeting her newest grandbaby... and her first granddaughter. I also got to spend some time with a little boy that I took care of in Maryland, Nathen, and his family, who were here visiting as well.

August 8th, after work, we left on VACATION! It was AWESOME, and I didn't want to come home! We visited Chris' sister, Sandy, and her family. We hadn't seen her boys (ages almost 8 and almost 5) for almost 3 years, and her husband in 5 years! It was great to visit with them! They live in West Palm Beach, FL... I was lovin' me some Florida (as my BIL would say!) :-) We went to the beach a couple of times, including going to Miami for the day (and saw South Beach).
On Tuesday, Aug. 11th (Chris' 34th Birthday), we attended a Florida Marlins game. For the first time, in ALL the games we've attended, we FINALLY made it on the Jumbotron at the stadium! We've discovered that it helps to have adorable nephews with you! :-) We ate at Shorty's Barbecue in Miami - one of the top 10 places to eat there. Chris and Tyson played golf two mornings, and played softball one night. Sandy and I got manicures/pedicures (a first for me!), and then I framed some cross-stitches for her, and arranged the pictures for a family photo wall in her house. We attended a home decorating class on Thursday night. Friday we went to Tampa... actually St. Petersburg for a Tampa Bay Rays game. We "tailgated" before the game, which was pretty fun. Finished up the vacation on Saturday by having a GORGEOUS day at the beach, in spite of the rain before we went, and after we went. Also had a joint birthday party (homemade pizza and DQ Thin Mints blizzard cake) for Chris', Tron's and my birthdays. Chris' b-day was the 11th, and Tron and I share a b-day on the 18th. Like I said before, it was a wonderful vacation, and we were so thrilled to be able to go.

Now, it's back to life, back to reality. I've had a little "hiccup" in my job situation, so am working a few less hours for now, and am really praying about the possibility of another job. I'm praying that if God wants me somewhere else, that He will drop the opportunity in my lap.

Anyway, that's the summation of our summer! I'm sure I've left out some things, but that's basically it! Hopefully I'll get some pics posted of different events on here soon. If I don't, you can look on my Facebook page... they are ALL on there! :-)

Have a wonderful night, and hope you all had a great summer! :-)